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The Lost Highway
What had happened, from those days until now? And why had it? And how had his life gone? And who was to blame? Or why did he think he had to blame anyone? Certainly he couldn’t even blame Mr. Roach, caught in the same turmoil as everyone believing half-truths in order to blame other people. (p. 141)
These are the forlorn thoughts of Alex Chapman, the tragic anti-hero of David Adams Richards’ masterful novel The Lost Highway . An exploration of the philosophical contortions of which man is capable, the novel tracks the desperate journey of an eternally lost and orphaned child/man who has nearly squandered his frail birthright but might yet earn some degree of redemption.
Alex spent a stunted childhood watching his gentle mother defiled by rough-handed men including Roach, his biological father. Upon his mother’s death Alex is passed into the care of his hard-nosed great-uncle Jim Chapman, nicknamed “The Tyrant” by their Miramichi community. Alex’s uncle becomes a symbol of all that he loathes. Alex distinguishes himself from this brutal masculinity that stole his mother from himby becoming a self-imposed ascetic, entering the local seminary and rehearsing his own version of piousness. But when he is tempted by the Monsignor’s request to deliver charitable funds to the bank, Alex pockets the money and flees to the home of Minnie, whom he worships and who he has learned is now pregnant by Sam Patch, a good man, but too rough in Alex’s eyes. He attempts to talk Minnie into using the money for an abortion, and it is only her refusal that sends him back to the seminary to return the money. “Do you remember if the phone rang in the booth along the highway that night?” (p. 87) asks MacIlvoy, a fellow seminarian who had gotten wind of the theft and tried to detour Alex from this path. But of course Alex had ignored the rings, as he would ignore many warnings in his tragic life.
Caught red-handed and forced to return as a prodigal son-that-never-was to his uncle’s house, Alex again flees to yet another refuge, this time to the safe moral relativism of academia, where he becomes an expert at reducing meaning to ethical dust. However, he finds himself unable to navigate the easy duplicity in which his peers are fluent, and takes an isolated and idealistic stand which causes him to be drummed out of the facultyas a figure of ridicule. A bitter and alienated Alex once again returns defeated to a shack on his uncle’s property, spending his days in the family scrapyard forging dreadful humanoid creatures out of junked metal, a modern-day Prometheus. One day he is asked by MacIlvoy, now the local priest, to create a Virgin for the church grotto. Some part of him still influenced by divinity guides his hand to create a beautiful Madonna, her face inspired by a lovely young girl he spots one day in the market. Two days later he finds out that the girl is Amy Patch, the child he urged his childhood sweetheart to abort fifteen years earlier. He will also find out that it is once again the fate of this innocent girl, at his own hands, that will determine whether he will ever experience the grace he so dearly craves.
Trudging the lost highway while mulling over his grievances as usual, Alex runs into Burton Tucker, whose own mind and body have been stunted by the brutality of his birth mother. The generally pliant Burton runs the local garage, offering lotto tickets as a bonus for oil changes. He is on his way to deliver some good Jim Chapman is a winner, to the tune of $13 million. Alex realizes that he could have been the one to bring Jim’s truck to Burton and receive the winning ticket, but he had refused because of the grudge he held against Jim. Once again, Alex has been thwarted by an ironic twist of fate and it is too much to bear. He decides at that moment that his uncle must never see the money, and begins a treacherous intrigue, which he justifies through the tortured ethical logic with which he has become so skilled. He unwittingly aligns himself with a very dangerous partner, Leo Bourque, the childhood bully who made his schooldays such hell, and whose days of playing cat-and-mouse with the weak Alex are not over. Their twinned descent will become deadly, marked by murder both actual and intended.
How far would any of us go to avenge a terrible wrong done to us at birth? To whom shall we assign blame? And can we achieve redemption, no matter how grievous our sins? David Adams Richards’ The Lost Highway is a taut psychological thriller that goes far beyond the genre into the worlds of Leo Tolstoy, and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights , as well as classical Greek mythology, testing the very limits of humankind’s all too tenuous grasp on morality.
From the Hardcover edition.
These are the forlorn thoughts of Alex Chapman, the tragic anti-hero of David Adams Richards’ masterful novel The Lost Highway . An exploration of the philosophical contortions of which man is capable, the novel tracks the desperate journey of an eternally lost and orphaned child/man who has nearly squandered his frail birthright but might yet earn some degree of redemption.
Alex spent a stunted childhood watching his gentle mother defiled by rough-handed men including Roach, his biological father. Upon his mother’s death Alex is passed into the care of his hard-nosed great-uncle Jim Chapman, nicknamed “The Tyrant” by their Miramichi community. Alex’s uncle becomes a symbol of all that he loathes. Alex distinguishes himself from this brutal masculinity that stole his mother from himby becoming a self-imposed ascetic, entering the local seminary and rehearsing his own version of piousness. But when he is tempted by the Monsignor’s request to deliver charitable funds to the bank, Alex pockets the money and flees to the home of Minnie, whom he worships and who he has learned is now pregnant by Sam Patch, a good man, but too rough in Alex’s eyes. He attempts to talk Minnie into using the money for an abortion, and it is only her refusal that sends him back to the seminary to return the money. “Do you remember if the phone rang in the booth along the highway that night?” (p. 87) asks MacIlvoy, a fellow seminarian who had gotten wind of the theft and tried to detour Alex from this path. But of course Alex had ignored the rings, as he would ignore many warnings in his tragic life.
Caught red-handed and forced to return as a prodigal son-that-never-was to his uncle’s house, Alex again flees to yet another refuge, this time to the safe moral relativism of academia, where he becomes an expert at reducing meaning to ethical dust. However, he finds himself unable to navigate the easy duplicity in which his peers are fluent, and takes an isolated and idealistic stand which causes him to be drummed out of the facultyas a figure of ridicule. A bitter and alienated Alex once again returns defeated to a shack on his uncle’s property, spending his days in the family scrapyard forging dreadful humanoid creatures out of junked metal, a modern-day Prometheus. One day he is asked by MacIlvoy, now the local priest, to create a Virgin for the church grotto. Some part of him still influenced by divinity guides his hand to create a beautiful Madonna, her face inspired by a lovely young girl he spots one day in the market. Two days later he finds out that the girl is Amy Patch, the child he urged his childhood sweetheart to abort fifteen years earlier. He will also find out that it is once again the fate of this innocent girl, at his own hands, that will determine whether he will ever experience the grace he so dearly craves.
Trudging the lost highway while mulling over his grievances as usual, Alex runs into Burton Tucker, whose own mind and body have been stunted by the brutality of his birth mother. The generally pliant Burton runs the local garage, offering lotto tickets as a bonus for oil changes. He is on his way to deliver some good Jim Chapman is a winner, to the tune of $13 million. Alex realizes that he could have been the one to bring Jim’s truck to Burton and receive the winning ticket, but he had refused because of the grudge he held against Jim. Once again, Alex has been thwarted by an ironic twist of fate and it is too much to bear. He decides at that moment that his uncle must never see the money, and begins a treacherous intrigue, which he justifies through the tortured ethical logic with which he has become so skilled. He unwittingly aligns himself with a very dangerous partner, Leo Bourque, the childhood bully who made his schooldays such hell, and whose days of playing cat-and-mouse with the weak Alex are not over. Their twinned descent will become deadly, marked by murder both actual and intended.
How far would any of us go to avenge a terrible wrong done to us at birth? To whom shall we assign blame? And can we achieve redemption, no matter how grievous our sins? David Adams Richards’ The Lost Highway is a taut psychological thriller that goes far beyond the genre into the worlds of Leo Tolstoy, and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights , as well as classical Greek mythology, testing the very limits of humankind’s all too tenuous grasp on morality.
From the Hardcover edition.
393 pages, Paperback
First published November 20, 2007
15 people are currently reading
273 people want to read
About the author
David Adams Richards
46 books203 followersDavid Adams Richards (born 17 October 1950) is a Canadian novelist, essayist, screenwriter and poet.
Born in Newcastle, New Brunswick, Richards left St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, one course shy of completing a B.A. Richards has been a writer-in-residence at various universities and colleges across Canada, including the University of New Brunswick.
Richards has received numerous awards including 2 Gemini Awards for scriptwriting for Small Gifts and "For Those Who Hunt The Wounded Down", the Alden Nowlan Award for Excellence in the Arts, and the Canadian Authors Association Award for his novel Evening Snow Will Bring Such Peace. Richards is one of only three writers to have won in both the fiction and non-fiction categories of the Governor General's Award. He won the 1988 fiction award for Nights Below Station Street and the 1998 non-fiction award for Lines on the Water: A Fisherman's Life on the Miramichi. He was also a co-winner of the 2000 Giller Prize for Mercy Among the Children.
In 1971, he married the former Peggy MacIntyre. They have two sons, John Thomas and Anton Richards, and currently reside in Toronto.
John Thomas was born in 1989 in Saint John, New Brunswick.
The Writers' Federation of New Brunswick administers an annual David Adams Richards Award for Fiction.
Richards' papers are currently housed at the University of New Brunswick.
Born in Newcastle, New Brunswick, Richards left St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, one course shy of completing a B.A. Richards has been a writer-in-residence at various universities and colleges across Canada, including the University of New Brunswick.
Richards has received numerous awards including 2 Gemini Awards for scriptwriting for Small Gifts and "For Those Who Hunt The Wounded Down", the Alden Nowlan Award for Excellence in the Arts, and the Canadian Authors Association Award for his novel Evening Snow Will Bring Such Peace. Richards is one of only three writers to have won in both the fiction and non-fiction categories of the Governor General's Award. He won the 1988 fiction award for Nights Below Station Street and the 1998 non-fiction award for Lines on the Water: A Fisherman's Life on the Miramichi. He was also a co-winner of the 2000 Giller Prize for Mercy Among the Children.
In 1971, he married the former Peggy MacIntyre. They have two sons, John Thomas and Anton Richards, and currently reside in Toronto.
John Thomas was born in 1989 in Saint John, New Brunswick.
The Writers' Federation of New Brunswick administers an annual David Adams Richards Award for Fiction.
Richards' papers are currently housed at the University of New Brunswick.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
November 5, 2012
When I started reading David Adam Richards’ The Lost Highway I hated it. It was Crime and Punishment all over again, but set in the Maritimes and populated by poor Francaphones instead of poor Russians. Instead of murder for money, murder for a lottery ticket. The same obsessive hand wringing, the same excessive meditation on should-I, shouldn’t-I.
Until! Midway through the book Richards’ must have realized (or perhaps his editor) that a novel can only go so long without a plot event, and decided to introduce the detective, Markus Paul, and the narrative takes. off. I don’t mean just in plot events (in fact they remain sparse until the last twenty odd pages), but Markus’ observations about the outside world, about character behaviour and motivation counterbalance Adam’s obsessive internalization. Markus brings clarity to the moral question of the novel - how do we justify our action and the character question how do single decisions alter whole lives, whole sense of self - by taking action.
I almost gave up on this one, and I’m delighted that I didn’t. The suspense of the last fifty pages - both in terms of what happens and in terms of what kind of decision will Adam make (the right choice? what is the right choice?) is brilliant. You might argue with me that this suspense could not have been built without the preceding 400 pages of hand wringing, and I’d say you’re wrong. The hand-wringing is only terrible when it lacks the counterpoint of considered, measured action. The success of the psychological drama in this novel is its balance in minor, yet brilliant, action. My only regret is that the first third of the book lacks this balance, and is something painful to read as a result. Is the payoff worth it? It’s a mystery! (ha! get it? spies and detectives category? it’s a mystery? time to sign-off…)
Until! Midway through the book Richards’ must have realized (or perhaps his editor) that a novel can only go so long without a plot event, and decided to introduce the detective, Markus Paul, and the narrative takes. off. I don’t mean just in plot events (in fact they remain sparse until the last twenty odd pages), but Markus’ observations about the outside world, about character behaviour and motivation counterbalance Adam’s obsessive internalization. Markus brings clarity to the moral question of the novel - how do we justify our action and the character question how do single decisions alter whole lives, whole sense of self - by taking action.
I almost gave up on this one, and I’m delighted that I didn’t. The suspense of the last fifty pages - both in terms of what happens and in terms of what kind of decision will Adam make (the right choice? what is the right choice?) is brilliant. You might argue with me that this suspense could not have been built without the preceding 400 pages of hand wringing, and I’d say you’re wrong. The hand-wringing is only terrible when it lacks the counterpoint of considered, measured action. The success of the psychological drama in this novel is its balance in minor, yet brilliant, action. My only regret is that the first third of the book lacks this balance, and is something painful to read as a result. Is the payoff worth it? It’s a mystery! (ha! get it? spies and detectives category? it’s a mystery? time to sign-off…)
March 24, 2018
I'm a big David Adams Richards fan, but must admit that this book was disappointing. I may have never come across a main character of a novel as unlikeable as the self-pitying, cynical, disillusioned Alex Chapman and I found it a real struggle to get through the first two-thirds of the novel because of this. Things picked up a bit at the end so I bumped my final rating up to 3 stars.
If you're new to Adams Richards don't start with this novel - try Mercy Among the Children or Nights Below Station Street.
If you're new to Adams Richards don't start with this novel - try Mercy Among the Children or Nights Below Station Street.
December 29, 2008
The previous books of his that I read blew me away but this one was just so-so. In fact after awhile I just skimmed through it. The story being about a huge lotto ticket being sold to an uncle that the nephew plots to get for himself. Blah, blah, just wasn't interested after awhile. And his writing was off, as far as I was concerned. I'll give this author a break and come back to him at a later date.
July 30, 2021
I had a difficult time engaging in this book. It was a chore for me unfortunately. I loved his Mercy among Children though.
October 24, 2019
Richards doesn't miss a detail, from the beautiful and tender aspects of nature, to the hideous shack where natives consume life-destroying drugs. In this book, there is also a murder mystery to be solved and we see police procedural in a different, Miramichi way, fascinating!
April 18, 2024
Is it possible that I grade David Adams Richards on a harsh curve because I know that he has the potential to be so good? Some of his books I find to be great, five-star stories, nearing perfection. But this one is probably closer to 3.5 stars, but rounded down rather than up for a few reasons.
Overall, I found the book to be much longer than it needed to be. There were many times where the narration just seemed to give a plot summary; if the narration changed perspective, there were usually a few paragraphs to describe what you already knew had just happened to that character a few pages back. The book also got political at times that felt random. It felt like characters, and perhaps the author, were inserting a lot of their own bias into pretty much everything. It got annoying and detracted from the overall story, in my opinion. There’s an idea that if you give someone a hammer, everything looks like a nail - in this book, everything and everyone appears at times to just be a symptom of the political climate. Hey, maybe that’s true - we are all just reactive symptoms to our larger politics. But still, this message felt repetitive and a bit redundant by the end of the book.
The story was solid overall, but relied on a lot of coincidences that were too good to be true. The most obvious example is that Amy arrived to the same conclusion that Marcus Paul did, and at the same time, even though she had no evidence to work with, whereas he was gathering evidence for weeks….this also at the same time the two criminals finally enact on harming her. Amy could have figured it out on her own the very same night she witnessed the incident, but that would not have made for the conclusion that the author was setting up from the beginning. Essentially, the book relied on these happenstance events in order to get to the end, and in some ways it felt a little forced.
All of this said, there were many good things about the book. Characters from other of Richards’ stories make appearances. There is a lot to think about in regards to Alex trying to abort Amy, but later on not having the guts to kill her. The same goes for Jim and Poppy dying, very differently, in the same truck. I thought Aristotle’s page on ethics fit perfectly with the theme of The Lost Highway, and the author showed it to us readers at a perfect time. And I could go on with other good elements or moments in this book, which was also strongly written.
But there were too many nagging things that were always negatively taking my attention. One of the most annoying things was that the two criminals never confirmed the numbers on the winning lotto ticket before beginning their plan. It was hard to follow any of their logic when there’s a chance they have a losing ticket, and harder to believe that a university professor would even begin making plans as drastic as this just by trusting a mentally challenged person’s recollection of if the lottery ticket is winning. Come on. I get that it increases the tension because the reader is left in the dark, but it didn’t work for me. Likewise, the goal for both criminals made little sense. Both characters assumed that the woman they desired was not with them because they didn’t have enough money, so both of them became increasingly desperate to get money. They each had a naïve belief that money would solve all of their problems, which is something I thought when I was 10 or 12 years old. Their logic is further proven stupid by the fact that Minnie marries a guy that does not have a lot of money. Given all of the things Alex was able to achieve with his brain, it was hard to watch him not understand this simple reality. Although the author tried to explain why Alex was that way, it fell very short. And while it fit the theme of the book with everything being political, it made little sense to me. That is, I know some dumb people with false beliefs, but never to the extreme like this. My man Alex held on to his childhood crush into his forties and watched her biological child become a teen. I’m not saying give it up, but figure it out.
With how the conclusion of events played out (slow and suspenseful), I expected the final few pages to be of philosophic and political analysis. I thought the author would have a lot to say in that regard. But it was just one page detailing what the town looked like a year later. So while there was a lot said regarding the themes during the events of the story, there was little said after the events of the story. It just ended. I would have preferred a bit more than that.
Also, June Tucker got off relatively easy by just returning to the town with money and taking care of her son. Everyone else seemed to have a moral judgement hanging over them, except her. I don’t really understand why that was.
If you already know that you like Richards, this book will serve you well. If you’re new to him, I’d recommend many of his other novels before this one.
Overall, I found the book to be much longer than it needed to be. There were many times where the narration just seemed to give a plot summary; if the narration changed perspective, there were usually a few paragraphs to describe what you already knew had just happened to that character a few pages back. The book also got political at times that felt random. It felt like characters, and perhaps the author, were inserting a lot of their own bias into pretty much everything. It got annoying and detracted from the overall story, in my opinion. There’s an idea that if you give someone a hammer, everything looks like a nail - in this book, everything and everyone appears at times to just be a symptom of the political climate. Hey, maybe that’s true - we are all just reactive symptoms to our larger politics. But still, this message felt repetitive and a bit redundant by the end of the book.
The story was solid overall, but relied on a lot of coincidences that were too good to be true. The most obvious example is that Amy arrived to the same conclusion that Marcus Paul did, and at the same time, even though she had no evidence to work with, whereas he was gathering evidence for weeks….this also at the same time the two criminals finally enact on harming her. Amy could have figured it out on her own the very same night she witnessed the incident, but that would not have made for the conclusion that the author was setting up from the beginning. Essentially, the book relied on these happenstance events in order to get to the end, and in some ways it felt a little forced.
All of this said, there were many good things about the book. Characters from other of Richards’ stories make appearances. There is a lot to think about in regards to Alex trying to abort Amy, but later on not having the guts to kill her. The same goes for Jim and Poppy dying, very differently, in the same truck. I thought Aristotle’s page on ethics fit perfectly with the theme of The Lost Highway, and the author showed it to us readers at a perfect time. And I could go on with other good elements or moments in this book, which was also strongly written.
But there were too many nagging things that were always negatively taking my attention. One of the most annoying things was that the two criminals never confirmed the numbers on the winning lotto ticket before beginning their plan. It was hard to follow any of their logic when there’s a chance they have a losing ticket, and harder to believe that a university professor would even begin making plans as drastic as this just by trusting a mentally challenged person’s recollection of if the lottery ticket is winning. Come on. I get that it increases the tension because the reader is left in the dark, but it didn’t work for me. Likewise, the goal for both criminals made little sense. Both characters assumed that the woman they desired was not with them because they didn’t have enough money, so both of them became increasingly desperate to get money. They each had a naïve belief that money would solve all of their problems, which is something I thought when I was 10 or 12 years old. Their logic is further proven stupid by the fact that Minnie marries a guy that does not have a lot of money. Given all of the things Alex was able to achieve with his brain, it was hard to watch him not understand this simple reality. Although the author tried to explain why Alex was that way, it fell very short. And while it fit the theme of the book with everything being political, it made little sense to me. That is, I know some dumb people with false beliefs, but never to the extreme like this. My man Alex held on to his childhood crush into his forties and watched her biological child become a teen. I’m not saying give it up, but figure it out.
With how the conclusion of events played out (slow and suspenseful), I expected the final few pages to be of philosophic and political analysis. I thought the author would have a lot to say in that regard. But it was just one page detailing what the town looked like a year later. So while there was a lot said regarding the themes during the events of the story, there was little said after the events of the story. It just ended. I would have preferred a bit more than that.
Also, June Tucker got off relatively easy by just returning to the town with money and taking care of her son. Everyone else seemed to have a moral judgement hanging over them, except her. I don’t really understand why that was.
If you already know that you like Richards, this book will serve you well. If you’re new to him, I’d recommend many of his other novels before this one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 31, 2019
This is a very deep look at some unique characters. Alex Chapman is a 40 year old man who fancies himself an intellectual in small-town rural New Brunswick where French, English, and Micmac people live a basic life. Leo Bourque is a former school bully without much intellectual ability who wants to be like Alex, whom he sees as a big man--but who spends his life working in the woods and for a construction company. Their life is changed when Alex discovers his uncle Jim Chapman has won the lottery--13 million--and when he resolves to try to get the ticket without his uncle knowing. From that point, everyone who gets in his way becomes ensnared in his foolish plans. The novel's plot is strong, but not meant to be a page-turner. However, the drive in the novel is reading about the believable characters like Alex Chapman---even though you want to punch him for being a dolt many times and for being so fake. The narrator is also interesting--at times the narrator speaks as if he or she is a part of the town, but the narrator never gets a name, history, or actions--is just part of the town and it's knowledge. Well worth a read. The ending was very tantalizing and well paced to keep you going.
September 30, 2020
This book perfectly illustrates how delusional some people can be, how they can convince themselves of almost anything. But in the end, perhaps an innate goodness and love can both destroy and redeem. I loved reading descriptions about actual places I've been, especially remote, barely inhabited villages like Burnt Church. A name of a place on a map that I just had to drive to because the name was intriguing. I found no sign of a church, burnt or otherwise, but did enjoy the autumn drive.
April 19, 2018
This was my first time reading something by Richards and I quite enjoyed it. Since moving to Atlantic Canada a few years ago, I've found that the region makes a great backdrop for all kinds of stories, particularly those with a dark tone. I'm very much looking forward to reading more from this author.
June 29, 2024
Slow going at the start, and maybe a bit too pat at the end, but once it gets going the story is compelling. And the author is (if he'll pardon the expression) right on the money when he regrets that approval and disapproval have taken the place of love and forgiveness as the foundation of so-called ethics.
April 15, 2024
I gave up at page 60. I appreciate the depth of Adams writing and wry turn of phrase of rural NewBrunswick (or possibly of a mentally disturbed person) but I’m in no mood these days to plow through 400 pages of the nihilistic thinking of the main character.
March 12, 2018
An unsympathetic main character that is hard to like.
June 9, 2020
Just couldn't get into this book. I couldn't relate to the characters at all and didn't enjoy the writing style.
December 31, 2020
Tough read. Not a happy story but very relevant. Need something light to start 2021.
Happy New Year.
Happy New Year.
February 19, 2021
A Canadian Crime and Punishment and a perfectly unique gem. David Adams Richards is a Canadian treasure.
Read
October 1, 2021One of his better recent efforts. It moves a bit faster and though it has all the usual elements of despair and disaster, it allows slightly more hope than many of its immediate predecessors.
October 22, 2022
Hard to get into. Well worth reading though.
December 13, 2022
Like many of the other readers I almost gave up on this one - it was such a slow start and the main character is really not likeable. In the end I am glad I kept reading.
October 6, 2024
I love this author. This was an average book by him. Fear for Amy, I did.
May 22, 2020
You can read this book as a thriller, or as a philosophical study of man; of one man in particular, who, despite holding great power, was in the end, all too human.
November 1, 2011
Review originally posted on Cozy Up With A Good Read
I found this book a little slow in the beginning but I am glad I pushed through the first 20 or so pages. I found the story to be very intriguing. I enjoy that the book opens up describing the characters and then you get the background story on Alex to understand why he is such an unlikeable character. In the beginning I found myself sympathizing with Alex until I got to know him better.
At times I felt that I wanted to yell at the characters in the book, just because of how their line of thought worked. I found myself thinking that if I was having a conversation with the characters while they were trying to justify their actions I would be yelling at them and telling them how stupid they were. (I actually found myself talking out loud at one specific part while I was on the subway on my way home from work...) Usually I don't find myself getting into a book with so many characters that just do not have some likeable characteristics, but this book kept me interested. I kept wanting to know what the characters would get themselves into next. I found myself thinking that if I was having a conversation with the characters while they were trying to justify their actions I would be yelling at them and telling them how stupid they were.
The one drawback I found with this book was the I found information being repeated a few times over throughout the book. For instance one character decides he wants to be called Bourquey, I found it continually being mentioned. I feel that after the first instance a writer does not need to keep reminding a reader about that. But it is not prominent in the book and only happens a few times.
I fund this story really showed ethical dilemmas at their height and how the morals of people can determine life or death. David Adams Richards writing keeps readers entertained and questioning until the end. I read that there was mystery involved and couldn't understand where the mystery came in, until the end when he keeps you wondering what happened to the characters.
I found this book a little slow in the beginning but I am glad I pushed through the first 20 or so pages. I found the story to be very intriguing. I enjoy that the book opens up describing the characters and then you get the background story on Alex to understand why he is such an unlikeable character. In the beginning I found myself sympathizing with Alex until I got to know him better.
At times I felt that I wanted to yell at the characters in the book, just because of how their line of thought worked. I found myself thinking that if I was having a conversation with the characters while they were trying to justify their actions I would be yelling at them and telling them how stupid they were. (I actually found myself talking out loud at one specific part while I was on the subway on my way home from work...) Usually I don't find myself getting into a book with so many characters that just do not have some likeable characteristics, but this book kept me interested. I kept wanting to know what the characters would get themselves into next. I found myself thinking that if I was having a conversation with the characters while they were trying to justify their actions I would be yelling at them and telling them how stupid they were.
The one drawback I found with this book was the I found information being repeated a few times over throughout the book. For instance one character decides he wants to be called Bourquey, I found it continually being mentioned. I feel that after the first instance a writer does not need to keep reminding a reader about that. But it is not prominent in the book and only happens a few times.
I fund this story really showed ethical dilemmas at their height and how the morals of people can determine life or death. David Adams Richards writing keeps readers entertained and questioning until the end. I read that there was mystery involved and couldn't understand where the mystery came in, until the end when he keeps you wondering what happened to the characters.
July 18, 2008
On bad days, I know that I'm a character in a David Adams Richards novel: arrogant, insecure, and utterly ineffective. His books are nothing if not inspiration to finish a project or two, fulfill a promise, send out a birthday gift on time rather than six months too late.
Is it Crime & Punishment or is it Hamlet? Alex, the disgraced adopted nephew of the tyrannical business baron in this corner of Northern New Brunswick (a failed academic and a priest too pathetic even to be defrocked) discovers that his uncle has won a $13,000,000 jackpot, and decides that his uncle must never see that money. With $13,000,000, finally, Alex imagines himself realizing his dreams, becoming a true humanitarian, respected by English, French, and Native alike. Leo, a poor French labourer, who bullied Alex on the schoolbus as a child, but later tried to emulate him, discovers Alex's plan and blackmails him into a share. They need to claim the money without anyone knowing they've stolen the ticket. This is when innocent people die.
The book, it rambles. From the introduction of this ticket plot to two hundred pages laying out Alex's failure as a priest and his disgrace as an academic, back into the ticket plot, and oh yeah, there's romance, too. Four hundred pages of inaction, and ultimately inaction saves the day. Thank goodness there's David Adams Richards to remind us that whether educated or not, whether striving, or merely struggling to get by, there is so little hope, that any success is a miracle.
Is it Crime & Punishment or is it Hamlet? Alex, the disgraced adopted nephew of the tyrannical business baron in this corner of Northern New Brunswick (a failed academic and a priest too pathetic even to be defrocked) discovers that his uncle has won a $13,000,000 jackpot, and decides that his uncle must never see that money. With $13,000,000, finally, Alex imagines himself realizing his dreams, becoming a true humanitarian, respected by English, French, and Native alike. Leo, a poor French labourer, who bullied Alex on the schoolbus as a child, but later tried to emulate him, discovers Alex's plan and blackmails him into a share. They need to claim the money without anyone knowing they've stolen the ticket. This is when innocent people die.
The book, it rambles. From the introduction of this ticket plot to two hundred pages laying out Alex's failure as a priest and his disgrace as an academic, back into the ticket plot, and oh yeah, there's romance, too. Four hundred pages of inaction, and ultimately inaction saves the day. Thank goodness there's David Adams Richards to remind us that whether educated or not, whether striving, or merely struggling to get by, there is so little hope, that any success is a miracle.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 29, 2015
For twenty years Alex Chapman a tired academic and failed priest, has been at odds with his Uncle James, a man known about town to be a tyrant. Alex is a bitter disillusioned man who believes his Uncle has been responsible for his difficult childhood, the loss of his true love, and the entire downward spiral his life has taken.
One night he learns from a local auto mechanic that James has bought a winning thirteen million dollar lottery ticket. Alex considers that this may be his chance for revenge, a chance to get back at his aging Uncle for all the unhappiness he has caused. Alex sets out to ensure James never finds out about the prize so that he can steal it.
And so Alex begins the rocky path down a difficult road where lies are piled upon lies. His old friend and sometime enemy Leo becomes involved and things quickly spin out of control, getting Alex deeper and deeper into trouble.
This is a story about deep seated grudges, small town jealousy and corruption.
Richards’ work is always dark and often emotionally draining. But he writes beautifully and convincingly of life in rural and small town communities and the difficult moral questions we all face.
One night he learns from a local auto mechanic that James has bought a winning thirteen million dollar lottery ticket. Alex considers that this may be his chance for revenge, a chance to get back at his aging Uncle for all the unhappiness he has caused. Alex sets out to ensure James never finds out about the prize so that he can steal it.
And so Alex begins the rocky path down a difficult road where lies are piled upon lies. His old friend and sometime enemy Leo becomes involved and things quickly spin out of control, getting Alex deeper and deeper into trouble.
This is a story about deep seated grudges, small town jealousy and corruption.
Richards’ work is always dark and often emotionally draining. But he writes beautifully and convincingly of life in rural and small town communities and the difficult moral questions we all face.
January 29, 2011
Another bleak, depressing, shocking, soul-shredding David Adams Richards novel...but it's SO BLOODY WELL written! The character of Alex Chapman could be the most incredible sociopath ever created for literature...his journey is, by turns, tragic and horrific...and once again, only one character emerges unscathed (not sure I can qualify it as happy) by the end of the novel.
However, what keeps this from five stars is a disturbing trend for the author's voice to preach AS the author, and not as a character...and I'm wondering if it has something to do with Richard's recent memoir about his thoughts on God. It certainly feels like it has bled into this novel...and not for the best reasons. This tone of ever-so-slight smugness and cynicism nearly destroys an all-but-perfect piece of writing.
However, what keeps this from five stars is a disturbing trend for the author's voice to preach AS the author, and not as a character...and I'm wondering if it has something to do with Richard's recent memoir about his thoughts on God. It certainly feels like it has bled into this novel...and not for the best reasons. This tone of ever-so-slight smugness and cynicism nearly destroys an all-but-perfect piece of writing.
November 5, 2014
“The Lost Highway,” provides the bleak, rural landscape of New Brunswick Maritime as a backdrop for a philosophical examination of character. Where the primary figure, Alex although he is educated well-enough to be a professor of Ethics is faced time and time again by his inability to learn from his mistakes. Alex faces off against his counter self with Leo who is not as dim as Alex had thought. The two of them duel on a lonely, abandoned stretch of highway, both outsiders, desperate and poor.
This book plods on and on, sometimes repeating itself and despair hangs in the air until Constable Markus Paul brings a much-needed breath of fresh air.
I give this a 3.75 because of the concept Richards uses to present different philosophical viewpoints that provide a counter-narrative to the idea of relativity.
This book plods on and on, sometimes repeating itself and despair hangs in the air until Constable Markus Paul brings a much-needed breath of fresh air.
I give this a 3.75 because of the concept Richards uses to present different philosophical viewpoints that provide a counter-narrative to the idea of relativity.
November 19, 2015
A Canadian version of Crime and Punishment, with all that implies about fiction being used for philosophical speculation and social criticism. But Dostoyevsky did it much better. Only Richards' capacity for storytelling kept me going to the end. The characters and often tortured plot are manipulated for polemical ends. The other five Richards novels that I've read have little tinges of that; with this one there is little else, and certainly very little of the regard for human beings that fills his other books. It's as if he decided to pour out all his anger in one go. The ideas add some heft to the storytelling, but they are presented in a cartoonish way that tends to deplete them. Not sure the writing here is up to Richards' usual level either, though it's still probably above average for Canadian novels.
November 7, 2010
It took me too long to read this book. Maybe because I got involved in watching the first 2 seasons of MAD MEN, and my New Year's resolution of "Read less, watch more T.V." was being fulfilled.
The main character, Alex was such an unlikeable person. He and his uncle were constantly at odds with each other. Alex learns one day that his uncle has been sold a winning lottery ticket worth $13 million and Alex vows that his uncle will never see this money and from then on plots how to turn the ticket in for himself. One of his childhood antagonists also becomes involved in the scheme and the plot suddenly gets out of hand and things happen that Alex would never have dreamed he'd be a part of. Really a good story about morals or lack thereof.
The main character, Alex was such an unlikeable person. He and his uncle were constantly at odds with each other. Alex learns one day that his uncle has been sold a winning lottery ticket worth $13 million and Alex vows that his uncle will never see this money and from then on plots how to turn the ticket in for himself. One of his childhood antagonists also becomes involved in the scheme and the plot suddenly gets out of hand and things happen that Alex would never have dreamed he'd be a part of. Really a good story about morals or lack thereof.
Read
April 12, 2013Alex spent a stunted childhood watching his gentle mother defiled by rough-handed men including Roach, his biological father. Upon his mother’s death Alex is passed into the care of his hard-nosed great-uncle Jim Chapman, nicknamed “The Tyrant” by their Miramichi community. Alex’s uncle becomes a symbol of all that he loathes.
Alex distinguishes himself from this brutal masculinity that stole his mother from himby becoming a self-imposed ascetic, entering the local seminary and rehearsing his own version of piousness. But when he is tempted by the Monsignor’s request to deliver charitable funds to the bank, Alex pockets the money and flees.
June 15, 2009
Started slow but more than made up for that by the end. Simple story but the details gave it a depth and heft. The way the characters rationalize their actions was interesting. I still can't decide whether I found Alex to be pitiable or pitiful. Both, I guess. Often, the dialogue felt a bit unnatural but at the same time appropriate and didn't push me out of the story - and just as often it was excellent.
September 3, 2012
Granted this book got off to a slow start... This seems like a good companion to Crime and Punishment or the Brothers Karamazov. A interesting portrayal of character, as despicable as Alex was. It is a classic tragedy and a classic example of the depths of self-centered, greedy and broken people and the depths to which they carry on their charade of justifications.
An exploration of religion and ethics and man's inability to reconcile meaning.
An exploration of religion and ethics and man's inability to reconcile meaning.
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