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Lost in September
Long-awaited, thrilling new fiction from Kathleen Winter, whose previous novel Annabel was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller, Governor General's Award, Writers' Trust and Orange prizes, was a Globe and Mail "Best Book" and a New York Times "Notable," and was a #1 bestselling Canada Reads selection. From one of Canada's most exciting writers comes a gripping, compassionate and stunning novel that overturns and rewrites history.
Enter the world of Jimmy--a tall, red-haired, homeless thirty-something ex-soldier, battered by PTSD--as he camps out on the streets of modern-day Montreal, trying to remember and reclaim his youth. While his past is something of an enigma, even to himself, the young man bears a striking resemblance to General James Wolfe, "Conqueror of Canada" and "Hero of Quebec," who died on the Plains of Abraham in 1759.
As a young soldier in his twenties, the historical James Wolfe (1727-1759) was granted a short and much longed-for leave to travel to Paris to study poetry, music and dance--three of his passions. But in that very year, 1752, the British Empire abandoned the Julian calendar for the Gregorian, and every citizen of England lost eleven days: September 2 was followed by September 14. These lost eleven days happened to occur during the period that Wolfe had been granted for his leave. Despondent and bitter, he never got the chance to explore his artistic bent, and seven short years later, on the anniversary of this foreshortened leave, he died on the Plains of Abraham.
Now, James is getting his eleven days back . . . but instead of the salons of 18th century Paris, he's wandering the streets of present-day Montreal and Quebec City, not as "the Hero of Quebec" but as a damaged war veteran wracked with anguish.
Much like George Saunders in Lincoln in the Bardo, award-winning author Kathleen Winter takes a brief, intensely personal incident in the life of a famous historical figure, and using her incomparable gifts as a fiction writer, powerfully reimagines him. Here is a wrenching, unforgettable portrait--like none you have ever seen or read--of one of the most well-known figures in Canadian history.
Enter the world of Jimmy--a tall, red-haired, homeless thirty-something ex-soldier, battered by PTSD--as he camps out on the streets of modern-day Montreal, trying to remember and reclaim his youth. While his past is something of an enigma, even to himself, the young man bears a striking resemblance to General James Wolfe, "Conqueror of Canada" and "Hero of Quebec," who died on the Plains of Abraham in 1759.
As a young soldier in his twenties, the historical James Wolfe (1727-1759) was granted a short and much longed-for leave to travel to Paris to study poetry, music and dance--three of his passions. But in that very year, 1752, the British Empire abandoned the Julian calendar for the Gregorian, and every citizen of England lost eleven days: September 2 was followed by September 14. These lost eleven days happened to occur during the period that Wolfe had been granted for his leave. Despondent and bitter, he never got the chance to explore his artistic bent, and seven short years later, on the anniversary of this foreshortened leave, he died on the Plains of Abraham.
Now, James is getting his eleven days back . . . but instead of the salons of 18th century Paris, he's wandering the streets of present-day Montreal and Quebec City, not as "the Hero of Quebec" but as a damaged war veteran wracked with anguish.
Much like George Saunders in Lincoln in the Bardo, award-winning author Kathleen Winter takes a brief, intensely personal incident in the life of a famous historical figure, and using her incomparable gifts as a fiction writer, powerfully reimagines him. Here is a wrenching, unforgettable portrait--like none you have ever seen or read--of one of the most well-known figures in Canadian history.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published September 12, 2017
15 people are currently reading
712 people want to read
About the author
Kathleen Winter
16 books354 followersKathleen Winter's novel Annabel was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Governor General's Literary Award, the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, the Amazon.ca First Novel Award, the Orange Prize, and numerous other awards. Her Arctic memoir Boundless was shortlisted for Canada's Weston and Taylor non-fiction prizes, and her last novel Lost in September was longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award and was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award. Born in the UK, Winter now lives in Montreal after many years in Newfoundland.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
September 26, 2017
This is a beautifully written and atmospheric piece of literature that delves into the plight of a soldier of war, specifically General James Wolfe.
It’s an intriguing look at a piece of Canadian history not known by many that I think some will thoroughly enjoy while others may find it a little too heavy and hard to follow at times.
Thank you to Goodreads Giveaways for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
It’s an intriguing look at a piece of Canadian history not known by many that I think some will thoroughly enjoy while others may find it a little too heavy and hard to follow at times.
Thank you to Goodreads Giveaways for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
December 9, 2017
I won this book in a GiveAway in exchange for an honest review.
Kathleen Winter's writing is phenomenal. It's a delight to read. The story of James/Jimmy is complex and haunting.
The story of James/Jimmy is heartbreaking, warm, human and shows the loneliness of military life. Where does Life end? How does one keep one's sanity and live with the horrors of war? Does one find peace? Jimmy suffers from PTSD and is intertwined with James Wolfe. Through him, James remains alive.
James Wolfe searches for days lost in his youth; 11 important days when he had hoped to experience fun, art, Life and relaxation; these days were his to live as he saw fit.....and he lost them. Now he lives them each year in Montreal through Jimmy.
If a soldier who lost his life were to come back to modern times, what would he think of his sacrifice? James, who won Quebec from France for England, who made Canada English, wanders through modern Montreal, Quebec, a province still French. For what, asks James, did he fight for? Is he remembered? Is he hated? Does it matter?
This story grapples with the idea of 2 wars and how war does not change through history and modern times. War is war, no matter which year it occurs. People are hurt, broken and left to find their own way.....whether they live through their war or not.
Both James & Jimmy are sympathetic characters, caught up in circumstances.
Kathleen Winter's writing is phenomenal. It's a delight to read. The story of James/Jimmy is complex and haunting.
The story of James/Jimmy is heartbreaking, warm, human and shows the loneliness of military life. Where does Life end? How does one keep one's sanity and live with the horrors of war? Does one find peace? Jimmy suffers from PTSD and is intertwined with James Wolfe. Through him, James remains alive.
James Wolfe searches for days lost in his youth; 11 important days when he had hoped to experience fun, art, Life and relaxation; these days were his to live as he saw fit.....and he lost them. Now he lives them each year in Montreal through Jimmy.
If a soldier who lost his life were to come back to modern times, what would he think of his sacrifice? James, who won Quebec from France for England, who made Canada English, wanders through modern Montreal, Quebec, a province still French. For what, asks James, did he fight for? Is he remembered? Is he hated? Does it matter?
This story grapples with the idea of 2 wars and how war does not change through history and modern times. War is war, no matter which year it occurs. People are hurt, broken and left to find their own way.....whether they live through their war or not.
Both James & Jimmy are sympathetic characters, caught up in circumstances.
September 24, 2017
Emptied, Culloden heath: crows, distant hills full of birches. Dettingen: mud, rubble, my lifelong horror's tender shoot. Ghundy Ghar: from our new trenches fell bones from old wars over the very same land.
On September 2, 1752, England followed the rest of Europe in adopting the Gregorian Calendar; causing varying degrees of inconvenience for those who effectively “lost” eleven days. One so affected was British soldier James Wolfe – eventually to be promoted to the level of General and sent to fight the French on the Plains of Abraham – and the lost eleven days that he had planned to spend on leave in Paris so haunted him that today, he annually spends those eleven days haunting Montreal; searching for justice, truth, and understanding for his battlefield misdeeds. Living in a tent on Mount Royal and lurching around the city in the dirty attire of a homeless man (except for when he at last claims his fresh-pressed redcoat from a dry cleaner's), Wolfe encounters those who accept that he is the long dead General made flesh, those who would help him make peace with his past, and those who abuse him as the bum he appears to be. Lost in September is gorgeously written: beautiful sentences that capture both a painful inner journey and a hugely pivotal period in Canadian history (about which I know I wasn't taught enough in school), and has much to say about family, love, duty, and the toils of war on the battlefield soldier; whether the year is 1759 or 2017. I loved just about everything about this book. It would be easy to spoil this read for others, so I'll just record some general observations.
I hear a man hail a taxi shouting old French slang for a chariot – Montrealers mangle quaint, backwoods French with chopped American, yet wield baguettes and bottles of Bordeaux like Parisians.
Lost in September is delightfully specific about its Quebec setting: from the backstreets of Montreal to the tourist-crawling areas around the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City, this book totally captures La Belle Province on the page. It visits the Gaspé Peninsula, the Mordechai Richler Gazebo, La Bibliothèque Gabrielle-Roy; notes the Dollaramas, Vachon cake trucks, Jean Coutu pharmacies. Anyone who has visited Quebec will recognise the references; the people. And it is also specific about the historical period in which General Wolfe made his way up the St Lawrence – burning down homesteads and slicing fishermen's nets – and recounts a rueful narrative of the daybreak raid on General Montcalm's camp. This book is worth a read for just the historical detail.
How long scalped Canadians caterwaul depends on how much blood they lose before you peel 'em. I've seen a yowl fit to wake the Duke of Cumberland's dead father rise out of a completely skinned head. Sound travels slower than death.
And this is the story of a soldier – a General who obeyed orders and achieved his objectives and who, even so, was probably suffering from PTSD long before there was a term for it. Little wonder he haunts the present: demanding his lost leave, wanting to tell the truth of his history, struggling with the memory of his too-clinging mother. There are several letters between mother and son quoted in this book, and I would love to know if they are historically accurate; if the following is actually excerpted from a letter Wolfe's mother wrote to her son's commander on the battlefield:
I am in my son and my son is in me. I bleed by any blade stropped in a room where he dwells. Cold wind near him blows my skin like the membrane enclosing peeled onion or egg: the cloudy layer silken under the carapace. If he perishes, I will with joy abandon my own so-called life: I'll clench and break beyond this wooden agony into freedom. So summon my son to death, if is your plan for him, but know that in doing so you condemn his mother to the same bliss.
The only thread I didn't really like was about the writer who was confronted by Wolfe as she was researching his history for a book she intended to pen. Perhaps this was meant to be an ironic representation of author Kathleen Winter herself in these pages, but her search for his “emanations” – whether reading tarot cards, throwing runes, or having his handwriting analysed – felt a bit flakey and ended the book on a sour note. Even so, I thought that this was a beautifully written, interesting, and weighty examination of many important themes and I think it should have wide appeal.
October 15, 2017
I really struggled with this book, reading some pages several times. My low rating, reluctantly given, in no way reflects its literary merit or the historical research entailed.
I loved K. Winters previous book, Annabel, and gave it one of my rare 5 star ratings. I was intrigued by the description of the plot and preordered Lost in September. It is September and felt lost while reading it.
I kept plodding away until the end, but neither the James Wolfe persona nor the Jimmy Blanchard character drew me into the story. I should have felt some emotions, such as sorrow, for the soldier suffering from PTSD and hate the fact that the whole book failed to move me. I hope my disappointment doesn't dissuade others from reading the book. It just wasn't for me.
I loved K. Winters previous book, Annabel, and gave it one of my rare 5 star ratings. I was intrigued by the description of the plot and preordered Lost in September. It is September and felt lost while reading it.
I kept plodding away until the end, but neither the James Wolfe persona nor the Jimmy Blanchard character drew me into the story. I should have felt some emotions, such as sorrow, for the soldier suffering from PTSD and hate the fact that the whole book failed to move me. I hope my disappointment doesn't dissuade others from reading the book. It just wasn't for me.
November 27, 2017
This book is something. I love historical novels, and this one is told from a modern point-of-view. How one can react to PTSD, it can be unpredictable. Yet, I found myself noting that I didn't know much about General Wolfe, even if I did study the battle in school, like every student in Quebec. I very much liked the book.
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.
August 3, 2017
Lost in September takes a unique approach to historical fiction, much like Lincoln in the Bardo does. The tale centers around a soldier suffering from PTSD who believes himself to be General James Wolfe of the 1700's. Often, when I read a historical fiction piece, I am not previously acquainted with the person or topic that the story is covering. Usually the story draws me into the character much like any work of fiction. In this case, I had trouble relating to the soldier. I found that it didn't grab my attention as much as it could have. That said, if you are a patient reader and you appreciate a more literary read, you should enjoy Lost in September more than I did. There is no question that it is well-written. I think my unfamiliarity with James Wolfe coupled with the fact that I have never been to Quebec City, did not help. I would consider reading Anabel also by Kathleen Winter as I have not previously done so.
November 10, 2017
perhaps memory of a person is one thing, and the real present person another, like a body separated from its shadow. p2
Perhaps the bewilderment the curious reader might experience getting to the heart of this latest fiction by KW is necessary for total appreciation of this brilliant book on identity and connection.
Some people recognize a truth even when it has been orphaned
for a while among the worlds bright falsities. p 10
Perhaps the bewilderment the curious reader might experience getting to the heart of this latest fiction by KW is necessary for total appreciation of this brilliant book on identity and connection.
Some people recognize a truth even when it has been orphaned
for a while among the worlds bright falsities. p 10
January 30, 2018
"Lost in September" is about a young soldier, Jimmy Blanchard, who believes himself to be the historical figure General James Wolfe while he wanders the streets of modern day Montréal. It is a story of war and PTSD and modernity.
Unfortunately, I was not able to immerse myself fully into Blanchard/Wolfe's narrative. My mind kept wandering off because I found the plot (although well researched) to be excruciatingly dull. I hated Sophie's character - she was annoying with her eccentricities - and Wolfe's ramblings seemed to have no direction. It left me feeling cold, confused and empty. I did not like it and I am sorry to all those that did. I thought the historical aspect would be right up my alley, but I found this novel to be forgettable.
Unfortunately, I was not able to immerse myself fully into Blanchard/Wolfe's narrative. My mind kept wandering off because I found the plot (although well researched) to be excruciatingly dull. I hated Sophie's character - she was annoying with her eccentricities - and Wolfe's ramblings seemed to have no direction. It left me feeling cold, confused and empty. I did not like it and I am sorry to all those that did. I thought the historical aspect would be right up my alley, but I found this novel to be forgettable.
