Eastwind

by Jim Puskas

This is a true story or, more accurately, a collection of remembrances. All the characters in this narrative are real people, although some of the minor actors in the drama are composites drawn from several individuals, typical of the kind of people who lived in that place and time. It has been designated as a novel because some liberties have been taken with time frames, scale, or sequence of events for the sake of telling a coherent story and not just a series of vignettes. It is hoped that the reader will forgive those small transgressions. I also hope that the reader will find it possible to accept Louise, the protagonist, as she is-imperfect, damaged, troubled-and even try to forgive her actions. I do not claim that she was always well intentioned, but she is human. She has been much put upon. To the best of my knowledge, I have waited until almost all the persons in this story are no longer living before telling it, and all their names have been changed. I thereby hope to spare anyone embarrassment should they think they recognize some of the individuals.

222 pages, Paperback

Published December 19, 2015

About the author

I look to establish Goodreads friends who share my reading interests, but only those who provide written reviews on the books they read. As a writer, I feel that providing only a numerical rating of a book without any commentary offers no useful feedback to the author; and as a reader, it offers me no insight into why I might (or might not) wish to read the book. A lively exchange of ideas is what makes Goodreads so valuable for me.

Since retiring from gainful employment in 2007, I have focused my energies upon not-for-profit organizations whose purpose is to improve my community and the world at large. I seek ways to apply some of my varied knowledge and skills for the betterment of society. To that end, I am an active Kiwanian; having completed my term as Lieutenant Governor of my Division, I am continuing to serve throughout my Kiwanis community various ways, including as Key Club Advisor, Leadership Trainer and project leader.

I also served for eight years as Chairman of the Kiwanis Music Festival, National Capital Region.
I regularly perform volunteer work on behalf of various other charitable organizations.

My most significant strengths lie in being able to foster a collaborative working environment among colleagues having vastly different skills and personalities, building effective teams to work toward common goals and developing partnerships among different organizations, thereby enabling them to undertake more challenging projects that none of them could do alone.

My comments during group reads are posted on my blog at https://jimpuskasworldofbooks.blogspo...

My Goodreads blog, on the other hand is focused only on my work as a writer.

I have a keen interest in the arts, particularly music and good literature; my personal network is further expanded through Goodreads. I write short stories and poetry for the amusement of my friends and have published two novels, "Eastwind" and more recently "Until This Soul Departs."
For more information, visit my author website at https://www.jimpuskas.ca/.

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. It was a beautifully written and very successful attempt to get inside the head and heart of a spectacularly difficult woman, and to give the reader an idea of what might be going on in there. Jim Puskas was able to do this with both compassion and an impressive lack of judgement. This was coupled with some beautiful description of life in rural South Western Ontario in a not so distant, but bygone, time. Perhaps the most memorable aspect of Louise’s generally very bad behaviour was her heartless treatment of her family, her husband, and even worse, her complete rejection of her son. As I know this was based closely on the life of a very real woman, I was left to wonder if she may have been suffering from a form of autism that left her with no empathetic understanding of other humans. Such a diagnosis would not excuse her behaviour, but might make it a little more comprehensible. This was an inspired first book by Jim Puskas, and was a memoir of sorts. Hopefully he does not have many other such difficult people or traumatic events in his life to inspire more writing, but I would enthusiastically read anything further that he has to write.

[Anne Slater · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second review, because second reading. And in Pandemic Time. Fortunately, I liked Louise more this time- or perhaps, I felt more empathy for her.

An intelligent and creative person born into the wrong family, wrong part of the century and wrong geographical location, Louise had few options open to her but she grasped them all. When her parents wouldn't or didn't know how to support her, she set out on her own. When her neighbors and nephew did what they could to ruin her business, she struck back.

She persisted. And she lost. Not only emotionally and financially, but her stubbornness kept her from seeking medical help. My surmise in both readings was stomach cancer...

My greatest criticism of the book is the lack of conversational back and forth as a standard part of the story. As someone else suggested, a disinterested observer-narrator in parallel to Louise's narration would have made a large difference.

That said, the greatest gift of this book is the portrait of the period and place in 20th century social history (the wonderful minutiae of farming, rural banks and financing, commercial production, education per se and educational opportunities for girls and women, understanding of the psychology of rural 1920s to 1960s families).

