More

by Austin Clarke

From the winner of the 2002 Giller Prize comes Austin Clarke's much anticipated new novel, More. At the news of her son's involvement in gang crime, Idora Morrison collapses in her rented basement apartment. For four days and nights, she retreats into a vortex of memory, pain, and disappointment that unravels a riveting dissection of her life as a black immigrant to Toronto. Idora has lived in Canada for 25 years. She has struggled to make ends meet and her deadbeat husband Bertram has abandoned her for a better life in America. Left alone to raise her son BJ, Idora does her best to survive against very difficult odds. Now that BJ has disappeared into a life of crime and gang warfare, she recoils from this loss and tries to understand how her life has spiraled into this tragic place. In spite of her circumstances, Idora finds her way back into the light with a courage that is both remarkable and unforgettable. Perhaps the most political of all of Austin Clarke's novels, More is a p

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, African American

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Austin Ardinel Chesterfield Clarke was a Canadian novelist, essayist and short story writer who lives in Toronto, Ontario. He has been called "Canada's first multicultural writer".

Clarke had his early education in Barbados and taught at a rural school for three years. In 1955 he moved to Canada to attend the University of Toronto but after two years turned his hand to journalism and broadcasting. He was a reporter in the Ontario communities of Timmins and Kirkland Lake, before joining the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a freelance journalist. He subsequently taught at several American universities, including Yale, Duke and the University of Texas.

In 1973 he was designated cultural attaché at the Barbadian embassy in Washington, DC. He was later General Manager of the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation in Barbados (1975-1977).

Returning to Canada, in 1977 he ran as a Progressive Conservative candidate in the Ontario election. He was writer in residence at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec and at University of Western Ontario.From 1988 to 1993 he served on the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

how many of you would groan if i said i just wanted more from this novel?

don't care.

parts of this book batter me with how well he gets into the mind of this character, and her perceptions and fears and shifts between confidence and a wish to hide herself away from the world are fantastic and uncomfortably recognizable. the parts that are good are amazing.

however, i don't usually have a problem with a nonlinear story, but this one was more difficult than usual. i don't know if i was ever sure what was memory and what was fantasy. sometimes a distinction like that doesn't matter, but in this case, i would argue that it does. the perspective is so limited, it would just be helpful to know whether we are in reminiscence territory or madness.

i do know it is deeply sad. hope is frequently scorched, opportunities are dangers in disguise, children and men will disappoint you, the expectations of other women are confusing, the racial tolerance of toronto is a sham, and you are left alone in a basement apartment, pretending to be naomi campbell on the catwalk.

i can't think of anything more depressing than that.

this is the second of his novels i have read (of the whopping three of eleven that are in print here), and while i liked them both, i think i had higher expectations for both of them. (but that may also be because of my deepest love for that "other" afro-canadian author whose last name is clark-without-an-e. they are right next to each other on the shelf, is how i discovered him in the first place) and although this one, unlike The Polished Hoe: A Novel, was not written in dialect, i could not help but insert it into the text. i like books in dialect, when they are done well. and polished hoe was really well done in that respect.

dunno - i still want to read more from him, since i do have that one option left and all. and there were lots of great elements to this book, but my expectation-to-enjoyment ratio leaves me stuck with a high-three star rating.

also: the first sentence is three full pages long, and you have to applaud that.

come to my blog!

[Nadia L. Hohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMG. What a gut-retching, heartbreaking, gritty, raw, too-close-to-home look at my city. I can see why it is important now to also read the literature from my city, my province, my country. This book (I audiobooked it) read like a map of Toronto-- a very detailed map-- in which you can visit and see every place named. The book was the landscape of Idora's mind. She is a poor, Black, Caribbean immigrant, single-mom and it does not really stray from that. The confines of her life (really a basement apartment in the lower Cabbagetown community in Toronto, a couple subway stops east and west) are emphasized by her world of work, church, and lost loves. Her voice is like so many Caribbean women I know. I kept on saying, "Poor woman..." as she cried, repeatedly, "Where are the men." Idora is alone in a country, her adopted nation, trying to figure it out. And the gun violence? It is all palpable and too real. Austin Clarke, I took out this book from the library about 2 weeks before your passing (I had never read your books before, I had seen you at a few book events, attended your play adaptation) and I realize that you got it. You really did. The voice and thoughts of a "buttoned up" Caribbean woman. The "apostolicals" church of holiness and spiritualism. The Caribbean dialect. The brutal racism. The isolation of immigration and the desparate attempts to cleave a community. And as a writer, a first-generation Caribbean-Canadian, I owe you everything. Thank you for such a wonderful gift. What did I want? More. More perspectives. Someone to break into Idora's life and "save her". But do these things always happen? Why for heaven sake did she suffer in silence?

[Ruthie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clarke is a very well known Canadian writer who has won numerous literary prizes. The book that won the Giller Prize, the Polished Hoe, was a great story, but it was very hard to read as it was written is Bajun dialect (Clarke is from Barbados). This novel is written is plain English, but it reads as a somewhat delirious ramble. A Barbadian-Canadian woman is worried because her son is not home. As the story unravels we find out that she came to Canada as a domestic worker (popular means of immigration for those wanting to come to Canada). She eventually brings her husband and son to live with her. Clarke gives an insightful portrait of her live, her dreams and her loses. It is often hard to follow the time line, but well worth the effort.

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

this being the first book i have read by austin clarke, i have to say i was immensely disappointed,considering his impressive reputation, especially here in canada.

i found the book just rambled on for 300 pages, with nothing much really happening, and i found myself skipping large sections of the book, which is something i almost never do. on top of that, i just didn't like the style of writing either.

anyway, i will give The Polished Hoe: A Novel a try at some point, largely because i already own the book, plus it won the giller prize (canada's equivalent of the booker prize). if i don't like that one though, i won't be reading any more of his books.

[Ramona · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story, set in Toronto, about a Bajun-Canadian woman waiting on her wayward son to return home. The city of Toronto is a character in the novel, which is fun to read. However, Clarke's style of writing leaves something to be desired. The novel is written in the mother's, Idora's, voice, in one long, rambling rant that goes back and forth between her past to her present. What Clarke has to say about being black in a multicultural and ostensibly accepting Toronto, however, is searingly insightful, and spot on.

[Golden Secondary School · Rating 4 out of 5]

This adult novel looks closely at the play between racism, poverty and politics in Canada through the eyes of Idora, a single mother whose son has just disappeared into criminal gang life.

This is a slow moving story and recommended for very mature readers who are interested in socio-political issues in Canada.

[Mauberley]

A beautifully drawn character (Idora) is trapped in a novel so poorly plotted as to be embarrassing. For example, as soon as we learn of Josephine's boyfriend, does any reader NOT know what will happen? The blurbs quoted on the cover say that this is a good portrait of Toronto. Would any readers here at Goodreads agree?

[AC · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess I am in the minority but I loved this book. I loved the main character's slow descent into insanity.

Great prose

[Rob & Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Idora's experience as an immigrant woman from Barbados in Toronto and her son's involvement in a gang.

Liz

[Gary Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

The narrator/main character is an immigrant from Barbados living in Toronto and working at a university dining hall. 1980's. Much stream of consciousness narration/description which is very skillfully done and easy to follow. As a rule, I enjoy reading the perspective of people that I have nothing in common with: female, black, religious, Christian, divorced, immigrant, obese, not formally educated. Idora is unforgettable.

[Janeschmidt · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times a bit challenging to follow, but well worth sticking with it. Must read for people wanting to understand more about the immigrant experience in Toronto, anti-black racism, white supremacy and its insidious presence in society, and racial solidarity.

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

A complicated read but worth it.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A woman from Barbados living in Toronto, in a small basement apartment. Husband absconded with her savings. Son has gone missing. How to keep going day to day. Stream of consciousness writing.

[Jenn]

read for Can Lit class

[Toni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Austin Clarke is a Canadian author of Caribbean descent who received acclaim for his book, The Polished Hoe (which I haven't read). In More, Clarke weaves a tale about Idora Morrision a Caribbean immigrant living in Canada who receives the news that her son BJ may be involved in gang activity. Abandoned years before by her husband who went to America to find work, Idora has had to raise BJ alone in a land foreign to her. The book takes place over the course of 5 days as Idora sort of has a breakdown and doesn't leave her apartment. During that time she reflects on her life in Canada and the circumstances that brought her and BJ to this point. The entire book sort of takes place in her head and is written to well, that at times I questioned whether I was even smart enough to be reading this. It was beautiful, though, but the ending left me scratching my head. If you read it let me know what you think happened.

[Tina Siegel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible. The first two pages are ONE SENTENCE, and the writing gets worse from there. It's intrusive and self-conscious and gets in the way of caring about anything that happens, never mind the characters. Stay away from this one.

[Lena · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tried so hard understanding this book. Good story, good protagonist... made awfully boring by the personal style of this particular writer.

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave up on this one at around pg 57....

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

not always a fan of Austin Clarke's books because of the theme "being an immigrant is SO depressing"; this is more of "being an immigrant is so lonely"

[Magdel Hammond]

Hmmm....so far not sure.

[Camille]

Mediocre. Clarke can write much better than this.

[Pearl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I threw in the towel after about 75 pages. Definitely not my type of novel.

[Rebecca Kent · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring as all hell.
I will read anything and very few books have made me struggle my way through them like this one. I literally had to force myself to finish it.

[Bev · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actually did not finish this book. I cannot get accustomed to Clarke's writing style. The same problem with The Polished Hoe.