September 4, 2017
This tells the tale of an ex-soldier on the streets of Montreal suffering from PTSD and incorporates a historical figure from Canadian history.
This book really didn't do it for me. It seemed like it was trying really hard to be poetic and different, but it really fell flat. I was extremely bored the whole time and felt no connection to any of the characters. The historical portions felt like I was reading a particularly bad textbook in school. I did not buy into the authors attempt at trying to make you believe/doubt that Jimmy and James were the same person. It didn't make any sense, I was completely unable to suspend belief and immerse myself in the reality of the plot device. At no time did I believe that James could be existing in modern times, he said and did things that were completely off character. If we are meant to believe that we are following a character from 1759 he shouldn't just be casually taking public transport to run errands. This book is meant to tackle the effects of PTSD in armed forces which is a very important subject so I am quite disappointed that this failed to deliver and sort of compelling storyline. This was a real struggle for me to finish and sadly I don't think I would recommend it.
An ebook copy of this book was provided to me via netgalley in exchange for an honest review
For more reviews and other bookish things visit my blog https://unlikleymagic.com
This book really didn't do it for me. It seemed like it was trying really hard to be poetic and different, but it really fell flat. I was extremely bored the whole time and felt no connection to any of the characters. The historical portions felt like I was reading a particularly bad textbook in school. I did not buy into the authors attempt at trying to make you believe/doubt that Jimmy and James were the same person. It didn't make any sense, I was completely unable to suspend belief and immerse myself in the reality of the plot device. At no time did I believe that James could be existing in modern times, he said and did things that were completely off character. If we are meant to believe that we are following a character from 1759 he shouldn't just be casually taking public transport to run errands. This book is meant to tackle the effects of PTSD in armed forces which is a very important subject so I am quite disappointed that this failed to deliver and sort of compelling storyline. This was a real struggle for me to finish and sadly I don't think I would recommend it.
An ebook copy of this book was provided to me via netgalley in exchange for an honest review
For more reviews and other bookish things visit my blog https://unlikleymagic.com
October 23, 2017
There is something unique in the story line that Winter has created here. Our concept of history is muddled and confusing and that is what she has shown us here with this narrative. Would our forbearers -many of whom died for their ideals – be truly impressed with the world around us today? Winter has given us something to ponder over as we read this book.
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https://pacifictranquility.wordpress....
June 12, 2025
Is postmodern historical fiction a genre? I found this book to be so incredibly inspired. Winter has done something really special with Lost in September. Perhaps not for everyone but gosh this book really connected with me. Beautifully written and wistfully aching.
September 28, 2025
Personnellement j'ai rien compris. C'est écrit dans une vieille langue, comme c'est le général Wolfe datant des années 1700 qui s'exprime, et ça rend la lecture complexe. J'ai toujours pas compris comment il voulait récupérer les 11 jours de septembre ni à quoi ça lui a servi de le faire...
August 6, 2017
I read Annabel by Kathleen Winter and it was a beautiful, sad and pretty much awesome book so I was excited to see she had a new one coming out. I received an electronic copy from Netgalley and got stuck in. Lost in September is very, very different from Annabel. It's about a young ex-soldier who just happens to be a dead ringer for General James Wolfe, who died in 1759 at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City. He also apparently has Wolfe's memories. Somehow, he seems to be the same man or a reincarnation, perhaps. Or maybe he's just a soldier with PTSD and has retreated into history to survive.
The original Wolfe, as a younger soldier, was about to have leave in Paris but in September of 1752, Britain dropped their calendar and joined the rest of Christian Europe, adopting the Gregorian calendar. It meant that everyone lost 12 days, jumping from September 2 to 14 overnight and Wolfe lost his leave. He's resented that for, well, centuries and is in modern day Montreal trying to recoup those lost days. Through the modern day Jimmy, we relive Wolfe's past, his relationships with his parents and friends and key events in his life. He returns to Montreal each year in September, the anniversary of both the missing leave days and the anniversary of Wolf's death, camping out or living in a mens' shelter. Montreal would seem to be the closest thing to Paris he can manage as he tries to get those lost days back. The present day Jimmy leans on the kindness of friends such as a historical researcher studying his old letters, someone whom he met in a library in Toronto. Little by little, Jimmy's own past starts to permeate his "Wolfe" memories.
It all sounds a bit strange yet it's compelling as well. The book is tagged as a "reimagining of history". Winter has done a lot of research on Wolfe and added her own spin to the man and his private life, personal thoughts and "memories".
The original Wolfe, as a younger soldier, was about to have leave in Paris but in September of 1752, Britain dropped their calendar and joined the rest of Christian Europe, adopting the Gregorian calendar. It meant that everyone lost 12 days, jumping from September 2 to 14 overnight and Wolfe lost his leave. He's resented that for, well, centuries and is in modern day Montreal trying to recoup those lost days. Through the modern day Jimmy, we relive Wolfe's past, his relationships with his parents and friends and key events in his life. He returns to Montreal each year in September, the anniversary of both the missing leave days and the anniversary of Wolf's death, camping out or living in a mens' shelter. Montreal would seem to be the closest thing to Paris he can manage as he tries to get those lost days back. The present day Jimmy leans on the kindness of friends such as a historical researcher studying his old letters, someone whom he met in a library in Toronto. Little by little, Jimmy's own past starts to permeate his "Wolfe" memories.
It all sounds a bit strange yet it's compelling as well. The book is tagged as a "reimagining of history". Winter has done a lot of research on Wolfe and added her own spin to the man and his private life, personal thoughts and "memories".
September 26, 2017
Received a copy of Lost In September by Kathleen Winter through the GoodReads First Reads Giveaway program in exchange for an honest review
In the new world things are a lot colder than what they used to be, people have become more distant and old comforts ceased to exist. People now prefer to live isolated in their own little bubbles reserving little time for anyone that can't offer them something in return. Life was so much simpler when parents participated in activities with their children and were more attentive to the things they didn't think they needed. A young boy named James Wolfe is transitioning to manhood on an expedited track, skipping a few steps along the way. As he is about to make the biggest decision of his life and register to fight for his nation, he is also coming to grips with who is as a person. Knowing his sensitivity and awareness of self could get the better of him during times of fighting, he thwarts those feelings by isolating his busy mind and focusing on the task at hand. Confounding the situation even more, James has reached the age where he is experimenting and discovering his own sexuality, which makes for an interesting storyline because of his independence and rationality; a young man who fully embraces differences during a time when it was best to blend in.
Jimmy is a man that stands out in the crowd; a tall, lanky red haired thirty-something; he doesn't need much more to catch the eye of passersby. A soldier that fought in Afghanistan, he has come back from duty a shell of his former self, but who is this mysterious figure and what's with the red coat? He claims to be trying to make peace with his past among the living even though under further review he's been dead for centuries. There are guys like this on every street corner, but there's something about Jimmy, about his eyes that makes you feel his pain and sympathies with his struggle to find the truth about his lost days. Jimmy sees the world that he sacrificed himself for and all of its mass consumption, over indulgence and realizes that in moments of peace there is no forward movement, no progression just stagnation. The concept makes you question if war is necessary to keep things moving in a positive direction. Jimmy finds himself on the streets of Montreal with his friend Sophie trying to put the pieces of the puzzle back together. Sophie is a 57 y/o custodian with 4 grandchildren and is twice Jimmy's age yet they still maintain as functional of a relationship as one could expect. She was hired to help set things straight with the battles of his past and delineate one from the other to form an order of memories. Eleven days were lost and they have spent several September's trying to find out where they had gone. Without the knowledge of those lost days James seems to be lost in time with no apparent lead to freedom. James will need her guidance in this connected modern world.
James had his eyes set on a life of creation and cultural experiences as a young man, with the idea of being down and out a likely and noble prospect, but in his mind, if you're going to be down and out in England, why not be down and out in Paris. He never got to realize his dreams and pursue his passion for the arts, instead he was left with a life of servitude for the British military and their role in securing Canada while playing an integral part in changing the course of history forever. Warrior spirit doesn't involve physical shortcomings or mental impediments, it is ingrained in a person from birth; you either have it or you don't. He approached the battlefield with emotional stability and logical reasoning; qualities that are hard to master on there own let alone in a hail of gunfire. His stoicism was a great representation for the country but came at the deaths of many adversaries. James became a master at taking the emotion out of war, there was no longer a time for diplomacy, James proved to be a cold-blooded, ruthless soldier that killed many and negatively effected the innocent bystanders of a war torn region; but it wasn't his nature. There can only be so much self-control for a feeling-oriented person like him, he couldn't stop from having paralyzing moments when he became flooded with emotion, emotion from: the death of his younger brother, death of his lover, and the damage that he had caused with his own decisions.
Sacrifice is an act of giving something up that you would generally want to keep otherwise, but are willing to part with in order to help someone else or for a greater cause. Fighting for a fallen soldier or your country is regarded as a great sacrifice, but how do you measure change when one's sacrifice is just as important as the other? Lost In September is a narrative built on lamentations and reconciling with the past to forge a better future. Claiming absolute victory in the most greatest of settings and being regarded as the Conqueror of Canada is a legacy many would carry on happily with. When that legacy is founded on false pretences it takes an introspective person to deny themselves a reputation and prefer to fade between the lines of history, but no one would let him. I thought the idea of the story was interesting, the writing was beautiful, and the narrative had an air of mystery which maintained a great interest. Where I had a problem was that from a logic standpoint, I'm one that has a hard time suspending belief. Where it balanced my feelings were with the motivations behind the characters. The narrative was also too literary for my liking which made the common and informal dialogue seem out of place. What I'll take away from this novel is the lessons of war and the tragedies it leaves behind not only on the battlefield but within the 'survivors' as well.
In the new world things are a lot colder than what they used to be, people have become more distant and old comforts ceased to exist. People now prefer to live isolated in their own little bubbles reserving little time for anyone that can't offer them something in return. Life was so much simpler when parents participated in activities with their children and were more attentive to the things they didn't think they needed. A young boy named James Wolfe is transitioning to manhood on an expedited track, skipping a few steps along the way. As he is about to make the biggest decision of his life and register to fight for his nation, he is also coming to grips with who is as a person. Knowing his sensitivity and awareness of self could get the better of him during times of fighting, he thwarts those feelings by isolating his busy mind and focusing on the task at hand. Confounding the situation even more, James has reached the age where he is experimenting and discovering his own sexuality, which makes for an interesting storyline because of his independence and rationality; a young man who fully embraces differences during a time when it was best to blend in.
"One of the children lies in the grass reading a book separate from the others, and I would like to see which book she has chosen, it's a thing I do on the train, on the bus, on a bench in the park, whenever I see someone reading. Though reading is a solitary act requiring privacy and quiet, I feel bound to other readers by an invisible thread of words, a kinship without speech."
Jimmy is a man that stands out in the crowd; a tall, lanky red haired thirty-something; he doesn't need much more to catch the eye of passersby. A soldier that fought in Afghanistan, he has come back from duty a shell of his former self, but who is this mysterious figure and what's with the red coat? He claims to be trying to make peace with his past among the living even though under further review he's been dead for centuries. There are guys like this on every street corner, but there's something about Jimmy, about his eyes that makes you feel his pain and sympathies with his struggle to find the truth about his lost days. Jimmy sees the world that he sacrificed himself for and all of its mass consumption, over indulgence and realizes that in moments of peace there is no forward movement, no progression just stagnation. The concept makes you question if war is necessary to keep things moving in a positive direction. Jimmy finds himself on the streets of Montreal with his friend Sophie trying to put the pieces of the puzzle back together. Sophie is a 57 y/o custodian with 4 grandchildren and is twice Jimmy's age yet they still maintain as functional of a relationship as one could expect. She was hired to help set things straight with the battles of his past and delineate one from the other to form an order of memories. Eleven days were lost and they have spent several September's trying to find out where they had gone. Without the knowledge of those lost days James seems to be lost in time with no apparent lead to freedom. James will need her guidance in this connected modern world.
"I remember you, as I remember the faded presence of departed beloveds. Perhaps memory of a person is one thing, and the real, present person another, like a body separated from its shadow. I am, in your case, flooded by your memory without having touched you. As I walked your death-ground last autumn I mourned a soldier I feel I remember. Not I the flesh - rather, you were a light-body slipping through me. I miss that light now."
James had his eyes set on a life of creation and cultural experiences as a young man, with the idea of being down and out a likely and noble prospect, but in his mind, if you're going to be down and out in England, why not be down and out in Paris. He never got to realize his dreams and pursue his passion for the arts, instead he was left with a life of servitude for the British military and their role in securing Canada while playing an integral part in changing the course of history forever. Warrior spirit doesn't involve physical shortcomings or mental impediments, it is ingrained in a person from birth; you either have it or you don't. He approached the battlefield with emotional stability and logical reasoning; qualities that are hard to master on there own let alone in a hail of gunfire. His stoicism was a great representation for the country but came at the deaths of many adversaries. James became a master at taking the emotion out of war, there was no longer a time for diplomacy, James proved to be a cold-blooded, ruthless soldier that killed many and negatively effected the innocent bystanders of a war torn region; but it wasn't his nature. There can only be so much self-control for a feeling-oriented person like him, he couldn't stop from having paralyzing moments when he became flooded with emotion, emotion from: the death of his younger brother, death of his lover, and the damage that he had caused with his own decisions.
"All warriors descend from a single, ancient Council of War forged at the dawn of manhood, when standing stones mimicked the thrust of our sex and we coated ourselves in vestments so insubstantial they became symbols. Our true garb has and ways been the tattoo, and mine's a beauty, bearing my warrior-name and pierced by a sabre that will forever stand straight even if my body should crumple."
Sacrifice is an act of giving something up that you would generally want to keep otherwise, but are willing to part with in order to help someone else or for a greater cause. Fighting for a fallen soldier or your country is regarded as a great sacrifice, but how do you measure change when one's sacrifice is just as important as the other? Lost In September is a narrative built on lamentations and reconciling with the past to forge a better future. Claiming absolute victory in the most greatest of settings and being regarded as the Conqueror of Canada is a legacy many would carry on happily with. When that legacy is founded on false pretences it takes an introspective person to deny themselves a reputation and prefer to fade between the lines of history, but no one would let him. I thought the idea of the story was interesting, the writing was beautiful, and the narrative had an air of mystery which maintained a great interest. Where I had a problem was that from a logic standpoint, I'm one that has a hard time suspending belief. Where it balanced my feelings were with the motivations behind the characters. The narrative was also too literary for my liking which made the common and informal dialogue seem out of place. What I'll take away from this novel is the lessons of war and the tragedies it leaves behind not only on the battlefield but within the 'survivors' as well.
"People have doppelgängers, or the displacement of travelling makes resemblance seem more startling than it is, or the mind and heart miss a person so greatly that they superimpose the loved one's features and gait and whole mien over an unsuspecting other person, in another country, and, in my case, another time."
October 27, 2017
I loved Annabel. I couldn't stand this book. It was painful (not in a mind-stretching but an endurance of boredom) kind of way. Were her name not on the book and connected in advertising to the Kathleen Winter of Annabel, I would not believe it was the same author. I made it through 100 pages and decided that life is too short.
I hate giving bad reviews. This book simply felt like a punishment to read.
It was an ARC. I feel guilty that I couldn't finish it. That said, my guilt and inability to slog through are testament to the drudgery I found the book to be.
Having loved Annabel so much, I certainly won't write off Kathleen Winter as an author. I'll hope this was an aberration and that her next novel will be of stellar narrative and prosaic quality as was her first.
I hate giving bad reviews. This book simply felt like a punishment to read.
It was an ARC. I feel guilty that I couldn't finish it. That said, my guilt and inability to slog through are testament to the drudgery I found the book to be.
Having loved Annabel so much, I certainly won't write off Kathleen Winter as an author. I'll hope this was an aberration and that her next novel will be of stellar narrative and prosaic quality as was her first.
September 12, 2017
I read and enjoyed Kathleen Winter’s debut novel, Annabel, so I was excited to read her second novel.
In present-day Montreal, Jimmy, a young man who bears a striking resemblance to General James Wolfe, visits the city for 11 days. General Wolfe died September 13, 1759, on the Plains of Abraham in a pivotal battle in Canadian history, but Jimmy seems to have Wolfe’s memories. In 1752, Wolfe lost an 11-day leave in Paris because of the switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar; now Jimmy takes that leave in Montreal.
The mystery, of course, is who Jimmy is. Surely he can’t be who he claims to be, and there are hints and clues that suggest Jimmy is very much a contemporary man. Wolfe fought battles at Culloden and Dettingen, but he wouldn’t have been in Ghundy Ghar which Jimmy mentions in the first few pages. The best description of Jimmy is as a figure on a Tarot card: “The man does not appear to know where to go or how to move beyond loss.” At the beginning, Jimmy speaks of his “waiting for the crater that might jolt me properly into being in the present instead of floating in the past.” It is difficult to believe that Jimmy is Wolfe, but it becomes clear that he is certainly a veteran damaged by his experiences in war; he describes himself as having “no shield against reliving war in Technicolor, all night, every day.”
Obviously, the book focuses on the futility of war. If a soldier were able, in the future, to return to the battlefield on which he died, would he find that his sacrifice had been worthwhile? Wolfe won Canada for England and had believed “there would grow a people here, out of our own little spot in England, to fill this space and become a vast Empire, the seat of power and learning,” but Jimmy, during a visit to Costco, concludes, “It is as if England has had a nightmare in which the Empire’s crowning achievement has been to inflate the size of material goods.” Wolfe hoped “boys who became soldiers with me . . . I really thought the New World was supposed to give them a chance at a parcel of ground” but Jimmy finds only “the old, weary bondage” because “the poor toil here unexalted as ever. As for the well-provided, their banal crowing echoes the clang of trussell on planchet under every New World moment: a relentless strike of metal into coin.” Jimmy concludes that it is “ludicrous to call the land owned, conquered, taken by one small group of men who do not even plan to stay on it.”
The time and place of a war is unimportant: “I have surveyed moor . . . desert . . . does the terrain’s name matter? Land outspans army and king. It outlives us, and will outbreathe us. Does the year of any given campaign – Dettingen, Culloden, Quebec, Ghundy Ghar – do its dates mean a thing? I dig up human bones everywhere – no matter where we fight a war, that land holds bones in it from previous warriors.” And history has not had a paucity of battlefields: “’There have been a lot of enemies in a few well-chosen hellholes.’” The suggestion is that war and soldiers have always been with us and always will be: “All warriors descend from a single, ancient Council of War forged at the dawn of manhood.” It is easy to draw men into war: “How little deception is needed when men believe so fervently in bits of bright cloth.” And the result is always the same: broken men.
There is some commentary about contemporary life in la belle province. Jimmy is aghast at how little English he encounters since Wolfe won the country for England in 1759. In Quebec City, Jimmy sees the monument shared by Montcalm and Wolfe and makes a telling observation: “It came to me then, that every monument, every object in the plains museum, every rose and bleeding heart nodding its head in the Joan of Arc garden bejewelling the Plains of Abraham, every citizen and every ship and bird and fish in and on the river, attest to the continued life in Quebec of the people of Wolfe and Montcalm, standing on the same ground but, like the names on the plinth overlooking the river, never seeing each other.”
I knew little about General James Wolfe other than what I was taught in high school Canadian history classes so many years ago. It is obvious that Kathleen Winter did considerable research. I advise readers to do some reading about the man before reading the book; even the Wikipedia article would be helpful in explaining some of the references. Look at Benjamin West’s painting entitled “The Death of General Wolfe” (https://www.google.com/culturalinstit...) to appreciate Jimmy’s comment: “a literary person called Margaret Atwood claimed West made me appear like a dead, white codfish, and I had to agree.”
At first I struggled with the book. It is sometimes difficult to know what is real and what isn’t. Jimmy is the narrator and his thoughts wander so a reader may find him/herself confused at times. After finishing the novel, I went back to the beginning and did a quick second reading. This book is the type that needs a re-reading to highlight Winter’s accomplishment. Images and symbols clarify themselves. The book is not perfect because it does drag at times and some of the events are predictable, but it has much to recommend it: the protagonist, the setting, and the themes are all well-developed.
Note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
In present-day Montreal, Jimmy, a young man who bears a striking resemblance to General James Wolfe, visits the city for 11 days. General Wolfe died September 13, 1759, on the Plains of Abraham in a pivotal battle in Canadian history, but Jimmy seems to have Wolfe’s memories. In 1752, Wolfe lost an 11-day leave in Paris because of the switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar; now Jimmy takes that leave in Montreal.
The mystery, of course, is who Jimmy is. Surely he can’t be who he claims to be, and there are hints and clues that suggest Jimmy is very much a contemporary man. Wolfe fought battles at Culloden and Dettingen, but he wouldn’t have been in Ghundy Ghar which Jimmy mentions in the first few pages. The best description of Jimmy is as a figure on a Tarot card: “The man does not appear to know where to go or how to move beyond loss.” At the beginning, Jimmy speaks of his “waiting for the crater that might jolt me properly into being in the present instead of floating in the past.” It is difficult to believe that Jimmy is Wolfe, but it becomes clear that he is certainly a veteran damaged by his experiences in war; he describes himself as having “no shield against reliving war in Technicolor, all night, every day.”
Obviously, the book focuses on the futility of war. If a soldier were able, in the future, to return to the battlefield on which he died, would he find that his sacrifice had been worthwhile? Wolfe won Canada for England and had believed “there would grow a people here, out of our own little spot in England, to fill this space and become a vast Empire, the seat of power and learning,” but Jimmy, during a visit to Costco, concludes, “It is as if England has had a nightmare in which the Empire’s crowning achievement has been to inflate the size of material goods.” Wolfe hoped “boys who became soldiers with me . . . I really thought the New World was supposed to give them a chance at a parcel of ground” but Jimmy finds only “the old, weary bondage” because “the poor toil here unexalted as ever. As for the well-provided, their banal crowing echoes the clang of trussell on planchet under every New World moment: a relentless strike of metal into coin.” Jimmy concludes that it is “ludicrous to call the land owned, conquered, taken by one small group of men who do not even plan to stay on it.”
The time and place of a war is unimportant: “I have surveyed moor . . . desert . . . does the terrain’s name matter? Land outspans army and king. It outlives us, and will outbreathe us. Does the year of any given campaign – Dettingen, Culloden, Quebec, Ghundy Ghar – do its dates mean a thing? I dig up human bones everywhere – no matter where we fight a war, that land holds bones in it from previous warriors.” And history has not had a paucity of battlefields: “’There have been a lot of enemies in a few well-chosen hellholes.’” The suggestion is that war and soldiers have always been with us and always will be: “All warriors descend from a single, ancient Council of War forged at the dawn of manhood.” It is easy to draw men into war: “How little deception is needed when men believe so fervently in bits of bright cloth.” And the result is always the same: broken men.
There is some commentary about contemporary life in la belle province. Jimmy is aghast at how little English he encounters since Wolfe won the country for England in 1759. In Quebec City, Jimmy sees the monument shared by Montcalm and Wolfe and makes a telling observation: “It came to me then, that every monument, every object in the plains museum, every rose and bleeding heart nodding its head in the Joan of Arc garden bejewelling the Plains of Abraham, every citizen and every ship and bird and fish in and on the river, attest to the continued life in Quebec of the people of Wolfe and Montcalm, standing on the same ground but, like the names on the plinth overlooking the river, never seeing each other.”
I knew little about General James Wolfe other than what I was taught in high school Canadian history classes so many years ago. It is obvious that Kathleen Winter did considerable research. I advise readers to do some reading about the man before reading the book; even the Wikipedia article would be helpful in explaining some of the references. Look at Benjamin West’s painting entitled “The Death of General Wolfe” (https://www.google.com/culturalinstit...) to appreciate Jimmy’s comment: “a literary person called Margaret Atwood claimed West made me appear like a dead, white codfish, and I had to agree.”
At first I struggled with the book. It is sometimes difficult to know what is real and what isn’t. Jimmy is the narrator and his thoughts wander so a reader may find him/herself confused at times. After finishing the novel, I went back to the beginning and did a quick second reading. This book is the type that needs a re-reading to highlight Winter’s accomplishment. Images and symbols clarify themselves. The book is not perfect because it does drag at times and some of the events are predictable, but it has much to recommend it: the protagonist, the setting, and the themes are all well-developed.
Note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
December 21, 2019
I received this book through the Goodreads Giveaway program in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately, this book was a DNF (did not finish) for me, as I absolutely could not get hooked on the storyline or characters. I found the main character to be whiny and longwinded, and found that the book dragged slowly on with little direction.
Unfortunately, this book was a DNF (did not finish) for me, as I absolutely could not get hooked on the storyline or characters. I found the main character to be whiny and longwinded, and found that the book dragged slowly on with little direction.
November 14, 2017
I was disappointed, confused a lot, and uninterested a lot. But the writing is good, and the story might have resonated for me more if I had read the reviews beforehand.
I love this. Harold explains his knitting in relation to his witnessing. Brilliant. Beautiful. Insightful.
"'I'm engaged,' he says. 'I'm part of the proceedings. I'm not concentrating on the knitting. In reality, I'm not knitting at all.'"
This is gorgeous and insightful about mothers, mothering, their role.
"Mothers have the wrong status to interfering in a soldier's life when that soldier gets infected with romance. Mothers know they have no say: they are women, they are roses on the wane, they are the past generation. They've begun looking upriver to the source instead of downstream to that thrilling unknown. ..."
And then the story we follow BEGINS.
"SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2017.
AFTERNOON.
Gaspé Peninsula, Quebec
'SOPHIE!' I WAIL, BUT THESE barrens swallow my voice.
Behind me recede northern lakes, distant peaks draped with snow. Here come little bridges, fragile fences...I check the ditches, always check the ditches, because if I've learned one thing it's that I'm not, in fact, invincible—once minute you're fine then in a split second—fuck! Elwyn...
Is nobody around?
'Sophie!'"
With a Prologue, in the form of a letter, a frame, this book BEGINS. I wish I had been paying better attention...
"JANUARY 2, 2018
SAINT ALFEGE CHURCH
GREENWICH, LONDON
UNITED KINGDOM
Dear James Wolfe,
I wanted to write this book in time for your birthday. Silly, I know, but why not place it on your grave here at Saint Alfege on this day that celebrates your life? That is, after all, what I have tried to do in these pages. Forgive me if I have not entirely succeeded. Try to see my intent. I don't mean to complain, but you gave me no choice except to look for traces of you in unexpected streets, in modern places as well as old haunts. How else was I able to find what you dearly wanted me to know? For I have, dear James, heard you whispering to me at night in the park, or by day in libraries, and in the voices of people I have met while on your trail. And I believe with all my heart that you wanted me to meet a certain representative of yours—that you placed him in my path, so that he might hand me your message directly."
I love this. Harold explains his knitting in relation to his witnessing. Brilliant. Beautiful. Insightful.
"'I'm engaged,' he says. 'I'm part of the proceedings. I'm not concentrating on the knitting. In reality, I'm not knitting at all.'"
This is gorgeous and insightful about mothers, mothering, their role.
"Mothers have the wrong status to interfering in a soldier's life when that soldier gets infected with romance. Mothers know they have no say: they are women, they are roses on the wane, they are the past generation. They've begun looking upriver to the source instead of downstream to that thrilling unknown. ..."
And then the story we follow BEGINS.
"SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2017.
AFTERNOON.
Gaspé Peninsula, Quebec
'SOPHIE!' I WAIL, BUT THESE barrens swallow my voice.
Behind me recede northern lakes, distant peaks draped with snow. Here come little bridges, fragile fences...I check the ditches, always check the ditches, because if I've learned one thing it's that I'm not, in fact, invincible—once minute you're fine then in a split second—fuck! Elwyn...
Is nobody around?
'Sophie!'"
With a Prologue, in the form of a letter, a frame, this book BEGINS. I wish I had been paying better attention...
"JANUARY 2, 2018
SAINT ALFEGE CHURCH
GREENWICH, LONDON
UNITED KINGDOM
Dear James Wolfe,
I wanted to write this book in time for your birthday. Silly, I know, but why not place it on your grave here at Saint Alfege on this day that celebrates your life? That is, after all, what I have tried to do in these pages. Forgive me if I have not entirely succeeded. Try to see my intent. I don't mean to complain, but you gave me no choice except to look for traces of you in unexpected streets, in modern places as well as old haunts. How else was I able to find what you dearly wanted me to know? For I have, dear James, heard you whispering to me at night in the park, or by day in libraries, and in the voices of people I have met while on your trail. And I believe with all my heart that you wanted me to meet a certain representative of yours—that you placed him in my path, so that he might hand me your message directly."
August 8, 2017
"All memory is a failed mirror."
*Review contains mild spoilers*
I'm torn on this one.
Kathleen Winter has the sort of writing that would make English teachers fall in love. Very literary, very clever, but not always easy to follow. Everyone, including modern, everyday characters, spoke using so many details and similes that it felt awkward and convoluted, made especially jarring when modern phrases like 'freaking out' were tossed in. Probably 25% could've been cut, and it would've made things so much better. The ending, for example, was emotional and poignant . . . but was followed by a painfully long letter that completely ruined the mood.
The premise itself was great. The supporting cast (a indomitable homeless woman, a philosophical knitter who suddenly finds his blindness cured) added a perfect quirkiness. Jimmy, as a young veteran struggling with PTSD, was a relevant and sympathetic character. I just kinda found the whole James Wolfe thing a bit hard to accept. The intensity with which Jimmy identified with James felt almost TOO real for simple mental illness, and I still don't know whether I've bought it or not.
I wish Jimmy's realisation came more gradually, rather than him hardcore believing he's Wolfe, then BAM real memories, then BAM nope, he's still Wolfe BAM he's reached his epiphany, he's definitely Jimmy. He never really seemed too worried about it.
But still, if this book has done one thing, it's made me think. Underneath suffocatingly flowery language, touches of implausibility, and chapters I probably could've skipped, there's raw, unapologetic insight into the cruelty of war throughout the ages and the broken lives it leaves behind.
**I received this book through a Goodreads Giveaway**
*Review contains mild spoilers*
I'm torn on this one.
Kathleen Winter has the sort of writing that would make English teachers fall in love. Very literary, very clever, but not always easy to follow. Everyone, including modern, everyday characters, spoke using so many details and similes that it felt awkward and convoluted, made especially jarring when modern phrases like 'freaking out' were tossed in. Probably 25% could've been cut, and it would've made things so much better. The ending, for example, was emotional and poignant . . . but was followed by a painfully long letter that completely ruined the mood.
The premise itself was great. The supporting cast (a indomitable homeless woman, a philosophical knitter who suddenly finds his blindness cured) added a perfect quirkiness. Jimmy, as a young veteran struggling with PTSD, was a relevant and sympathetic character. I just kinda found the whole James Wolfe thing a bit hard to accept. The intensity with which Jimmy identified with James felt almost TOO real for simple mental illness, and I still don't know whether I've bought it or not.
I wish Jimmy's realisation came more gradually, rather than him hardcore believing he's Wolfe, then BAM real memories, then BAM nope, he's still Wolfe BAM he's reached his epiphany, he's definitely Jimmy. He never really seemed too worried about it.
But still, if this book has done one thing, it's made me think. Underneath suffocatingly flowery language, touches of implausibility, and chapters I probably could've skipped, there's raw, unapologetic insight into the cruelty of war throughout the ages and the broken lives it leaves behind.
**I received this book through a Goodreads Giveaway**
November 19, 2017
4.6/5.0
Hidden Gems:
I believe one of the greatest perils to a man's soul is the unseemly adoption of dramatic and irrational spiritual beliefs.
How I miss dogs - how good they are at quenching the bitter end of loneliness.
Uncertainty is my mistress.
Risk is her middle name.
Anyone foolish enough to raise half a silk balloon over his head every step he takes would certainly be the laughing stock of the whole country for being so unfit and cowardly as to be scared of a raindrop.
Sometimes an unaccountable sadness comes at me from out of nowhere. There are innumerable reasons to feel broken-hearted, but which one is at play during any given bout of broken-heartedness? Sometimes I can't tell.
Though reading is a solitary act requiring privacy and quiet, I feel bound to other readers by an invisible thread of words, a kinship without speech.
I'm firmly of the opinion that every meeting of the United Nations, and every war fought on every battlefield, should have a person present who is devoted to knitting.
Hidden Gems:
I believe one of the greatest perils to a man's soul is the unseemly adoption of dramatic and irrational spiritual beliefs.
How I miss dogs - how good they are at quenching the bitter end of loneliness.
Uncertainty is my mistress.
Risk is her middle name.
Anyone foolish enough to raise half a silk balloon over his head every step he takes would certainly be the laughing stock of the whole country for being so unfit and cowardly as to be scared of a raindrop.
Sometimes an unaccountable sadness comes at me from out of nowhere. There are innumerable reasons to feel broken-hearted, but which one is at play during any given bout of broken-heartedness? Sometimes I can't tell.
Though reading is a solitary act requiring privacy and quiet, I feel bound to other readers by an invisible thread of words, a kinship without speech.
I'm firmly of the opinion that every meeting of the United Nations, and every war fought on every battlefield, should have a person present who is devoted to knitting.
April 16, 2018
This book has an intriguing premise, about General James Wolfe who (along with everyone else) lost eleven days in September 1752 when Britain abandoned the Julian calendar for the Gregorian calendar... and now it seems that he comes back to present-day Montreal every September to see how "New French Britain" has fared since General Wolfe died in 1759 at the Battle on the Plains of Abraham. I enjoyed meeting Kathleen Winter at a literary festival this weekend, and she read from the passage about "Jimmy" visiting Costco in Montreal. The author explained how the book started as non-fiction as she researched his letters to his mother, but then morphed into fiction as she had to imagine his mother's side of the story. The author has a vivid imagination and has written great scenes and great images, but as a whole, I agree with other reviewers who found this book slow-going and confusing at times. Not as compelling reading as her book Anabel, but I will certainly read more by this author.
July 28, 2018
3.5 stars, actually, but I'm going to give it the upgrade for this system as I think this book is well worth reading.
Jimmy Blanchard is a Canadian soldier home from Afghanistan who believes that he is the living embodiment of James Wolfe, the British Commander killed on the plains of Abraham in what is now Quebec City while taking the city for the British in the 1700s. Jimmy/Wolfe has been wandering the streets of Montreal trying to piece together his earlier life and hrbwants to get to the Plains of Abraham on his "death day" in September to...what? It is never clear.
This challenging portrait of a modern day soldier barely surviving his own experience is intertwined with the history of that earlier soldier, James Wolfe, and gives a new perspective on both of their lives and struggles.
I found this a challenging read as it took many chapters for the novel to engage me, but it was well worth the perseverance.
Jimmy Blanchard is a Canadian soldier home from Afghanistan who believes that he is the living embodiment of James Wolfe, the British Commander killed on the plains of Abraham in what is now Quebec City while taking the city for the British in the 1700s. Jimmy/Wolfe has been wandering the streets of Montreal trying to piece together his earlier life and hrbwants to get to the Plains of Abraham on his "death day" in September to...what? It is never clear.
This challenging portrait of a modern day soldier barely surviving his own experience is intertwined with the history of that earlier soldier, James Wolfe, and gives a new perspective on both of their lives and struggles.
I found this a challenging read as it took many chapters for the novel to engage me, but it was well worth the perseverance.
January 24, 2023
An impressive piece of literature that interweaves the past and present life/military history involving James Wolfe (Plains of Abraham) and Jimmy Blanchard (Afghanistan). The reader is immersed in Jimmy’s delusional world where he believes himself to be Wolfe. His goal is to return to his death place in Quebec City. Jimmy is both aused and hindered by his tent mate and counsellor, Sophie. Ultimately, it is Harold, a fellow homeless person who helps Jimmy emerge from his alter ego and return to a lucid state with tools and hope for a better, more sane future.
This book is a tough read because isn’t until the reader
Is more than 2/3rds through the book before the plot begins to make sense. I wanted to abandoned this book several times before I reached the “I get it” point. This book will likely make to university literature course syllabi, but will frustrate most readers.
This book is a tough read because isn’t until the reader
Is more than 2/3rds through the book before the plot begins to make sense. I wanted to abandoned this book several times before I reached the “I get it” point. This book will likely make to university literature course syllabi, but will frustrate most readers.
October 19, 2017
I received this book as part of the Goodreads Giveaways.
I have to admit that I was rather confused reading this book. PTSD? Really? I am not sure I would have noticed had I not been told. For me, the parts where I connected the most with the character, where I was both touched and interested, were the parts on Wolfe and the descriptions of the battles with Montcalme I was truly open to read on war and its impact on soldiers – and Quebec’s battle did give me a glimpse of that. Yet, for some reason I did not connect with the character’s wandering around Montreal and his various encounters with other people. Unfortunately, I just cannot put my finger on the why it did not work for me. There was no magic.
I have to admit that I was rather confused reading this book. PTSD? Really? I am not sure I would have noticed had I not been told. For me, the parts where I connected the most with the character, where I was both touched and interested, were the parts on Wolfe and the descriptions of the battles with Montcalme I was truly open to read on war and its impact on soldiers – and Quebec’s battle did give me a glimpse of that. Yet, for some reason I did not connect with the character’s wandering around Montreal and his various encounters with other people. Unfortunately, I just cannot put my finger on the why it did not work for me. There was no magic.
March 3, 2018
So much to love in her writing - keen observer, wordsmith, creator of vivid and touching scenes — but this was a disappointing read — maybe I just didn’t get it, but the concept of a disturbed and damaged young man living with PTSD, inhabiting the life and character of James Wolfe, perhaps another PTSD affected soldier, living the eleven days that Wolf missed out of his life due to the calendar change in 1752 - it just didn’t work for me — maybe because I found this Wolfe to be a whiner? — I was initially intrigued by the concept, but the story sagged in the middle, the end explained rather than revealed and hit the reader over the head with the symbols just in case s/he might have missed something along the way. Maybe this is too deep for me?
March 3, 2019
I nearly gave up on this book but I’m glad I persevered. I love Canadian history and this provides a unique look at one of the most important figures of that country’s story, pre-Confederation, General James Wolfe. Wolfe, here, is presented in the delusions of a Canadian Afghan war veteran who suffers from PTSD, therefore this is also a story about mental illness, in particular, the effects of war on the psyche. Some of the “battle scenes” are difficult to get through but Jimmy’s story is compelling. You want to know the real Jimmy B (as does he) but you are also pulled into his delusions. The scenes describing Quebec City are so well done that, although I’ve never been there, I feel like I have. Maybe I will go one day, and honour both Jimmys.
August 19, 2017
I won this book from GoodReads this month. I read Kathleen Winter's novel "Annabel" last year and really liked it. Her latest novel "Lost in September" comes out, appropriately, in September. It is the story of Jimmy who is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan and he is suffering from PTSD. He believes he is the reincarnated historical leader General James Wolfe who died in 1759 on the Plains of Abraham. The story is beautifully written, at times funny and other times very sad. Winter brings the city of Montreal to life on the page and she also brings a part of Canadian history to life through Jimmy.
August 22, 2017
I won a copy of this book from Goodreads. I studied General James Wolfe in high school and visited the Plains of Abraham over 40 years ago. so the subject matter of the book caught my attention. I really enjoyed this book. It took me awhile to really get into it but once I did, I had to keep reading to see how it all worked out. I have not read anything by the author of this book,Kathleen Winter, but I will be on the lookout for other books by her. I found her style of writing very easy to understand and the prose just sort of seemed to flow. All in all it was a very enjoyable book. I would recommend others to read this book.
September 3, 2017
I won a copy of these from Goodreads and was very interested to read it. Although it isn't a book I'd typically read, I did enjoy it. Forced to choose between a 3 and a 4, (since if available, I'd give it a 3.5), I ended up going with a 3, since it did take a bit too long to get to where it was going, despite not being a long book. I agree with those that commented on how the book at times was hard to follow at times due to the shifting timelines and locales and how the flowery language was a little too verbose at times. It was evident where the story was going early, but this is definitely one of the instances where it's more about the journey than the destination.
August 20, 2018
Disclaimer: I obtained this copy from a Goodreads Giveaway.
I love complex Canadian fiction, and Kathleen Winter's newest novel does not disappoint. Elegant writing, beautiful language, and fluid characters and narratives made this novel a good, slow read that needs time to be devoured. Playing on questions of identity, self, history, and trauma, Winter weaves a complex story that will leave you questioning everything you think you have learned (and changing your mind with each chapter). Slipping between times (metaphorical, at the very least), Winter's novel will make you think and want to read it again.
I love complex Canadian fiction, and Kathleen Winter's newest novel does not disappoint. Elegant writing, beautiful language, and fluid characters and narratives made this novel a good, slow read that needs time to be devoured. Playing on questions of identity, self, history, and trauma, Winter weaves a complex story that will leave you questioning everything you think you have learned (and changing your mind with each chapter). Slipping between times (metaphorical, at the very least), Winter's novel will make you think and want to read it again.
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