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Fearnoch
Steinbeck meets Miriam Toews in this insightful and illuminating debut about the decline of rural Canada and the meaning of community.
Welcome to Fearnoch, an undistinguished Ottawa Valley farming hamlet in its twilight. The deterioration of the once fruitful way of life in this small town is explored through the lives and trajectories of its inhabitants. The narration winds into and over the characters to sow differing viewpoints on the death of the family farm, incarcerated youths, falling in love at the town dump, and the coming storm. The novel is a plea for its characters to remember humility, honesty, and to see themselves in their neighbour, before it’s all gone.
Welcome to Fearnoch, an undistinguished Ottawa Valley farming hamlet in its twilight. The deterioration of the once fruitful way of life in this small town is explored through the lives and trajectories of its inhabitants. The narration winds into and over the characters to sow differing viewpoints on the death of the family farm, incarcerated youths, falling in love at the town dump, and the coming storm. The novel is a plea for its characters to remember humility, honesty, and to see themselves in their neighbour, before it’s all gone.
- GenresCanada
240 pages, Paperback
Published July 7, 2022
5 people are currently reading
120 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 13, 2022
One of the best novels I have read this year. Entertaining, quirky characters. Fearnoch (the rural town) is not as dull as it seems.
July 5, 2023
This is one of the best books I’ve read this year. The writing and small town life is a bit like something Marilyn Robinson would offer with a mix of wit and slang thrown in with the present day setting.
July 24, 2023
A tremendous book. Funny and engaging. Would highly recommend.
April 29, 2023
every john moment was soul destroying i cried
June 9, 2023
Laugh-out-loud funny, tender, thoughtful, tragic, hopeful. This has it all! McEwan nails small-town Canada. For every character in this book I could think of a real-life version. I look forward to more from this author.
September 24, 2022
This is a very good start for new writer. (My apologies if the author doesn’t feel so “new.”)
I spend a lot of time in a region not so far from the Ottawa River, on the English side of the valley, not so far from the setting for this novel.
His descriptions of hockey, of a night at a strip bar in Hull, about the land, its people, and its history are all too familiar. So too the gobbling up of farmland for subdivisions.
His characters are rich. His humour is welcome. And the interleaving life stories are compelling.
I look forward to his next work.
I spend a lot of time in a region not so far from the Ottawa River, on the English side of the valley, not so far from the setting for this novel.
His descriptions of hockey, of a night at a strip bar in Hull, about the land, its people, and its history are all too familiar. So too the gobbling up of farmland for subdivisions.
His characters are rich. His humour is welcome. And the interleaving life stories are compelling.
I look forward to his next work.
December 21, 2023
*This review will sort of have spoilers so read at your own discretion
I was bored out of my mind for a good chunk of this because the plot builds really slowly. But by the time you get to the end, you realize this book wasn't about the plot. It was about the characters. McEwan paints his characters as real people, with real problems, and real personalities. Their depth allows the story to not only resonate with readers, but to evoke empathy from them. Additionally, the author's use of omniscient narration gives us the opportunity to get a better look at the characters' thoughts and beliefs. It might make you be a little more understanding towards your neighbours, tbh. The characters are a reminder of our humanity.
Also, their stories are good reminders that the people around you 1. Aren't judging you as much as you think, 2. Are dealing with their own problems, therefore 3. You should be kind to everyone, because you don't know what they're going through, or how they see things.
Fearnoch is not just a place, with its farms and churches and roads, but a shabby little quilt of its people, their histories, and what they bring to their town. And McEwan, he's an honest writer. He won't sell you bullshit resolutions (hence why there isn't much of a plot... But I think seeing the characters' day-to-day, including day-to-day thoughts, was one way of adding depth to them).
Also, you know that feeling when you finish a book and it feels like you've lost friends? This is one of those.
I was bored out of my mind for a good chunk of this because the plot builds really slowly. But by the time you get to the end, you realize this book wasn't about the plot. It was about the characters. McEwan paints his characters as real people, with real problems, and real personalities. Their depth allows the story to not only resonate with readers, but to evoke empathy from them. Additionally, the author's use of omniscient narration gives us the opportunity to get a better look at the characters' thoughts and beliefs. It might make you be a little more understanding towards your neighbours, tbh. The characters are a reminder of our humanity.
Also, their stories are good reminders that the people around you 1. Aren't judging you as much as you think, 2. Are dealing with their own problems, therefore 3. You should be kind to everyone, because you don't know what they're going through, or how they see things.
Fearnoch is not just a place, with its farms and churches and roads, but a shabby little quilt of its people, their histories, and what they bring to their town. And McEwan, he's an honest writer. He won't sell you bullshit resolutions (hence why there isn't much of a plot... But I think seeing the characters' day-to-day, including day-to-day thoughts, was one way of adding depth to them).
Also, you know that feeling when you finish a book and it feels like you've lost friends? This is one of those.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 30, 2024
Fearnoch is one of the best books I read in 2023. I loved it from the first sentence and while the writing moved a little fast at first, I caught up and caught my breath and settled in to a convincing and captivating story. It's set not far from where I live, in the Ottawa Valley, which gives it an extra grab for me. Author Jim McEwen captures the poetry of the landscape and the language that I experience every day. He reveals the subtle tenderness of relationships between people and the land, between people and each other. He gently uncovers links between those who have known each other since birth, those who never leave and those who come back, the few who arrive from away with new and strange ideas, and all of us whose dreams break under the pressures of time and change, of age and mechanization and politics and disasters and miracles of nature, and all of us who keep dreaming in some small or large way, day after day.
September 27, 2024
Probably the best book I have read in a long time. I found it by fluke in a small, independent little bookstore. Since then, I tried to find more copies to buy because I like to gift my reader-friends with books I would recommend. Sadly, I have not been able to find even one more copy.
I will not give you a book report here. You don’t need me to summarize the plot, trust me.
I will only say this: if you find a store that’s selling this book, and they have two copies, buy both copies. If they have three, buy three. You will want to gift a friend with this one, I promise you.
I hope to see more works by Jim McEwen.
I will not give you a book report here. You don’t need me to summarize the plot, trust me.
I will only say this: if you find a store that’s selling this book, and they have two copies, buy both copies. If they have three, buy three. You will want to gift a friend with this one, I promise you.
I hope to see more works by Jim McEwen.
October 22, 2024
I enjoyed how it started, the writing is very nice but in the end, the characters just lost me and I put the book down about half way through. Sort of along the lines of Man Descending: Selected Stories, though not as bleak.
September 7, 2022
Loved it! Really great!
January 26, 2023
This book is pure art. A beautiful weaving of past, present and possibility for the future. Such great humor too. Highly recommend!
February 7, 2023
Jim McEwen has written a wonderful, touching story of small town Canada. Everyone should read this.
February 14, 2023
Essential reading, if you're into having your heart broken and healed page-by-page. Read this book in an afternoon, and every word in it was there was for a reason. Beautiful writing.
February 21, 2023
Excellent read. The plot builds slowly but the characters are what really make it worth wild.
April 1, 2023
If David Adams Richards wrote New Sincerity, you'd get Fearnoch.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews