The Big Why

by Michael Winter

Michael Winter's powerful new novel, The Big Why, brilliantly fictionalizes a pivotal year in the life of celebrated American artist Rockwell Kent. In 1914, at the age of thirty, Kent decides to escape the superficial world of New York City and move to Brigus, Newfoundland, with his wife and three children to follow a few months later. A socialist and a philanderer, certain in the greatness of his work, he is drawn north by a fascination for the rocky Atlantic coast and by the example of Brigus's other well-known resident, fabled Arctic explorer Robert Bartlett. But once in Newfoundland, Kent discovers that notoriety is even easier to achieve in a small town than in New York. As events come to a head both internationally and domestically and the war begins, Kent becomes a polarizing figure in this intimate, impoverished community, where everyone knows everyone and any outsider is suspect, possibly even a German spy. Writing in Kent's voice, Michael Winter delivers a passionate, witty, and cerebral exploration of what makes exceptional individuals who they are--and why.

Shortlisted for the Trillium Award

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Historical Fiction, Literature, Art, Novels

384 pages, Hardcover

First published August 30, 2004

About the author

Author of five books: The Architects Are Here, The Big Why, This All Happened, One Last Good Look, Creaking in their Skins. His novel, The Death of Donna Whalen, is slated for publication in 2010.

Reviews

[Sheila Zakre · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because my grandmother, Rose Foley, was friends with both Rockwell Kent and Bob Bartlett. She is actually in the book, although the only accurate thing about her is that she was known for her singing. The clash of cultures-- New York versus small port in Newfoundland,is accurate. I have w letter from Rockwell Kent decades later to my grandmother in which he excoriates those infamous Newfoundlanders who ostracized him. My grandmother said he just got people riled up. The author, who never knew about this period, despite being a native Newfoundlwnder, wrote an entertaining book.

[Quill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really loved the style of writing in this although I think the book was stretched out a bit long. Probably could’ve cut some paragraphs about fishing and cut some about Kierkegaard and had a nice lean novel, more evocative of the sparse writing style we see throughout. The plot is almost Seinfeld-ian as Rockwell Kent is much like a Larry David figure, oft motivated by spite and constantly digging his own grave with his ill-received attempts at humour. A large focus of this novel is the temptation of adultery, and voracious appetites in general, although the ending has a strangely very graphic (and perhaps unrealistic?) sex scene, that I think throws the ending a bit through a loop. That being said, the character who describes this scene is also the one that asks the titular phrase, one which holds very interesting implications for how we read this novel. Is Rockwell Kent the man he set out to be and, if not, why? If he isn’t, then it surely is due to his inability to restrain himself and act in accordance with polite society. That’s not to say that what he does is wrong, but there comes a point where you must choose your hill to die on and Mr. Kent would’ve been willing to die over an ant hill. Anyways, pretty solid read. I’d like to know how much of this ‘really’ happened, although I acknowledge that is a deeply silly question to ask, even if the book had been a purely historical text.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book by Michael Winter is a very different sort of historical fiction. It recalls a specific time in the life of the American artist Rockwell Kent when he goes to Brigus Newfoundland just before the beginning of the First World War. A lot of the book is spent exploring Rockwell's inner thoughts as they especially relate to whether in life we got to be who we are, and if not, why--that is the big why. His descriptions of those early fishermen and sealers is riveting. In one incident, when a long overdue boat finally came into harbour, he describes the crew carrying a frozen seal "but the seal was not a seal. It was the pelt of a seal, and inside the pelt was a frozen man." Hearing about the Newfoundland of these early years and listening to the thoughts that Kent struggles with in his relationships with the community of Brigus as well as his personal ones keeps this book humming along.

[Paula Dembeck · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an historical novel based on the life of Rockwell Kent, an American painter from New York who spent a year and a half in Newfoundland from 1914-1915. He was a man who sometimes preferred to be a human being on a quest for the good life rather than be an artist. Now later in life, he looks back on the time he spent in the small town of Brigus pursuing that goal and how that experience almost broke him.

We go back in time to shortly before the war. Kent is fed up and bored with the superficiality of New York and the current movement in the art world away from realism to impressionism. He wants to go to Newfoundland to lead a pure and natural life and have its customs and culture influence his work, making it unique. He had tried a move to Newfoundland once before and failed, but this time he is determined to succeed.

Rockwell is not a sympathetic character. He is a bohemian, an arrogant, vain and selfish man who neglects his family. He has a condescending manner and feels the world should mold itself to fit his needs. He hurts those who love him and does not experience remorse when he does so. He feels he just is who he is, and should not apologize for it. When he married his wife Kathleen, he told her he loved her but he might not always be faithful to her. He found other woman attractive and was always ready to press himself against any woman who would allow it. Kent acknowledges he is a man with large appetites, but he feels he is honest about it and therefore should not be judged. He is a man of strong views, and against many things. He staunchly believes the way to be against anything is to rant and argue and never be conciliatory.
Eventually, that proved to be his undoing.

Kent travels to the small town of Brigus Newfoundland, finds a small abandoned home and starts to renovate it so his family can move in later. During this time he lives a solitary bachelor life and enjoys it. He makes a few friends, among them Tom Dobie a young sixteen year old farmer, fisherman and carpenter who helps with the renovations, and Bob Bartlett a famous Artic explorer who had been the captain on Robert Peary’s expedition to the North Pole. Kent is invited to participate in the town’s life. He helps out in the fishery and the locals welcome and include him in their community. In the summer, his wife and two children arrive and settle in. Kent feels content and confident he has found a place where he will live the rest of his life. He feels that living among these people, he will become a better man and thus a better painter.

But it is not long before Kent’s behavior begins to bother people. He openly flaunts his wealth as he pulls five dollar bills from his pocket while others are living on credit. They stare outrageously at the carved figurehead of a naked lady he has nailed above his door. They are stunned by his concern for his tools lost at sea on a downed freighter rather than for the ship lost at sea with many of the men from the town. When he tries to rile up the fishermen to form a union, the mood shifts quickly. They begin to notice he never seems to work and do not understand the solitary and isolated life of a painter. They openly wonder what he does all day and how he gets his money. The people who had once involved him in their life no longer want to see him and seem annoyed at his presence. They begin to question his motives and his loyalties, and feeling he must respond, he goes out of his way to antagonize them further.

The war brings another precipitous downslide in their affections. Kent questions the men’s desire to sign up and join the European War, saying it will never benefit the working class. He openly talks of his love of the German culture and language, and some interpret that as a love for German political action, quickly pegging him as a German sympathizer. Kent feels he must respond, but he does so by taking provocative action, writing letters of complaint to the press and painting a German eagle on his studio door underneath the sign Bomb Shop. He refuses to have his mail opened by the customs inspector and is accused of secreting maps to the enemy. His midnight walk on the rocky shore with a lantern has the locals thinking he is sending coded messages to German submarines in the harbor. He openly cheers on POWs at work in the fields. Soon he is openly accused of being a spy, and the prime Minister expels him.

As he digs himself in deeper with the locals, his wife begins pushing away from him. Her anger grows and her love for him begins to wane. Eventually Kent realizes he is spending his entire time building up his defenses rather than growing as a person. He comes to accept that the move to Newfoundland is a doomed venture and agrees to leave with his family. His marriage to Kathleen will last five more years, and then there are two other marriages that follow, also accompanied by divorce.

As an older man, Kent has settled down on a farm (again with another woman), and looks back on his life from a different point of view. He seems to be a happier man and a better person. He now realizes that in the past he thought he was a good artist, but now he knows for certain that he was only mediocre.

The question, “the big why” for Kent was whether he ever got to be the person he really thought himself to be. As we meet him toward the end of his life, he seems to have at least part of the answer to that question.

Winter has an unusual writing style, avoiding the accepted grammatical conventions of apostrophes, quotations for dialogue and complete sentences. The text is also filled with wonderful Newfoundland expressions which are scattered throughout the text. They certainly bring a smile to you face.

I didn’t especially like this book, mainly because I could not identify sympathetically with Rockwell Kent. He was so condescending and selfish, demanding the world fit to his needs but not ready to make any significant personal effort to fit in. He was a man who wanted everything for himself, a man with an oversized ego who could not fathom the way a newcomer should act when trying to fit into a small isolated community. He probably never could, his personality was not the type that could disappear in a small place. Not all men are destined to blend in and it is not always a matter of choice. Kent was one of those men who are never destined to settle down and disappear in such a small place as Brigus Newfoundland.

As a reader I can’t help but admire Winter’s effort as a writer. He is adept at describing characters and their inner lives as well as the beautiful cold and rugged Newfoundland landscape.

[Carolyn Pendergast · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was gifted this book at Christmas by a friend and poet. One of his favourite books. I can easily see why. The writing is spot on. Engaging and sometimes unpredictable. I loved the writing style. I also loved the idea of the story - both the historical aspect of it and the self confessed biographical elements shared by the author. That being said, with no slight intended for the talented Michael Winter, Rockwell Kent was by far one of the most aggravating, self absorbed main characters I have met. So much of what he wanted to see himself as, was such a turn off. I wanted to slap him on many occasions. Yet, that’s what is so compelling about the damn story. I appreciate the honesty regardless of the man.
I had never heard of the artist Rockwell Kent before this but have explored his work and am deeply appreciative of his artistic talent. Some really gorgeous works.
Glad to have read this even though I found it all too realistic at times and not in an uplifting way. A literary reminder of the messiness of life.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't have to like the characters to like a book but in this case my strong dislike of the protagonist (a self-absorbed asshole IMO), marred my true enjoyment of the book.

[Silas White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Winter is a master of the mundane (sharp and hilarious observations of how people interact, behave in daily life), which is great when you're in the mood but can be a little slow-going sometimes. However, it's worth the wait in The Big Why, which works it way up to obsessively engaging in the final section. The character development of Rockwell Kent is brilliant.

[Jen]

a dollar store find

[Emily Gushue · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have kicked him out too.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tried reading this novel twice before, both times near the end of summer, but did not finish it because my time was redirected to Fall term class prep. The joys of retirement. I can finish a book!
Michael Winter is one of Newfoundland’s Burning Rock Collective writers. "The Big Why: a Novel" is his second novel, a künstlerroman, like James Joyce’s "The Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man," but while Joyce writes about a fictional writer in Dublin at the turn of the 20th C Winter chooses as his subject the American painter Rockwell Kent (1882-1971) who lived in Newfoundland from 1914-1915. I find the book attractive because, in part, I identify with Rockwell Kent as the outsider American attracted to Newfoundland.
There are a few important narrative threads to consider in "The Big Why."
First, like so many Newfoundland writers, Winter is fascinated with the difficulties of living in Newfoundland, and in the person/character of Rockwell Kent he finds/creates a character who is equally fascinated. Throughout the novel, Kent happily seeks out those difficulties to learn them, problem solve, survive them, and become part of the local community. Kent appreciates all the knowledge, know how, and hard work that Newfoundlanders must exercise to survive year in and year out. Two examples. First, the train from St. John’s to Brigus is slowed considerably by a blizzard and snow on the tracks. Three teen-aged boys on the train decide that they can get to Brigus faster than the train by snowshoeing through the forest. They head out, and Kent joins them. They spend the night in the forest, building a shelter from downed tree branches, where they all sleep comfortably. Kent not only learns from them, but appreciates their resourcefulness and willingness to leave the comforts of the train for a much more dangerous environment. Throughout this novel, and other Newfoundland novels, although dangers produce much death and tragedy (for example, shipwrecks) danger is also regularly mitigated by human ingenuity. Second, Winter dedicates quite a few pages to a capelin run. Capelin are a small herring-like fish that spawn on shore, and when they run the shore and waters near the shore are overwhelmed by them. To take best advantage of when the runs occur, the entire community must be involved collecting, splitting, salting, and drying the fish. Generations of knowledge goes into this work, and Kent wants to learn all that he can. But Rockwell Kent’s arc is not simply to become a better Newfoundlander. As much as he likes the small community of Brigus, his contrary nature ultimately offends too many in the town as well as in St. John’s, and he is asked to leave Newfoundland because, at the beginning of WWI, he is suspected of being a German spy, a suspicion that he does not dispel: the portrait of an artist as a young hot head.
Second, Kent’s sexuality and relationships. I should say that, although there is mention of a couple of Kent’s paintings, what Winter does not do in the book is analyze Kent’s art and its development. Winter does have Kent theorize some: He is a realist and rejects the abstract art current at the beginning of the 20th C, but aesthetic theory is not a dominant part of this book. Rather, Winter’s artist’s biography is of Kent’s emotional arc and his relationships with others. Place is important, too–the beauty of the landscape and seascape–but it is the interpersonal which most clearly shapes Kent’s becoming. Kent wants a family and has one. He wants to be monogamous, but he is too attracted to other women to manage monogamy. Kent’s marriages, wives, offspring rather than providing him a stable home life from which he can pursue his art, but instead family and relationships are difficulties he must navigate to pursue his career, just as he must navigate all the practical learning curves for living in Newfoundland. Winter also explores Kent’s fascination with male bodies as well as a couple of other character’s latent and manifest homosexuality/bisexuality.
Third, the denouement, which lasts for over 100 pages and is primarily written from the perspective of Kent as an older man looking back. It comes clear in this section that the entire book is his memoir. What’s interesting is how much of his life after he is kicked out of Newfoundland is absent from this “memoir.” The Wikipedia page on Rockwell Kent along with other biographical material treat his Newfoundland years as one of many points in his development as an artist. But Winter here, ventriloquizing through Kent, makes Newfoundland and all the people involved in Kent’s Newfoundland adventure, the center Rockwell Kent’s life, the interpretive core of of which the significance of his life (and art?) can be spun out.
I would need to read more biographical and scholarly work on Kent to know whether Winter is writing an accurate künstlerroman for Rockwell Kent or if "The Big Why" is at least as much about Newfoundland as fertile literary landscape.

[Kinzer Twins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clever take on a strange period in the life of Rockwell Kent, a famous illustrator and writer, best known for his work in the first half of the 20th Century. This is an episodic retelling, first person, by Kent, 50 years after the events covered in the book. Kent is the (antagonistic) protagonist and the plot is largely linear, with some interruptions.

In brief: Rockwell Kent, in his mid-30s, married and a father, is tired of the phonies in New York and decides to move to Newfoundland, where he thinks living closer to nature will re-start his creativity and drive.

His wife Kathleen, agrees to the move, but we sense her reluctance and we quickly learn she is aware of his character faults, including his headstrong nature and his many infidelities. We also learn that Kent has badgered his agent and his widowed-mother into providing monthly stipends to fund this relocation and support him while he works.

The hasty decision to relocate is quickly proven ill-advised as Kent arrives in the midst of a late blizzard and proves himself largely unprepared for his adventure in Newfoundland. Fortunately, many people in the small town of Brigus are initially attracted to this stranger and are generous in helping him. After a few months during which Kent prepare their new home, Kathleen and their children join Kent in Brigus, and a happy few months are followed by a growing unease and rejection of the new strangers - largely due to Kent's inability to moderate himself and"fit-in" with the expectations of a small community. Kathleen has anticipated that Kent won't be happy here and that he won't be accepted by the people of a small town - where all your actions are observed and judged. Indeed, we see through Kent's own narration of events that he is tone deaf in his interactions, thinks only of himself, betrays his friends and allies, and is insufferable to all who will suffer him.