The chill of Louise's story, the chill of Louise's refusal to lash out and/or suck up to the society around her, make her strong life a fascinating tragedy. I'm glad I read it again

[Crazybooklady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eastwind is not quite a memoir, but is based on a real person written by someone that knows them well enough to get into their head and tell their story. The narrative jumps back and forth between the older Louise and where she is in her life now, and remembering stories of her past. Jim Puskas shows a genuine writing talent in deftly jumping back and forth in time, in a clean and clear way that allows the reader to follow along and not get lost. Another high point of this book and the author, is the fantastic writing style and the descriptions.
The story is from Louise's perspective and mostly in her head. While Eastwind is only 200 pages, you really get a feel for Louise and the people in her life. Old Louise seems to be a very bitter, angry woman that remembers very few moments in her life with fondness and even less people with any fondness.
Louise was a farmer's daughter in Canada born in the 1920's or there about, there is never a specific date mentioned. She preferred to go fishing with her dad rather than house work with her mom. She is a very intelligent and driven woman born in a time where she was expected to obey her parents, get married, and have kids. She wanted none of that. Louise saved money and bought text books to continue to study business and accounting after she was done with school at 13. She does have to find a husband and get married as it was an expectation of the time, but she chooses her own husband.
There are many times that I rooted for Louise. I wanted to see her succeed. She was a teenager that literally saved up money and bought text books to keep learning. She was an active business partner to her husband and in other business partners throughout her life. She is intelligent, driven, stubborn and not afraid to fight for what she wants.
Then there are the few times I actively disliked or outright hated Louise. Without giving too much away there is a very specific character in the story that Louise mentions they exist but she never mentions by name. It's hard to image a story that can have such a hateful few scenes and thoughts actually NOT be hateful throughout but some how Eastwind manages it. Puskas is not judgemental about anything Louise does or says throughout any part of the book. The parts where Louise is simply horrible are treated just as calmly and straight forward as the parts where you genuinely sympathize with Louise and her desire to live her life the ways she wants.
Puskas presents all sides of a complex, real person, in their triumphs and struggles in life. Louise isn't an easy person to love, or even to like all the time. She is however very much a real and complete person. She has strengths and weaknesses and for all the things that she does right in her life is a list of things she does horribly wrong.
The characters are full and complex. The story is not always easy to read and for some might not be for them. However Eastwind is beautifully written and and I would love to see what Puskas writes next.

[E. R. Jonas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Warning: Contains Spoilers

Book Review: Eastwind

Author: Jim Puskas

Genre: Memoir/Vignette/Real Life

Date read: November 25th - November 28th

Pages: 211

Rating: 5/5

Year Published: 2015

Publisher: AuthorHouse


When I finished reading this book earlier this week, I was reluctant to give it five stars. I sat down and thought about why I didn't want to give Eastwind five stars. Is it because it doesn't deal with questions of race? Because it is written by a man? In the end, I came up with...nothing. So I decided to give it five stars straight away, rather than giving it four.

The novel is Jim Puskas' first published book. It's about an elderly woman 'Louise' and, as the blurb describes her "collection of remembrances". Jim Puskas manages to portray a stubborn elderly woman in a perfectly three-dimensional way that is rare to see in novels, of course, the fact that this story is based on real life persons is probably a large contributor to this.

Already on the first page, I see my scribbled notes: "I really like the narrative voice". And it's just the beginning. Eastwind deals with several issues that are close to my heart. The first being the education system. Louise is an exceptionally intelligent person, something that stands out clearly already when she describes her boredom at school and willingness to learn from the older children's lessons. Unfortunately, she was born at the wrong time in the wrong place (I'm guessing sometime in the beginning of the 20th century) and this leads to the other children (and adults) alienating her, completely misunderstanding that she only needs to be allowed an outlet for her intelligence. Boredom in the classroom due to under-stimulation is still quite common in classrooms today, Louise's problem (not to mention her feelings as an outcast that reminds me a lot of bullying) makes the book so relevant to the problems we see in education today.

The other primary societal concern that the book raises are women who don't want the traditional family life. This has, to me, clear parallels to women who are ostracised by society today for not wanting children (and to some extent a spouse). The problem for Louise is again the time and place she grew up. The women today who chooses to not have children and get married (and here I include lesbians as well, because of the political marriage debate even within queer communities) are still expected to defend this resolution while the men who make the same choices are more or less ignored. In the beginning of the 20th century making this decision was more or less unheard of. Louise is, in my opinion, forced into a marriage which, despite her efforts, leads to her pregnancy.

I've seen two other reviews on Goodreads which were short and to the point (unlike mine) and communicate clearly what Eastwind is about. However, their description of Louise's relationship to her family, and particularly her husband and son stood out to me: "Perhaps the most memorable aspect of Louise’s generally very bad behaviour was her heartless treatment of her family, her husband, and even worse, her complete rejection of her son" (Linda: 2016) and "The protagonist Louise is a very tough-minded individual who earns your reluctant admiration, while horrifying you with her attitude to her own child" (Ruth Smith: 2016).

I want to try and offer a different viewpoint to these reviews because I don't see how Louise's behaviour is any different from women today who choose not to have children. However, because she didn't have the same options as those women (or, at least she didn't think she had that option), she had to find a different solution to the problem. I want to raise some questions surrounding this decision. If we see Louise's body as a vessel for a child, a child she never wanted and was forced to have (which is what the book points to), this decision makes sense to me. Louise never had a connection with the child, and she describes her experience as: "An alien creature was starting to grow inside me, taking over my existence, sucking out my life from within." (Puskas 2015: 72). Popular media tells us that mother instincts are "natural" and there is no bond like the one between mother and child, yet there are instances in nature, both human and elsewhere in the animal kingdom, where biological parents reject their offspring. Louise's choice was, as the other reviews pointed out, to never acknowledge that she even had a son. And for her, that was also the case. While I don't doubt that this child grew up wondering many times in his life why his biological mother never acknowledged him, I have to believe that surely his life turned out much better by being raised by relatives who actually wanted him? Imagine if Louise had been forced to raise this child. Surely that would've been an even worse option for the child?

As always, this has turned into a political rant, but I can't apologise for that. Rest in peace Louise, I'm glad I got to know you through Eastwind.

[Mary Capps · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was potential here, but I found the writing inconsistent, especially the voice of our protagonist, Louise. I think this might have worked better if the voice alternated between first person (with the unreliable narrator) and third person (more neutrally, the various characters who encounter Louise). And I found the ending completely unsatisfying and not especially clear (did she succumb to cancer or a stroke - or was she incapacitated by a stroke, but survived, mute and paralyzed?), which is another area where it would have benefitted from the third person voice. It took me far too long to read this because I would find my interest waning when the voice was simply annoying and not moving the story forward.

[Michelle Daly · Rating 3 out of 5]

First the writing was amazing. Each scene, the emotions it was all very beautiful and descriptive. The book jumps back and forth in time from where our main character Louise is and back throughout her life. The time jumps are handled well and the reader can easily keep up. The reader really gets a feel for the main characters, who they are, their motivations for the things they do and why tell the story.
Unfortunately it's that last part that makes me give this well written, very well told story 2 stars. I don't like our main character Louise and I'm very much a character driven person. I wanted to like this book, I really did. Louise is a driven, intelligent woman who knows and understands who she is in a time women were expected to shut up and follow orders. She was to obey her parents, find a husband, have kids and live a life Louise wanted no part of. She figures out a way to a life she wants. The thing is we're told this story from older Louise's memories. She is a bitter, angry woman that resents so much of her life and the people in it. This is a story based on a real person. That people like Louise exists is true, but it's hard to connect with her.
There were many times I was rooting for Louise. I was cheering her on and wanted to see her succeed. There was also a couple if very specific times I almost threw the book at the wall. I won't go into details but a very specific situation comes up and Louise's reaction drew a very real anger in me. It was hard to read and every mention after made me angrier.
The book is very well written, I hope the author tries his hand at another story.

[Patricia Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

louise is to be a farm wife something she doesn't want to be at a younger age she read many books on business and she wants to be a business woman but she agrees with her parents and gets married to make her dreams come true,, the marriage is not what she wants. she talks about her growing up in the depression and wanting to go into business something woman didn't do than but she becomes the woman she wanted to be and has no regrets in her life and helping people along the way who also needed help with their dreams...she lived a interesting and different life than women of that age and time...

[Christiane · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Arthur Slater · Rating 3 out of 5]

A page-turner, telling the life story of a very peculiar woman. The protagonist is not really likeable and yet the tale draws you in and she somehow gains a reader's sympathy as the book goes on.

[Ruth Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing book from a new author. The protagonist Louise is a very tough-minded individual who earns your reluctant admiration, while horrifying you with her attitude to her own child. For those who don't believe it possible to totally deny the existence of your own child, in the spirit of full disclosure, I happen to know that child personally and can vouch for the veracity of this part of the story. This would be a great book for book club discussions - an interesting page turner with a pithy topic for discussion.

[Jan Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eastwind: A powerful narrative by a new Canadian author Jim Puskas; The reader follows the times of Louise, a complicated, edgy, truly unforgettable woman, who dictates life on her own terms, flailing out against the forces of society that would have her conform. A deeply human story, keenly observed, it is a page-turner to the dramatic end. Highly recommended for Book Discussion Groups. Jan Bryan

[Joan McKeen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The characters come to life in "Eastwind" Arpad, Mike and others and you also get a descriptive look at farm life in the '40's and 50's.
Louise, who you want to hate, (she abandoned her son) wins you over. She is a strong, resourceful woman, who triumphs over adversity, and wins your respect. An enjoyable read of 211 pages.
The book is a good size to take with you, as I did, on my last train trip.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not the type of book I usually read but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The characters were well developed and believable. It was interesting to read about another time and place that I was not familiar with, very good descriptions.

[Wyenotgo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling story of a most unusual woman. Set mostly in the early to mid 20th century and the writer appears to have dressed it up in the style of a novel; not sure how much is actually what happened so I'm shelving it as historic fiction.
A real page-turner, flows well, easy to read, excellent local color.

[C K P · Rating 3 out of 5]

An examination of the good and the bad of memory in a person's life. Somewhat sentimental but interesting in many ways.