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Forest Green
For readers of Elizabeth Strout and Anne Tyler, a powerful, heartrending novel about a man on the run from himself, by Governor General's Award-winning author Kate Pullinger.
On a rain-soaked Vancouver sidewalk in 1995, a homeless man fights for breath. Forest Green is the story of how he ended up there.
Arthur Lunn is a golden boy who spends long summer days roaming the hills and swimming in the lakes of the Okanagan Valley. But the Great Depression is destroying lives, even in Art's remote and bucolic hometown. Soon, Art finds himself caught up in a battle between the town and the vagrants flowing through it, and before long the tension reaches a boiling point.
A catastrophe follows--and changes everything. The trauma from this event shapes and haunts Art's life moving forward, from his experiences as a soldier in World War II to his reckless, nomadic working days in logging camps across British Columbia to his turbulent relationship with his one great love--a woman he cannot believe he deserves.
Painful, poignant, yet full of hope, Forest Green explores how trauma can warp our lives while love can help us to mend.
On a rain-soaked Vancouver sidewalk in 1995, a homeless man fights for breath. Forest Green is the story of how he ended up there.
Arthur Lunn is a golden boy who spends long summer days roaming the hills and swimming in the lakes of the Okanagan Valley. But the Great Depression is destroying lives, even in Art's remote and bucolic hometown. Soon, Art finds himself caught up in a battle between the town and the vagrants flowing through it, and before long the tension reaches a boiling point.
A catastrophe follows--and changes everything. The trauma from this event shapes and haunts Art's life moving forward, from his experiences as a soldier in World War II to his reckless, nomadic working days in logging camps across British Columbia to his turbulent relationship with his one great love--a woman he cannot believe he deserves.
Painful, poignant, yet full of hope, Forest Green explores how trauma can warp our lives while love can help us to mend.
240 pages, Hardcover
Published April 28, 2020
8 people are currently reading
369 people want to read
About the author
Kate Pullinger
41 books84 followersKate Pullinger is an award-winning writer of novels, short stories and digital works. Her most recent book is FOREST GREEN, out in Canada in August 2020. She is Professor of Creative Writing and Digital Media at Bath Spa University.
Born in Cranbrook, British Columbia, Kate dropped out of McGill University after a year and a half of not studying philosophy and literature. She then spent a year working in a copper mine in the Yukon where she crushed rocks and saved money. She spent that money travelling and ended up in London, England, where she lives with her husband and two children.
Kate’s other books include The Mistress of Nothing, winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction 2009, Landing Gear, A Little Stranger and The Last Time I Saw Jane, as well as the ghost tale, Weird Sister, and the erotic feminist vampire novel Where Does Kissing End? These four titles have recently been re-released in new ebook editions.
Kate’s digital works include Inanimate Alice (www.inanimatealice.com), an episodic online multimedia novel and Flight Paths: A Networked Novel (www.flightpaths.net)
You can find out more about Kate and her work at www.katepullinger.com
Born in Cranbrook, British Columbia, Kate dropped out of McGill University after a year and a half of not studying philosophy and literature. She then spent a year working in a copper mine in the Yukon where she crushed rocks and saved money. She spent that money travelling and ended up in London, England, where she lives with her husband and two children.
Kate’s other books include The Mistress of Nothing, winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction 2009, Landing Gear, A Little Stranger and The Last Time I Saw Jane, as well as the ghost tale, Weird Sister, and the erotic feminist vampire novel Where Does Kissing End? These four titles have recently been re-released in new ebook editions.
Kate’s digital works include Inanimate Alice (www.inanimatealice.com), an episodic online multimedia novel and Flight Paths: A Networked Novel (www.flightpaths.net)
You can find out more about Kate and her work at www.katepullinger.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
October 7, 2020
Forest Green starts in 1995, when the main character, Arthur Lunn, is homeless and badly beaten in the streets of Vancouver. The story then travels backwards to 1934, when Art was seven years old and witnessed an event that would shape the rest of his life. The rest of the novel follows Art through the decades of his life, from his experiences during WWII, his relationships, and his work as a logger, and explores how his childhood trauma and the guilt that accompanies it continues to haunt him.
Forest Green is a well-written and thought-provoking novel. Even though it deals with heavy topics, it is a soft and quiet story and I was fully invested in Art’s life. The book ends on a hopeful note, which I really appreciated.
Forest Green is a well-written and thought-provoking novel. Even though it deals with heavy topics, it is a soft and quiet story and I was fully invested in Art’s life. The book ends on a hopeful note, which I really appreciated.
October 29, 2020
Forest Green is a skillfully written character study loosely based on a bit of Pullinger’s family history. It shows how a single childhood trauma sets Artie’s life on a different path, taking him from the Okanagan Valley, to WWII Italy, to the logging camps of BC, to the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. It’s heartbreaking to read about his self-destructive behaviour as he struggles to deal with his past. His family, welcoming each time he turns up back home over the decades don’t know how to help him. I felt so much empathy for all of them and so appreciated the redemptive ending.
November 22, 2020
A violent incident in the life of a young boy affects the trajectory of his life.
This was mainly a gentle story about a sensitive man who lives a life burdened by shame. It was a sad story, told in a series of episodes over a lifetime. I appreciated reading a story based in British Columbia, especially one that rang so true.
This was mainly a gentle story about a sensitive man who lives a life burdened by shame. It was a sad story, told in a series of episodes over a lifetime. I appreciated reading a story based in British Columbia, especially one that rang so true.
February 11, 2024
The book starts in 1995 as Arthur Lunn awakens on the street badly beaten and laying in his own filth. The story takes the reader on a journey of Arthur's life starting in the 1930's and through the decades until he is about to celebrate his 80th birthday. The trajectory of his life is not a good one, as he faces loss, alcoholism and homelessness. A sad story.
A lot of it takes place in BC which is interesting...Kelowna and the Okanagan.
A lot of it takes place in BC which is interesting...Kelowna and the Okanagan.
October 16, 2020
I’m sorry to only give this book 2.5 stars. I just found it too cliched and not original. It didn’t pull me in enough and I actually didn’t finish it. (Perhaps I should have stuck with it but life is too short and why finish a book that’s not that compelling when there’s the genius of Alice Munro short stories which I could read over and over?) The “incident” itself I found really interesting and intriguing but it wasn’t realistic that the two kids were only seven and eight years old when it happened given the grown-up way they talked and reflected upon it. I just can’t imagine a seven-year-old acting that way. He seemed more like he was twelve or thirteen. Also, nobody referred to “The Depression” as such in the early 1930s. It wasn’t until the 1950s that people started looking back and calling it, The Great Depression. In this book, the seven-year-old, in 1932, talks about how he feels like the Depression is lasting forever. How could an editor let this pass? It was only referred to as “a depression” in the 1930s, not as a capitalized entity or era, and certainly not by a seven-year-old at the beginning of that era. My parents both grew up during the Depression and they never heard it referred to that way until two decades later. I just researched this to confirm it (and also remember this from history classes). Anyway, I didn’t find this book to be stellar but maybe it’s because I’ve read too many good books and am a tough critic. Off the top of my head, for really good books set during WWII, try Atonement by Ian McEwan, or Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson. Or Remains of the Day, which is one of my all-time favourites.
June 3, 2021
An author I should know but didn't (do now!); a story I'm deeply moved to have found. Taken from the author's family's lore and legend, I think this tale of Art Lunn could be every family's tale. From the Great Depression through World War II and into the the 2000's, this is Art's history, and a nation's history, and the history of the logging industry in the 20th century. Pullinger draws us in to appreciate this (very) flawed protagonist.
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September 25, 2020Heartbreaking. All the people living on the streets have a story. We need to stop walking past and feel their story.
Especially poignant & relatable with the Okanagan/BC setting.
Especially poignant & relatable with the Okanagan/BC setting.
August 3, 2021
Yay Canadian writers! And double double yay for real Canadian characters and setting! I've just found out that the story was based somewhat on the author's own family history which not only gives the characters and events that much more realism but gives them a genuine emotional connection. I was expecting a more blasé ending but was amply rewarded with a touch of joy.
February 15, 2023
I stuck it out for 75% before calling it quits… only because it was a book club selection.🥱
I found it rather boring.
I found it rather boring.
November 28, 2022
Being familiar with the Okanagan and other parts of British Columbia, I enjoyed the book immensely. I cared about the characters and what happened to them. The author did a fine job of telling Art's story from childhood to almost 80...I look forward to reading another story by Kate Pullinger.
August 25, 2020
I first encountered Kate Pullinger about a decade ago when her Mistress of Nothing won the 2009 Governor General’s Award for Fiction. I would not be surprised if Forest Green wins some literary awards.
The book begins in 1995 with a homeless man on the streets of Vancouver. Via flashbacks, we are told the story of how he came to be in this situation. The first flashback is to 1934 when Arthur Lunn is seven years old and living with his family in the Okanagan Valley. His family is largely unaffected by the Great Depression, but there is an encampment of unemployed men nearby. Art and his sister Peg encounter a man at the camp and that meeting leads to a tragic event which leaves Art with feelings of guilt for the rest of his life.
The novel examines how childhood trauma can shape a person’s life. Because Art feels responsible for a tragedy, that “what had happened was his fault,” he feels others are always judging him so he makes a major decision about his life “to stop people thinking of him as the boy whose idiocy led to that terrible night.” When another tragedy occurs, Art feels even more guilt and even less able to escape “the pressure of the past” which he feels most strongly when with his family. He begins a nomadic existence in logging camps because “Being with his family made Art restless . . . always wanting to leave as soon as he’d arrived.” He is rescued by love but when yet another tragedy occurs, he is unable to recover.
Art spends much of his life as a logger so the book does provide glimpses into the logging industry in British Columbia and how attitudes to forestry have changed. Art thinks of trees “as a resource to be taken from the land, always there, infinite” even when the province looks like “a patchwork, as though it’s been scalped by a no-good barber who kept cutting off more hair in the hope of fixing his mistakes.” But then he encounters the forest green, the rainforest in the Queen Charlotte Islands (now Haida Gwaii), and he finds peace; he wants “to stay there, rooted, breathing the rainforest air.” And he realizes that “When you felled one of those trees, you were bringing hundreds of years of living to an end. . . . And it turned out that those trees, well, those trees were not infinite. That got to Art a little at the end.”
In the end, the forest serves as a metaphor for human life: “trees in a forest are all connected via their roots, that the forest floor is a kind of communication network made of moss and insects and fungi and all manner of life, and the forest itself a single organism, like a living soul regenerating through an endless cycle of rot and regrowth.” Art feels like a solitary tree until he re-connects to the forest. And the message is that we are all part of a single living soul.
Art emerges as a complex character. His life is not easy. Though readers will not agree with some of Art’s choices, they will understand and empathize. Though Art’s is only one story, it reminds us that there are many such stories among the homeless and addicted. A book that can inspire people to have compassion for the downtrodden is a good book.
The book is not especially lengthy, and the plot seems simple and straightforward, but it is thought-provoking and emotionally compelling.
Note: I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
The book begins in 1995 with a homeless man on the streets of Vancouver. Via flashbacks, we are told the story of how he came to be in this situation. The first flashback is to 1934 when Arthur Lunn is seven years old and living with his family in the Okanagan Valley. His family is largely unaffected by the Great Depression, but there is an encampment of unemployed men nearby. Art and his sister Peg encounter a man at the camp and that meeting leads to a tragic event which leaves Art with feelings of guilt for the rest of his life.
The novel examines how childhood trauma can shape a person’s life. Because Art feels responsible for a tragedy, that “what had happened was his fault,” he feels others are always judging him so he makes a major decision about his life “to stop people thinking of him as the boy whose idiocy led to that terrible night.” When another tragedy occurs, Art feels even more guilt and even less able to escape “the pressure of the past” which he feels most strongly when with his family. He begins a nomadic existence in logging camps because “Being with his family made Art restless . . . always wanting to leave as soon as he’d arrived.” He is rescued by love but when yet another tragedy occurs, he is unable to recover.
Art spends much of his life as a logger so the book does provide glimpses into the logging industry in British Columbia and how attitudes to forestry have changed. Art thinks of trees “as a resource to be taken from the land, always there, infinite” even when the province looks like “a patchwork, as though it’s been scalped by a no-good barber who kept cutting off more hair in the hope of fixing his mistakes.” But then he encounters the forest green, the rainforest in the Queen Charlotte Islands (now Haida Gwaii), and he finds peace; he wants “to stay there, rooted, breathing the rainforest air.” And he realizes that “When you felled one of those trees, you were bringing hundreds of years of living to an end. . . . And it turned out that those trees, well, those trees were not infinite. That got to Art a little at the end.”
In the end, the forest serves as a metaphor for human life: “trees in a forest are all connected via their roots, that the forest floor is a kind of communication network made of moss and insects and fungi and all manner of life, and the forest itself a single organism, like a living soul regenerating through an endless cycle of rot and regrowth.” Art feels like a solitary tree until he re-connects to the forest. And the message is that we are all part of a single living soul.
Art emerges as a complex character. His life is not easy. Though readers will not agree with some of Art’s choices, they will understand and empathize. Though Art’s is only one story, it reminds us that there are many such stories among the homeless and addicted. A book that can inspire people to have compassion for the downtrodden is a good book.
The book is not especially lengthy, and the plot seems simple and straightforward, but it is thought-provoking and emotionally compelling.
Note: I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
March 18, 2024
Forest Green is a short and easy to read novel that is both beautiful and tragic. It chronicles the entire life of the protagonist across BC and also abroad during the war (briefly), a life that is repeatedly marked by unresolved trauma and the effect that this has on the protagonist's choices, and ultimately, his life's path. I found this book to be a bit underdeveloped and thought the writing lacked strength, but I enjoyed the character development, the emotion, and the way it made me think about how trauma shapes a person, especially when emotions are intentionally buried.
Being someone who lives in the Okanagan, I also appreciated the local setting!
Being someone who lives in the Okanagan, I also appreciated the local setting!
July 2, 2023
This was fine enough I suppose. An interesting story that kept my interest. But I felt the main character was inconsistently drawn and I couldn’t understand his decisions or motivation throughout his life. I don’t feel like the author knew who he was.
October 1, 2020
I’m always so curious when a book is so short - will it be enough? Will it get across the message in just 200 pages? Well - what this book lacks in length - it makes up for in such an emotional story that spans decades.📖.
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The story opens in 1995 with Art - homeless and beaten - in the streets of Vancouver. How does someone end up in this place, what brought them to this moment? The story takes you back through Art’s childhood, his family and his life - his moments of happiness and sadness. This book shows how a moment of childhood trauma stays with a person forever and can shape their life - taking them to places they never imagined or dreamed they would be.😞.
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I loved this book - I was so wrapped up in Art’s story that as I read the last sentence, I wished there were another 200 pages to read - to continue hearing Art’s words and understand him just a little bit more. The writing is amazing. The 🇨🇦 book instantly grabs you and you are right there with Art every step of the way. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
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@tolovetoread #tolovetoread #read #reader #reading #readinglife #readersofinsta #readersofig #readthisbook #book #books #bookstagram #bookworm #bookish #bookreviewer #bibliophile #bookaddict #booksofig #booksof2020 #bookrecommendations #canadareads #bookishcanadians #amreading #bookthoughts #booklife #readanywhere #forestgreen #katepullinger #doubledaycanada #🇨🇦book
.
The story opens in 1995 with Art - homeless and beaten - in the streets of Vancouver. How does someone end up in this place, what brought them to this moment? The story takes you back through Art’s childhood, his family and his life - his moments of happiness and sadness. This book shows how a moment of childhood trauma stays with a person forever and can shape their life - taking them to places they never imagined or dreamed they would be.😞.
.
I loved this book - I was so wrapped up in Art’s story that as I read the last sentence, I wished there were another 200 pages to read - to continue hearing Art’s words and understand him just a little bit more. The writing is amazing. The 🇨🇦 book instantly grabs you and you are right there with Art every step of the way. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
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@tolovetoread #tolovetoread #read #reader #reading #readinglife #readersofinsta #readersofig #readthisbook #book #books #bookstagram #bookworm #bookish #bookreviewer #bibliophile #bookaddict #booksofig #booksof2020 #bookrecommendations #canadareads #bookishcanadians #amreading #bookthoughts #booklife #readanywhere #forestgreen #katepullinger #doubledaycanada #🇨🇦book
August 19, 2021
I listened to a bit of a podcast on homelessness today and one of the people interviewed, who was had herself been homeless for 5 years, said that we all forget that many of us who feel so secure in our own lives don't comprehend that we are only a couple of paycheques away from being there ourselves.
There's a lot of truth in that, and certainly Art's life was a spiral with a sort of redemption at the end. The impact of the Great Depression, World War 2, the decisions and hopes of his parents (who were doing their best to forge a good life for their family) all pushed Art along the track his life took. The choices he made for himself, even those that made sense to him at the time, led him further. Today we might say that weak communications skills, poor coping skills, poor decision making skills, and the impact of addiction are the cause of his problems. But maybe we just need to acknowledge that we are not always, if ever, in control of our life or in the way we handle the knocks that life brings us. The ending made the story more palatable, but the end Art has is not guaranteed. We as a community should try harder to see what brings people in his situation to an often more unhappy conclusion.
There's a lot of truth in that, and certainly Art's life was a spiral with a sort of redemption at the end. The impact of the Great Depression, World War 2, the decisions and hopes of his parents (who were doing their best to forge a good life for their family) all pushed Art along the track his life took. The choices he made for himself, even those that made sense to him at the time, led him further. Today we might say that weak communications skills, poor coping skills, poor decision making skills, and the impact of addiction are the cause of his problems. But maybe we just need to acknowledge that we are not always, if ever, in control of our life or in the way we handle the knocks that life brings us. The ending made the story more palatable, but the end Art has is not guaranteed. We as a community should try harder to see what brings people in his situation to an often more unhappy conclusion.
October 6, 2021
4.5 stars - A beautifully written and heartrending story that illustrates how a traumatic childhood event can affect the trajectory of one's life. Forest Green begins in 1995 when Art is an elderly homeless man who has been beaten and left lying on a street in Vancouver and then shows us how he ended up there.
Art is a young child during the Great Depression in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley when tension between townspeople and vagrants living in a nearby encampment comes to a head. 7 year-old Art is at the centre of a tragic event that will haunt his life and his relationships. We follow Art through the decades of his life and his relationships with family and his one great love - we see him growing up, his service in Europe during WWII, the years working as a semi-nomad in BC's logging industry and ultimately how he ended up on that Vancouver street fighting for his life. It's a tragic and painful life as Art seems always to be trying to escape his memories but while there's still life and love, there's hope.
Art is a young child during the Great Depression in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley when tension between townspeople and vagrants living in a nearby encampment comes to a head. 7 year-old Art is at the centre of a tragic event that will haunt his life and his relationships. We follow Art through the decades of his life and his relationships with family and his one great love - we see him growing up, his service in Europe during WWII, the years working as a semi-nomad in BC's logging industry and ultimately how he ended up on that Vancouver street fighting for his life. It's a tragic and painful life as Art seems always to be trying to escape his memories but while there's still life and love, there's hope.
November 12, 2022
A story that explores the succinct effects of early trauma and the road it carves when unrecognized and untreated. Our vulnerable and often self-destructive protagonist who experiences multiple horrific scenarios in his earlier years loses his core sense of self which seems to have the effect of marking his entire personhood as undeserving. This has catastrophic consequences.
Our anti-hero Arthur serves as a reminder that all people are walking books with an important story to tell. By sharing, we hope others can learn from these gems we've accrued in our lifetimes; the pain and joy. I know now that I will never pass another homeless/houseless person on the street without the understanding that an important story exists in all of us; we are living archives.
Arthur Lunn will remain in my head and heart along with some other unforgettable characters from books I love that live there permanently. I hope they get to know each other.
Thank you, Kate Pullinger for such a beautiful novel.
Our anti-hero Arthur serves as a reminder that all people are walking books with an important story to tell. By sharing, we hope others can learn from these gems we've accrued in our lifetimes; the pain and joy. I know now that I will never pass another homeless/houseless person on the street without the understanding that an important story exists in all of us; we are living archives.
Arthur Lunn will remain in my head and heart along with some other unforgettable characters from books I love that live there permanently. I hope they get to know each other.
Thank you, Kate Pullinger for such a beautiful novel.
February 11, 2023
Kate Pullinger’s “Forest Green” is billed as “A powerful, heartrending novel about a man on the run from himself.”. That is a bit of an oversell although it does deliver on that promise to some degree.
It depicts the life of Arthur Lunn from his childhood growing up during the depression in the Okanagan Valley through his years as an itinerant, unrooted loner working in logging camps to his later years when he falls on hard times. Two defining moments in his life, when his actions indirectly lead to tragedy, haunt him and hold him back from forming lasting relationships.
While the plot is engaging, Pullinger’s narrative voice lacks a distinctive quality. “Forest Green” is well written but suffers a bit because of this somewhat pedestrian voice. It also has one of those anticlimactic endings that are common these days and always leave me dissatisfied.
It depicts the life of Arthur Lunn from his childhood growing up during the depression in the Okanagan Valley through his years as an itinerant, unrooted loner working in logging camps to his later years when he falls on hard times. Two defining moments in his life, when his actions indirectly lead to tragedy, haunt him and hold him back from forming lasting relationships.
While the plot is engaging, Pullinger’s narrative voice lacks a distinctive quality. “Forest Green” is well written but suffers a bit because of this somewhat pedestrian voice. It also has one of those anticlimactic endings that are common these days and always leave me dissatisfied.
July 10, 2020
I thought this book was quite good and I can think of many readers who will enjoy it. I really appreciated that the book was set mostly throughout BC. There is something special about being able to visualize the place where the story is happening. A long period of time is covered in quite a short book so although I appreciated the story being told about the trauma of Arthur Lunn's childhood, which set him on a tragic life trajectory, it felt somewhat rushed. I did feel a lot of empathy for Arthur and I hope a lot of people read this and feel that empathy within themselves for our houseless community members.
August 9, 2020
I first want to thank NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for trusting in me to review this book.
I really enjoyed Forest Green. It is a very well written book and I couldn't put it down. Art had a rough start to his life. Starting off young with a lot of trauma sets him up for a life of anxiety and hardship. I really appreciated how well his story flowed and the ending was perfect. I will admit the setting drew me in. Being from British Columbia myself I could really picture the places that were talked about. I would definitely recommend this book. #netgalley #penguinrandomhousecanada #doubleday #forestgreen
I really enjoyed Forest Green. It is a very well written book and I couldn't put it down. Art had a rough start to his life. Starting off young with a lot of trauma sets him up for a life of anxiety and hardship. I really appreciated how well his story flowed and the ending was perfect. I will admit the setting drew me in. Being from British Columbia myself I could really picture the places that were talked about. I would definitely recommend this book. #netgalley #penguinrandomhousecanada #doubleday #forestgreen
July 31, 2021
I'm very interested in how trauma can affect how we live our life--but this one missed the mark. Art's life was abbreviated a bit too much for me to really connect with him, and honestly, the traumas in his life didn't seem significant enough (given his strong family of origin connection) for his life to unravel as much as it did (the characters life was so similar to my own grandfather's, but my grandpa, and so many of his generation, endured worse). This wasn't a very strong character, that was hard to connect with.
Overall interesting but not exceptional.
Overall interesting but not exceptional.
September 15, 2021
Much of Forest Green is set in the Okanagan Valley, my stomping grounds, as well as in BC logging camps along the Pacific. I was impressed with Pullinger’s exploration of the protagonist’s childhood trauma of one incident and how it affected his entire life, and yet he remained optimistic. The characters are alive on the page and all are there to help explain his life as he grapples with his demons and relentlessly pushes forward. An effective story that deals with the protagonist’s guilt, his concept of manhood, and the strength of family love.
December 9, 2020
What are the stories of the people who are unconscious and broken on the street? How did they end up there? In Forest Green, Kate Pullinger explores the story of one such man, and how the trauma of one incident has altered his life. It is a powerful story, dealing with guilt, how to live up to perceptions of manhood and womanhood, and the strength of family. A novel to consider for a book club as there are many themes to explore and discuss.
January 5, 2021
It’s been awhile since I’ve fallen into a novel so quickly and so completely. This is a beautiful story about a man’s life and how circumstances determined the path he chose. Wonderful, real characters and familiar settings in BC made it even more appealing. This is a book that everyone should read. We can all be too quick to judge someone, to blame and criticize. I loved that the author told this story backwards, showing how life doesn’t go according to plan, and experiences can change and alter us. So important not to judge others without knowing their story. I loved this book
January 12, 2021
The book follows Art through his life from a child to old age, from a childhood trauma to the life-long repercussions it has on the entire trajectory of his life. Wonderful sense of place and time in the Okanogan, Vancouver and Vancouver Island and depictions of two BC staple industries; orchards and lumber. I really enjoyed this book, it's the kind of book that sees the nuances in characters and that engenders compassion and understanding in the reader.
April 19, 2021
This was a heartbreaking story that followed a small boy growing up in the Okanagan, through to the end of his life on Vancouver’s downtown east side. It looks at how experiences and choices made early on in life, can have a devastating impact on how one lives through and on after an early traumatic event, at the baggage we carry with us after. A reminder that we may move on from the things that break us, but will always carry the scars.
January 6, 2024
Have no idea what the actual book was written for? Tell the story of Art throughout the years? Young kid, kid problems, he has PTSD from the Mister Theodore, goes to war, finds someone to have sex with. Never sees battle, but has PTSD from the horror stories, marries baby momma, then Celeste dies of SIDS, loses himself and becomes a functional alcoholic. Why was this book chooses to become a book vs others more worthy?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 23, 2020
We meet Art in a nearly comatose state on a downtown Vancouver street, awaiting aid from an ambulance. Then we are taken back to his childhood in the Okanagan and through all the decisions and adventures he pursues in his life, leading to this event. The book is well-written and insightful -- a good read.
November 12, 2020
Setting: British Columbia. I had once heard that the setting of a book can be a character and I never really understood what that meant until reading this novel. This is a story about a world war II vet's life. It is a realistic account of living with PTSD and also a beautiful depiction of the importance of family.
October 17, 2021
You can’t help but feel for Art Lunn, whose life’s course is determined at a very young age by a tragic event over which he had no control. I enjoyed the telling of his life story, each chapter separated by several years or more. There is much sadness and despair, but thankfully there is also hope.
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