WWI begins and Kent, who is a pacifist and a socialist, speaks out against the war and defends the German people and culture. Rumors begin that he is a German spy and rather than moderate his behavior, we watch as he foolishly encourages these notions. He and his family are forced to leave Canada. Bringing an end to this 18 month chapter in Rockwell Kent's tumultuous and long life. Fifty years pass. Kent returns to Canada, by invitation of the Government. The visit stirs his memory of this time and he writes down what happened as he remembers it.

Michael Winter has captured Kent's voice nicely. Kent wrote about his adventures in the wild so we know his own narrative style, but in this case Michael Winter gets to take on what the 88 year old Kent might have had to say about his 33 year-old self. The narration reads like a first draft by the elderly Kent, in that it changes throughout: sometimes an event is sketched out, others are delved in to with great detail, then we may get a dreamy memory or an imagined sex-act, and then an entire conversation recreated like a courtroom record.

Over the course of this book many people state their answer to "The Big Why" even if they don't know that's what they are doing. It is a pleasure to hear how each character views our reason for being here: fellow-artists, lovers, a circuit-judge, beleaguered mothers, polar explorers, humble fishermen, they all weigh-in on the question. Kent understands that he does not "fit in." Ever. Instead, the world must make itself fit around him.

[kevin kvalvik · Rating 2 out of 5]

A remarkable waste of time for the reader, though one senses the author enjoyed the exercise a great deal. A forgettable tale of an artist experimenting with selling his talent for a monthly stipend, who subsequently then must find the definitive value of his output, thereby bumping in the question of what is the price for a man's time, and man's labor, and man's love? This is a pretty good starting place but as the artists is challenged by worth and value he is also subjected to the even-more vexing questions of what is a worthy subject=matter for a painter and is it aimed at the common or the arbitrary as a "real art," wahre Kunst? The answer, tho not stated, was apparently "Whatever the hell you want." Art, in this fictional character and in this author, is not about the viewer/reader but about one's own meandering asides, diatribes and predilections.

The text seems a Meandering artist rendition of life. The artist focuses on random points in his life and then seemingly characterizes them well. The author seems to focus on random word play and crafts them expertly, but this is the successful life of a self-absorbed fool written as a series of insights coupled with myriad, casual, soulless betrayals.

Describing the the urbane universe of Edwardian New York (e.g. Newfoundland) the confining, leaning claustrophobic, journey the within the lead character's mind is withering if not wholly forgettable. One pathetic and pointless, indefensible action after another spread of a Follet-like expense is like wandering into a dim fog on a chill day, nothing to see nothing to note.

In short he does not begin to answer the question of the title, except for the implied, "Why not?"

[Kees Kapteyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always loved Michael Winter's books. They are always so alive with the spirit of the people of Newfoundland. His characters always become instantly familiar and approachable. I picked up The Big Why to further my immersion in his library, and though the narration had that same flavour of conversation and introspection, I found the character of the narrator rubbing me the wrong way. This isn't Michael's fault. The protagonist, Rockwell Kent, was a real person and his experiences in the novel are real as well. What bothered me was Kent's moral staggering throughout the book. He loves his wife and misses her before she arrives in Newfoundland from New York, then feels his affection sour when she finally arrives. He does outlandish and provocative things, then laments when his actions attract dislike and distrust on him. I actually put the book down for a long while in disgust with the narrator's character.

What drove me to finish the book and as a result, appreciate it, is Michael Winter's deep philosophical observations, which are always affectionate and humanistic. Behind the entire novel is the narrator's private quest to solve the answers of The Big Why. Why we do the things we do, why we invite peril and why we seek love. In the end, Rockwell Kent was as flawed as any one of us, yet could still lead a fulfilling life with his mistakes in tow, as we should as well. And in the end, Michael Winter once again left me satisfied and appreciative of life and all its mysteries.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting writing style! It took a couple chapters to get used to but I actually loved it. His descriptions of certain activities and Newfoundland were incredible and his use of language was very well done. So many moments that got me to put the book down and just think about what it said.

“The question, Rockwell, is did you get to be who you are. And if not, then why. That, my friend, is the big why.”
My family is from Bell Island Newfoundland and before my great aunt from Bell Island Newfoundland died, she told me about how you need to live your life for yourself, you cannot live to make others happy. She lived part of her life unhappy, untrue to herself and she didn’t want me to make the same mistake.

This book had so much to it, much more than just exploring Newfoundland and New York. I’m so glad I read it, I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Newfoundland and who has a wondering about life itself.

[Crabbygirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

part stream of consciousness, part love story to Newfoundland - it was the latter part I enjoyed the most. reminiscent of another newfie book - Colony of Unrequited Dreams - ships and ice and storms and death center squarely in a Newfoundlander's hard life. it was only after I finished it that I found out it was historical fiction - based on an actual painter that came to Newfoundland before WW1. most people in my book club found the narrator unlikeable, but I sympathised with him deeply - yes he made some bone head moves, but he justified his actions at the time (don't we all) and realized afterwards the negative effect they could have. gaining a new understanding doesn't erase what you've done; you've still got to live with it - but I can relate to wanting to explain yourself in that moment.

[JOHN F.BURKE]

Oh my God;What a read....I laugh at the humour....I see George Hickey,in 1940,St./Jacques..as a kid,I watch him gut a fish with the precision of a surgeon...this novel is a tribute to Newfoundland fishermen....I saw women working on the flakes in our harbour.............Michael Winter took me back...he is the artist...a better one than Rockwell Kent.............Bless you, Michael....Bless you......every Newfoundland fisherman resting in "earth's cool breast" thanks you, too. John Burke, Born and raised in St.Jacques, Fortune Bay, Newfoundland

[Jim Landers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even in the times in my life in which I felt lost, I couldn't relate to any of the characters or situations. The whole thing feels like a train wreck waiting to happen. And the philosophical conversations didn't do anything for me. I was immediately turned off by the incomplete sentences and lack of punctuation, but eventually I got in the flow of it. I did appreciate a few lines here or there, but mostly I just kept thinking: I'm only ___ far done with this book!

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a great time getting lost in this book. The style of writing though curt and sometimes sparse is very addictive and readable.
Its slow, meandering pace was lovely to read and lent itself to the overall vibe the story had going. The characters were brilliantly fleshed out, and the narrator himself was a very well realised fella, despite being a meanie.
It's definitely not a book everyone would enjoy, but I sure as hell enjoyed it.

[Donald Leitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Big Why is an interesting read to learn more of the harsh and risky life for the inhabitants of a pre First World War I Newfoundland outport. However as historical fiction, it is difficult to determine how close the novel is to historical accuracy. Historical figures appear in the novel and the setting is an actual outport, Brigus. I struggled with the story. The plot I found lacking. The main character was unlikeable. I did not connect well with story this historical novel offered.

[Laurel · Rating 2 out of 5]

At points this was an engaging work of historical fiction, but it was hard to get in to the story, and after great detail of the protagonist’s time in Newfoundland, it feels a let down to be deprived of much detail of his life after, until he enters the final years of his life.

[Suzanne Hume · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book as my father recently built a vacation home in Brigus and is the last house on the street before you get to Kent Cottage. I found it interesting to read about places in Brigus from the period.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

i honestly don’t know why i finished this book. the writing was lovely but the storyline flat.

[blueberry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Kind of self-important writing about someone who was equally convinced of his own importance.

[James Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a novel about Rockwell Kent, the artist perhaps most famous for designing the woodcuts illustrating the Modern Library edition of Moby-Dick. But aside from a few minor and passing facts, it's not really a biographical novel. Michael Winter could've given his protagonist a fictional name and his novel would've worked as well. However, it is fact that Rockwell Kent did spend almost 2 years living in Newfoundland beginning in 1914. That's the main thrust of the narrative. The life he and his family lead in the small fishing village of Brigus didn't really engage me. Kent isn't as interesting as the company of quirky townsfolk he lives among. These are much like the flinty eccentrics we sometimes associate with the New England coast. And they're a lot of fun. They're a hoot, as we say, and they're the scaffold supporting most of the novel. Rockwell Kent, good artist that he is, is merely observer rather than catalyst for the narrative. The final 30 pages or so, however, form a kind of coda for everything that's gone before. These final pages allow the novel to soar. Kent himself is proud to consider himself a kind of pagan and he's true here to the real artist who felt much in common with the transcendentalists famous in American tradition. He shows an adroit mind like Emerson's and displays Thoreau's stubbornness in the face of ignorance. In the end the feel is zen. Throughout the novel there's much said about love and its nature but what Kent and others finally realize is that it's of prime importance to discover who you really are and to try to become exactly that.

[Steven Buechler · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this was a great piece of fiction, it was also an excellent introduction to the life of Rockwell Kent AND a great look at life in Newfoundland at the first part of the 20th Century.

-Page 269
"When the war began the tree lost their leaves. And I thought, Why trees, why green, why the futility of it. I was caught up in the belief of profress, and now I saw turmoil. There was chaos. I read about entropy. If you left a pile of bricks and time was infinite, then a moment would arrive when the bricks and time was infinite, then a moment would arrive when the bricks, through random change, would form a wall. That was my thought. But this is not true. The bricks, without work injected into the system, will become a simpler structure. They prefer to turn to dust. I saw the world now starved of energy from the sun. It was turning to dust. It was returning to a simpler form. It was becoming nostalgic. Nostalgia can be good. It is incorrect to think of nostalgia as merely the pain one feels in returning to home. Memory never matches the reality of home. Nostalgia is the friction between home itself and the memory of home. A friction that turns time to dust.
All my life I've wante to strip sentimentality from nostalgia and be left withe the hearkening. With the strange newsness of return."

[Lori Bamber · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Rockwell Kent of this book is unlikable and self-involved, and it was therefore a surprise to me to love this book as much as I did. I think it was partly because he was a man of his time and social sphere, and while he was selfish and careless with the people he professed to love, he also grew in self-awareness over the book.

He asks questions that we all have to answer during our lifetimes: does "being ourselves" means surrendering to our urges or learning to be the best we're capable of at creating a life of meaning, discipline and service to others? Where do we draw that line every day? Do we surround ourselves with people who inspire us to reach higher or with those that enable our weaknesses?

The thing I loved most about The Big Why, however, is Winter's descriptions of Newfoundland and the solid, impoverished and indentured people of Brigus, who are confused by this strange and egotistic man but make him welcome ... until they don't.

A remarkable, worthwhile book.

[Lynn Bornath · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like Kent, I didn't like the random punctuation, and I wouldn't say I liked the book exactly but I did admire it. Winter is a talented writer and this book made me curious enough that I will probably check out more of his work. Read the full review.

[Meghan]

Only halfway through, but the imagery of New York City and Newfoundland in the 1930s rocks. All about a man torn between personal ambitions and desires to explore and run away and his responsibilities to his wife and children... Clean and spare language but damn evocative.

[Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This would normally not be a book that I was interested in: not my kind of themes, writing style, etc., but Michael Winter's sentences are so beautiful and poetic. If he can hold my interest in a cheating vegetarian artist in Newfoundland, it has to be good!

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

So well written that you can almost look past the grating arrogance of the main character and the writer himself. Hard to put down