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Instructor
*** THE MIRAMICHI READER 'S VERY BEST BOOK AWARDS, LONGLIST***
When Ydessa Bloom’s husband dies in a Cessna crash in a mid-Ontario lake, she rents a cottage at that lake, without really comprehending why, and stays for three months. There she meets three people who will influence her life dramatically—her landlady, a yoga teacher, and a precocious eight-year-old boy named Henry Rattle.
Years later, at the age of twenty-five and reeling from personal tragedy, Henry seeks Ydessa out once again, and they find themselves alone on the day of the Northeast blackout, drawn into an encounter that will change them both.
In Instructor , Beth Follett magnificently follows the natural tendencies of the human mind to dart and drift, to leap and eddy, creating an utterly compelling narrative at once patient and enthralling. Through grief, wonder, and introspection, Instructor captures the fluidity of the self, carrying readers away in the current of Follett’s inescapable prose.
When Ydessa Bloom’s husband dies in a Cessna crash in a mid-Ontario lake, she rents a cottage at that lake, without really comprehending why, and stays for three months. There she meets three people who will influence her life dramatically—her landlady, a yoga teacher, and a precocious eight-year-old boy named Henry Rattle.
Years later, at the age of twenty-five and reeling from personal tragedy, Henry seeks Ydessa out once again, and they find themselves alone on the day of the Northeast blackout, drawn into an encounter that will change them both.
In Instructor , Beth Follett magnificently follows the natural tendencies of the human mind to dart and drift, to leap and eddy, creating an utterly compelling narrative at once patient and enthralling. Through grief, wonder, and introspection, Instructor captures the fluidity of the self, carrying readers away in the current of Follett’s inescapable prose.
248 pages, Paperback
Published March 1, 2021
2 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
Beth Follett
19 books5 followersBeth Follett is a novelist and the owner of Pedlar Press.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 25, 2023
poetic but kinda insufferable
April 20, 2021
This is a lovely contemplation on life and on grief… and that things in life are not always as they seem to be.
I did find it to be something of a disjointed reading experience. The lack of punctuation on the dialogue and the jumping back and forth between characters is dis-orienting and I found, as the reader, that I was always struggling to keep things straight… to know whose head we were in at any moment in time. As much as I did enjoy it, I did find it was hard work to read this. Once I stopped worrying about trying to keep things straight and just sort of let it flow, it got easier to read and I was able to appreciate the very poetic nature of the work.
I will also say that I had a ‘pet peeve’ straight off the mark… wherein the author references Baptiste Lake, and Bancroft, as being ‘north’ of Toronto. NO! Lake - or cottage - country north of Toronto means Muskoka (where I live), or Georgian Bay, or Killarney and beyond. Nobody from these parts would refer to the Kawarthas, and certainly not Bancroft, as ‘north’ of Toronto.
3.5
I did find it to be something of a disjointed reading experience. The lack of punctuation on the dialogue and the jumping back and forth between characters is dis-orienting and I found, as the reader, that I was always struggling to keep things straight… to know whose head we were in at any moment in time. As much as I did enjoy it, I did find it was hard work to read this. Once I stopped worrying about trying to keep things straight and just sort of let it flow, it got easier to read and I was able to appreciate the very poetic nature of the work.
I will also say that I had a ‘pet peeve’ straight off the mark… wherein the author references Baptiste Lake, and Bancroft, as being ‘north’ of Toronto. NO! Lake - or cottage - country north of Toronto means Muskoka (where I live), or Georgian Bay, or Killarney and beyond. Nobody from these parts would refer to the Kawarthas, and certainly not Bancroft, as ‘north’ of Toronto.
3.5
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July 5, 2022Very grateful to be awarded the Bronze Forward Indies Award for Literary Fiction on June 16, 2022
September 30, 2021
Beth Follett's "Instructor" is a beautiful, powerful novel about loss, imperfection, and finding wonder in the present moment. On the surface it's a moving book about a woman grieving the loss of her husband and the people she meets and impacts, and who in turn have an impact on her during her grieving process - a process that morphs into a complete revision of her life philosophy. But on deeper levels the novel delves into metaphysics and metaphor, drawing heavily on yoga and so-called Eastern influences, though always careful to remind us that there are no easy answers; everything ties back into an ethos of imperfection, and the possibility of finding beauty and truth within that imperfection, rather than in spite of it.
Reading "Instructor" is an experience not to be missed, one that will open pathways to stillness and self-reflection even as you come to relate powerfully to the delightfully real cast of characters. Beth Follett writes prose with the eye and attention of a poet, and the result is delightful. Highly recommended.
Reading "Instructor" is an experience not to be missed, one that will open pathways to stillness and self-reflection even as you come to relate powerfully to the delightfully real cast of characters. Beth Follett writes prose with the eye and attention of a poet, and the result is delightful. Highly recommended.
August 23, 2022
a beautiful book
January 31, 2023
Excellent and hurtful.
April 24, 2023
"Like" and quality (worth) of is liked are not the same thing. Three stars for "like" ... a constellation for quality (worth).
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews