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Each Man's Son
Dan Ainslie, a brilliant doctor working with the miners of his native Cape Breton Island, is forty-two and deeply in love with his wife. Longing for the son he can never have, he comes to love the young Alan MacNeil, whose father deserted him and his mother several years before. Alan's father's return brings tragedy to those around him.
264 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1951
4 people are currently reading
142 people want to read
About the author
Hugh MacLennan
47 books73 followersJohn Hugh MacLennan was born to Dr.Samuel MacLennan, a physician, and Katherine MacQuarrie in Glace Bay; he had an older sister named Frances. His father was a stern Calvinist; his mother, creative, warm and dreamy. Hugh inherited traits from both. In 1913 they went to London where Samuel took courses for a medical specialty. When they returned to Canada, they settled briefly in Sydney, before moving permanently to Halifax where they experienced the Explosion in Dec. 1917, which Hugh later wrote about in his first published novel, Barometer Rising. He became good at sports, winning the men's N.S. double tennis championship in 1927. Both Frances and Hugh were pushed hard in their schooling by their father, especially in the Classics. Frances had no interest in these subjects, but Hugh did well in them, first at Dalhousie University, winning a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford. He worked incredibly hard there but only reached second-class. In his 4th year, he spent more and more time on tennis and writing poetry, which was not accepted by the publishers to whom he sent it.
While in Europe he traveled to Italy, Greece, Switzerland, France and Germany. While sailing home in 1932, he met his future wife, Dorothy Duncan. His father was not pleased with her American background and insisted that he not marry before becoming independent. Since he was refused a job at two Canadian universities and had a scholarship for Princeton University, he completed his Ph.D.Oxyrhynchus:An Economic and Social Study, about the decline of a Roman colony in Egypt.
He wrote two novels during those years, one set in Europe, the other in the USA. but they were never published. It was his wife, whom he married in 1936, who persuaded him to set his work in Canada, the country he knew best. He had begun teaching at Lower Canada College in Montreal. She told him, "Nobody's going to understand Canada until she evolves a literature of her own, and you're the fellow to start bringing Canadian novels up to date." Until then there had been no real tradition of Canadian literature, and MacLennan set out to define Canada for Canadians through a national novel.Barometer Rising, his novel about the social class structure of Nova Scotia and the Halifax Explosion of 1917, was published in 1941.
While in Europe he traveled to Italy, Greece, Switzerland, France and Germany. While sailing home in 1932, he met his future wife, Dorothy Duncan. His father was not pleased with her American background and insisted that he not marry before becoming independent. Since he was refused a job at two Canadian universities and had a scholarship for Princeton University, he completed his Ph.D.Oxyrhynchus:An Economic and Social Study, about the decline of a Roman colony in Egypt.
He wrote two novels during those years, one set in Europe, the other in the USA. but they were never published. It was his wife, whom he married in 1936, who persuaded him to set his work in Canada, the country he knew best. He had begun teaching at Lower Canada College in Montreal. She told him, "Nobody's going to understand Canada until she evolves a literature of her own, and you're the fellow to start bringing Canadian novels up to date." Until then there had been no real tradition of Canadian literature, and MacLennan set out to define Canada for Canadians through a national novel.Barometer Rising, his novel about the social class structure of Nova Scotia and the Halifax Explosion of 1917, was published in 1941.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 4, 2015
Set in 1910s Cape Breton, Each Man's Son is a story of fathers, religion, and purpose in a world and town overcome by the demands of the coal mine that is slowly leaching the life of the people forced to work there. Alan is the son of Mollie and Archie MacNeil, and lives with his mother, listening to her stories of the great work his father is doing in the states as a prize fighter. Daniel Ainslie is the town's doctor, without a son, craving for a purpose, an attainable goal in life, when he meets Alan. Their relationship, and the growing need in Ainslie to have something to dedicate his life to leads to tragedy as MacLennan's Homeric hero journeys back to his home, only to find out the imaginings he had of the life he left are now gone.
Each Man's Son was one of the books we had to read in my English Literature seminar class this year, as well as being the novel I had to do a presentation on. As a piece of literature (and I'm speaking in the academic sense here), Each Man's Son is a brilliant composition of thematic moments, and examples of the Puritanical legacy that survived (and possibly survives) in Highlander Cape Breton. As a novel, it is still enjoyable with a compelling plot, good, solidly-built characters and nice prose, but it is, however, absolutely depressing.
Or as my friend, Victoria so eloquently put it: Depressing Cape Breton is depressing.
Take that as a warning should you decide to read this novel. There are no unicorns or happy things, so please pack your reading list with happy things after finishing this one. If you're forced to read this novel, like my class and I so horribly were :P, my sympathies. I suggest a funny shojo to bring you back to life.
So the plot throughout this novel is both unexpectedly uneventful, and pretty dull. And what I mean by that is that most of the plot is just there for character development. Much like the town the novel centers in, the plot is slow-moving and focuses on those day-to-day aspects of real life, allowing the reader to fully immerse themselves in the relationships and inner working of Mollie, Alan, Ainslie, Archie and Margaret. Near the very end of the story is where these small steps we've seen throughout the novel finally come to a head, and (frankly make themselves useful) with the fun depressing ending I won't go into because hey, if you actually read this book, it'll be worthwhile for me NOT to spoil it for you :P
The characters are a nice bunch of angst while quite a bit of downtrodden. Ainslie, pretty much the main character, is perhaps the most interesting of the bunch because his character is so complex and full of all those fun little things this book is about. He's religiously guilt-ridden, has no purpose, and fully believes he's full of sin. At the same time, however, Ainslie, due to his profession as a doctor, is fully incapable of reconciling his scientific side with his fervent, (even though he denies it) belief in God. Ainslie's incapability to accept himself, and the duality of both his technology and spiritual sides, is what is at the heart of this novel, and is ultimately what causes (at least a portion anyway) the tragic events we see at the end of the book.
Alan is very much at contrast to Ainslie throughout the novel in that he remains not only an innocent character, but isn't tainted by either the place or the people of the town he lives in like Ainslie is. He fully believes the world to be the one his mother paints him, without the doubt Ainslie suffers through, and in a way represents the easy, innocent belief in the unknown that Ainslie, with his knowledge of the scientific, cannot overcome.
Mollie and Margaret, the two women most important to Alan and Ainslie respectively, are equally as striking in their similarities as in their differences. Mollie, while an idealist, and a fervent one at that, is a scared woman, fearful of what the town thinks of her as she is fearful of what her son might think of her. Margaret, by contrast, is a bit more cool-headed, but still retains that fear, something we know leads her to confide in Ainslie's superior. Both women are, however, tossed aside to the male-dominating roles of Alan, Ainslie, and even to some extent Archie in this novel, who push the plot forward while the women almost take the sidelines.
Thematically, this book centers around religion, most obviously, the issue of fathers/sons/mothers, and the idea of place, especially in relation to Maritime culture, and Cape Breton's Highland Scot ancestry. This last one, (while religion takes the crown) is perhaps one of the most prominent themes throughout the novel, allowing the reader to immerse themselves in the culture that is Cape Breton, and the Maritimes in general that speaks deeply to the souls that have grown up here. Place, home, and the idea of leaving are something Each Man's Son deeply impresses upon us especially in relation to Archie and his journey as a failing prize fighter.
There's something to be said about grand/great/prize-winning etc.. pieces of 'literature' (Snobby voice included) in that when you read them you understand why they are so greatly thought of. Their thematic quality, their insights into both a culture and place and/or time, their overall profound message, these are the things that are important to us as a people and as readers. It's important to think, deeply and meaningfully when you're reading, and Each Man's Son provides that incredibly in every word, character, and event.
That doesn't, however, mean you have to like it. 3/5
Each Man's Son was one of the books we had to read in my English Literature seminar class this year, as well as being the novel I had to do a presentation on. As a piece of literature (and I'm speaking in the academic sense here), Each Man's Son is a brilliant composition of thematic moments, and examples of the Puritanical legacy that survived (and possibly survives) in Highlander Cape Breton. As a novel, it is still enjoyable with a compelling plot, good, solidly-built characters and nice prose, but it is, however, absolutely depressing.
Or as my friend, Victoria so eloquently put it: Depressing Cape Breton is depressing.
Take that as a warning should you decide to read this novel. There are no unicorns or happy things, so please pack your reading list with happy things after finishing this one. If you're forced to read this novel, like my class and I so horribly were :P, my sympathies. I suggest a funny shojo to bring you back to life.
So the plot throughout this novel is both unexpectedly uneventful, and pretty dull. And what I mean by that is that most of the plot is just there for character development. Much like the town the novel centers in, the plot is slow-moving and focuses on those day-to-day aspects of real life, allowing the reader to fully immerse themselves in the relationships and inner working of Mollie, Alan, Ainslie, Archie and Margaret. Near the very end of the story is where these small steps we've seen throughout the novel finally come to a head, and (frankly make themselves useful) with the fun depressing ending I won't go into because hey, if you actually read this book, it'll be worthwhile for me NOT to spoil it for you :P
The characters are a nice bunch of angst while quite a bit of downtrodden. Ainslie, pretty much the main character, is perhaps the most interesting of the bunch because his character is so complex and full of all those fun little things this book is about. He's religiously guilt-ridden, has no purpose, and fully believes he's full of sin. At the same time, however, Ainslie, due to his profession as a doctor, is fully incapable of reconciling his scientific side with his fervent, (even though he denies it) belief in God. Ainslie's incapability to accept himself, and the duality of both his technology and spiritual sides, is what is at the heart of this novel, and is ultimately what causes (at least a portion anyway) the tragic events we see at the end of the book.
Alan is very much at contrast to Ainslie throughout the novel in that he remains not only an innocent character, but isn't tainted by either the place or the people of the town he lives in like Ainslie is. He fully believes the world to be the one his mother paints him, without the doubt Ainslie suffers through, and in a way represents the easy, innocent belief in the unknown that Ainslie, with his knowledge of the scientific, cannot overcome.
Mollie and Margaret, the two women most important to Alan and Ainslie respectively, are equally as striking in their similarities as in their differences. Mollie, while an idealist, and a fervent one at that, is a scared woman, fearful of what the town thinks of her as she is fearful of what her son might think of her. Margaret, by contrast, is a bit more cool-headed, but still retains that fear, something we know leads her to confide in Ainslie's superior. Both women are, however, tossed aside to the male-dominating roles of Alan, Ainslie, and even to some extent Archie in this novel, who push the plot forward while the women almost take the sidelines.
Thematically, this book centers around religion, most obviously, the issue of fathers/sons/mothers, and the idea of place, especially in relation to Maritime culture, and Cape Breton's Highland Scot ancestry. This last one, (while religion takes the crown) is perhaps one of the most prominent themes throughout the novel, allowing the reader to immerse themselves in the culture that is Cape Breton, and the Maritimes in general that speaks deeply to the souls that have grown up here. Place, home, and the idea of leaving are something Each Man's Son deeply impresses upon us especially in relation to Archie and his journey as a failing prize fighter.
There's something to be said about grand/great/prize-winning etc.. pieces of 'literature' (Snobby voice included) in that when you read them you understand why they are so greatly thought of. Their thematic quality, their insights into both a culture and place and/or time, their overall profound message, these are the things that are important to us as a people and as readers. It's important to think, deeply and meaningfully when you're reading, and Each Man's Son provides that incredibly in every word, character, and event.
That doesn't, however, mean you have to like it. 3/5
January 19, 2018
A finely wrought but pretty maudlin romp through the lives of the descendants of Highland Scot immigrants in Cape Breton that functions as an excellent character study and also a poignant rebuke to Calvinism, which MacLennan regarded as a poison in the Canadian character.
If any of the above makes sense or strikes you as appealing, this might just be the book you've been waiting for. I was more pulled in than enthralled, thinking at first that the characters were pretty archetypal and uninteresting, but the sheer craft pulled me in after just a couple of chapters. The setting is a dichotomy between natural beauty and man-made misery and this angle is played pretty well by the author. I suppose I never liked the characters, and the climax was obvious 'can lit' material from more than 100 pages out, but I quite enjoyed reading this book. I liked the atmosphere and got a restful vibe from it.
If you like small dramas with well-defined characters and well-depicted settings (for the most part) this book will do you nicely. I actually turned around on all the characters a few times which rarely happens... MacLennan kept me hooked, bloody bonza, etc...
If any of the above makes sense or strikes you as appealing, this might just be the book you've been waiting for. I was more pulled in than enthralled, thinking at first that the characters were pretty archetypal and uninteresting, but the sheer craft pulled me in after just a couple of chapters. The setting is a dichotomy between natural beauty and man-made misery and this angle is played pretty well by the author. I suppose I never liked the characters, and the climax was obvious 'can lit' material from more than 100 pages out, but I quite enjoyed reading this book. I liked the atmosphere and got a restful vibe from it.
If you like small dramas with well-defined characters and well-depicted settings (for the most part) this book will do you nicely. I actually turned around on all the characters a few times which rarely happens... MacLennan kept me hooked, bloody bonza, etc...
September 17, 2017
This is a very moving book about the meaning and importance of family.
March 1, 2020
Daniel Ainslie is a brilliant doctor whose colleagues in the coal-mining town of Broughton, Cape Breton can't understand why he sticks around patching up the miners after their Saturday night fistfights when he could be off in Europe or the U.S. becoming the next Lister. Archie MacNeil is a boxer who graduated from the same Saturday night fights to the U.S. circuit, at the cost of leaving his wife Mollie and son Alan behind. Set in 1913, MacLennan writes beautifully on themes of masculinity and its relation to bravery, strength, competence, duty and fatherhood, all while evoking the setting of Broughton colourfully; the natural and industrial worlds in conflict though only as a mere background to a mythic human struggle at the fore. Highly, highly recommended.
October 11, 2011
Depressing Cape Breton is depressing. This may get a real review when I have time. I liked Ainslie! Sort of.
2.5/5 I guess.
2.5/5 I guess.
December 19, 2024
I read mostly classics. After reading a number of works by Australian writers Richard Flanaghan and Randolph Stow, I thought to turn back to Canadian writers of the post war era.
Hugh MacLennan came to mind, and this was a random pick. He's more known for books like 'Two Solitudes' and 'The Watch that Ends the Night' but I put those aside for later, and grabbed this lesser work. Or so I thought.
First, this is just a great story, period.
Second, MacLennan is a master at characterization and developing motive, in the English classical tradition (Eliot, James, Conrad, etc.): a small town doctor, an aspiring but mentally and physically bruised boxer, the wife he left behind, their son, an opportunistic lurking suitor, and various minor characters that peopled this Cape Breton town, none of them less than colourful.
Third, the book evocatively depicts Cape Breton of the mid twentieth century: the fisheries, the mines, the workers, the busy and gritty doctors and the weekend fights, it's all there and so are you, the reader.
I enjoyed this novel as an audiobook.
I was unsure about the narrator and he was a bit wobbly at the very first, but overall this is masterfully done. No vocal tics for the straight narrative, and dialogue well rendered in each voice and shifting marvellously in and out of each character.
If you do stumble across this title, you really can't go wrong.
Hugh MacLennan came to mind, and this was a random pick. He's more known for books like 'Two Solitudes' and 'The Watch that Ends the Night' but I put those aside for later, and grabbed this lesser work. Or so I thought.
First, this is just a great story, period.
Second, MacLennan is a master at characterization and developing motive, in the English classical tradition (Eliot, James, Conrad, etc.): a small town doctor, an aspiring but mentally and physically bruised boxer, the wife he left behind, their son, an opportunistic lurking suitor, and various minor characters that peopled this Cape Breton town, none of them less than colourful.
Third, the book evocatively depicts Cape Breton of the mid twentieth century: the fisheries, the mines, the workers, the busy and gritty doctors and the weekend fights, it's all there and so are you, the reader.
I enjoyed this novel as an audiobook.
I was unsure about the narrator and he was a bit wobbly at the very first, but overall this is masterfully done. No vocal tics for the straight narrative, and dialogue well rendered in each voice and shifting marvellously in and out of each character.
If you do stumble across this title, you really can't go wrong.
March 21, 2023
This is a well crafted drama and an examination of sin, guilt and legacy and how different men choose to deal with it. This novel does a better job than any other of capturing the feeling of guilt or shame (the 'curse') that remains pervasive and deserves a spot in the canon of Cape Breton literature for that.
I read this book on the recommendation of someone who presented it as historical fiction, but it is confusing to read in that way. For example, the primary setting is a fictionalized mining town called Broughton which is different from the historical (abandoned) mining town of Broughton. The book flattens the experience and backgrounds of people at the turn of the century of Cape Breton in order to communicate the larger point that is trying to be made.
The book does show it's age in the language and it can be somewhat overly romantic, but the descriptions of the people and the land are beautiful and subtle.
I read this book on the recommendation of someone who presented it as historical fiction, but it is confusing to read in that way. For example, the primary setting is a fictionalized mining town called Broughton which is different from the historical (abandoned) mining town of Broughton. The book flattens the experience and backgrounds of people at the turn of the century of Cape Breton in order to communicate the larger point that is trying to be made.
The book does show it's age in the language and it can be somewhat overly romantic, but the descriptions of the people and the land are beautiful and subtle.
July 25, 2022
This was Hugh MacLennan's fourth novel and the third one that I have read. It takes place in Hugh MacLennan's home territory of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. The novel explores the different influences on men's lives. The story takes place in Broughton (a fictional mining town) in the early 1910s (my guess, as the primary transport is still by horse and buggy). Mollie is raising her son, Alan, alone, while her husband, Archie, is in the United States working as prize fighter so that he does not have to work in the mines. They have not seen him for 4 years. A young Frenchman, Camire, takes an interest in Mollie and the doctor in town, Daniel Anslie, takes an interest in Alan and wants to pull him out of this situation. The story reads well but is not as strong as the two previous novels I read by him: BAROMETER RISING and TWO SOLITUDES.
May 27, 2023
I am so glad I read this novel! It is hard to believe that it was first published in 1951 and I missed reading it- thank goodness someone had the clever idea to make 'classic' Canadian literature available in paperback and ebooks for today's readers.
This novel gives us an authentic look at a Cape Breton mining town in 1910. I found the voices of the people genuine and the story compelling.
This novel gives us an authentic look at a Cape Breton mining town in 1910. I found the voices of the people genuine and the story compelling.
May 12, 2025
4 1/2 rounded down.
July 19, 2014
Unlike MacLennan's other books, I just couldn't get into Each Man's Son. After the oddly disconnected opening chapter, the book segues into an examination of life in Cape Breton and a ersatz father-son connection between the town's doctor and a child with no father.
Given how morose the tone is, it might be better suited as a film adaptation. The flow of the book doesn't do much to engender the reader, and the whole plot and end result feels like a pointless waste of time. Likewise, the fact that it focuses on drawn-out descriptions of everyday life in Cape Breton and the odd lyrical style makes it much more difficult to get into.
I'm not sure it has much to say in the same way The Watch That Ends The Night or Two Solitudes did about the human condition, which pains me because I love all of MacLennan's other works.
Given how morose the tone is, it might be better suited as a film adaptation. The flow of the book doesn't do much to engender the reader, and the whole plot and end result feels like a pointless waste of time. Likewise, the fact that it focuses on drawn-out descriptions of everyday life in Cape Breton and the odd lyrical style makes it much more difficult to get into.
I'm not sure it has much to say in the same way The Watch That Ends The Night or Two Solitudes did about the human condition, which pains me because I love all of MacLennan's other works.
January 2, 2016
Each Man's Son is spectacular! I loved it for so many reasons. There is something very special about stories of the East Coast small towns and the lives lived there amidst the challenges of weather, poverty and lack of options.
A childless small town doctor comes to love a little boys whose father abandoned him and his mother in pursuit of a boxing career in the US. Humiliated by the abandonment, the mother raises the boy to beleive that his father is coming home soon and the boy is bullied and an outsider.
The doctor forges a unique relatiosnhip with the boy and his mother and big choices have to be made. Fantasic!
A childless small town doctor comes to love a little boys whose father abandoned him and his mother in pursuit of a boxing career in the US. Humiliated by the abandonment, the mother raises the boy to beleive that his father is coming home soon and the boy is bullied and an outsider.
The doctor forges a unique relatiosnhip with the boy and his mother and big choices have to be made. Fantasic!
January 5, 2016
Everyone, and I do mean everyone, is a selfish, self serving asshole except for Alan. it's a miserable and depressing read. this did not improve with age. in fact, I think I liked it less now than I did when i had to read it in grade 11.
December 13, 2015
Dignified, somber, weighty. Elegantly spare prose. Not the Cape Breton I recognize (Nova Scotia is my home), but that is inconsequential. Finally, I abandoned the book, skipping fro half way through to the final chapter. Too dark for me, in my present circumstances, but a worthy book.
July 19, 2009
A good story by a very capable writer.
September 4, 2015
Calvinism corrupts the souls of the descendants of Scottish immigrants in a small Cape Breton mining town.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews