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Drive-by Saviours
Demoralized by his job and dissatisfied with his life, Mark punches the clock with increasing indifference. He wanted to help people; he'd always believed that as social worker he would be able to make a difference in people's lives. But after six years of bureaucracy and pushing paper Mark has lost hope.
All that changes when he meets Bumi, an Indonesian restaurant worker. Moved from his small fishing village and sent to a residential school under the authoritarian Suharto regime, Bumi's radical genius and obsessive-compulsive disorder raise suspicion among his paranoid neighbours. When several local children die mysteriously the neighbours fear reaches a fevered pitch and Bumi is forced to flee to Canada.
Brought together by a chance encounter on the subway, Mark and Bumi develop a friendship that forces them to confront their pasts. Moving gracefully between Canada and Indonesia and through the two men's histories, Drive-by Saviours is the story of desire and connection among lonely people adrift in a crowded world.
All that changes when he meets Bumi, an Indonesian restaurant worker. Moved from his small fishing village and sent to a residential school under the authoritarian Suharto regime, Bumi's radical genius and obsessive-compulsive disorder raise suspicion among his paranoid neighbours. When several local children die mysteriously the neighbours fear reaches a fevered pitch and Bumi is forced to flee to Canada.
Brought together by a chance encounter on the subway, Mark and Bumi develop a friendship that forces them to confront their pasts. Moving gracefully between Canada and Indonesia and through the two men's histories, Drive-by Saviours is the story of desire and connection among lonely people adrift in a crowded world.
- GenresCanadaContemporary
341 pages, Paperback
First published September 30, 2010
68 people want to read
About the author
Chris Benjamin
17 books87 followersChris Benjamin is a fiction and features writer.
His latest book is The Art of Forgiveness, from Galleon Books, a collection of linked short stories about three boys growing up (rough) in the suburbs. His previous, nonfiction, books include Chasing Paradise and Indian School Road: Legacies of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School, which won the Dave Greber Social Justice Book Award. His short story collection, Boy With A Problem, was a finalist for the Alistair MacLeod Prize for Short Fiction.
He is also the author of Eco-Innovators: Sustainability in Atlantic Canada (winner of the 2012 APMA Best Atlantic-Published Book Award & finalist for the 2012 Evelyn Richardson nonfiction prize) and the critically-acclaimed novel, Drive-by Saviours (longlisted for 2011 ReLit Award & Canada Reads 2011; winner of the Percy Prize).
His latest book is The Art of Forgiveness, from Galleon Books, a collection of linked short stories about three boys growing up (rough) in the suburbs. His previous, nonfiction, books include Chasing Paradise and Indian School Road: Legacies of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School, which won the Dave Greber Social Justice Book Award. His short story collection, Boy With A Problem, was a finalist for the Alistair MacLeod Prize for Short Fiction.
He is also the author of Eco-Innovators: Sustainability in Atlantic Canada (winner of the 2012 APMA Best Atlantic-Published Book Award & finalist for the 2012 Evelyn Richardson nonfiction prize) and the critically-acclaimed novel, Drive-by Saviours (longlisted for 2011 ReLit Award & Canada Reads 2011; winner of the Percy Prize).
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
June 4, 2011
More 3 and a half stars, really, for its focus on commerce, social injustice, immigration and oppression. Nice to see someone writing about ideas and concepts more than just creating characters and putting them in situations where these topics arise. That can sometimes come off false. If Chris Benjamin's characters are the weak point, the major concerns, which aren't going to go away soon, are the strong points. Recommended for those looking for engagement with international matters.
August 13, 2020
Nearing the end of this book I can finally articulate what's wrong with it. It's reportage. It's not a novel. Benjamin is a journalist and like many journalists he writes lousy fiction. He reports this story, skimming its surface, but not penetrating to its depth. There is no depth to penetrate.
He tells us a great, great deal, but shows us nothing. He tells us about his characters, but shows nothing. We see nothing actual of Sarah's mother's alcoholism. Sarah, too, is not actualized, only described. Mark, Micki, Toni are all simply described, their characteristics inventoried not exhibited.. We never enter their experiences. This is most damaging in the case of Bumi's OCD which is described symptomatically but NEVER experienced. We never enter a single moment of his OCD crises. We are told about his OCD. That is it. The novel's characters emerge extremely weak, one-dimensional, ineffective automatons. We aren't shown enough, we don't share enough with them to care whether they live, die, succeed or fail-- which as characters they do.
The two principle characters Mark and Bumi fail abysmally because of this lack of actualization. Bumi's OCD, Mark's black-out epiphany are two crucial experience that we don't experience. Again, these events, these crises, conditions are merely described. There is no way we can accept them as profoundly authentic. For the same reasons, we cannot accept the novel.
Pet Peeve: Is this a petty annoyance? Perhaps not since Benjamin makes so much of Mark's correction of Bumi's grammar. Mark makes a number of colossal grammatical errors himself. His speech, writing is pimpled with them. One wants to read with red pencil in hand.
Book is an overall disappointment. Reads like a long magazine article, not a novel.
He tells us a great, great deal, but shows us nothing. He tells us about his characters, but shows nothing. We see nothing actual of Sarah's mother's alcoholism. Sarah, too, is not actualized, only described. Mark, Micki, Toni are all simply described, their characteristics inventoried not exhibited.. We never enter their experiences. This is most damaging in the case of Bumi's OCD which is described symptomatically but NEVER experienced. We never enter a single moment of his OCD crises. We are told about his OCD. That is it. The novel's characters emerge extremely weak, one-dimensional, ineffective automatons. We aren't shown enough, we don't share enough with them to care whether they live, die, succeed or fail-- which as characters they do.
The two principle characters Mark and Bumi fail abysmally because of this lack of actualization. Bumi's OCD, Mark's black-out epiphany are two crucial experience that we don't experience. Again, these events, these crises, conditions are merely described. There is no way we can accept them as profoundly authentic. For the same reasons, we cannot accept the novel.
Pet Peeve: Is this a petty annoyance? Perhaps not since Benjamin makes so much of Mark's correction of Bumi's grammar. Mark makes a number of colossal grammatical errors himself. His speech, writing is pimpled with them. One wants to read with red pencil in hand.
Book is an overall disappointment. Reads like a long magazine article, not a novel.
January 4, 2016
Hmm, pondering on this one for a bit. I would give this novel 3 1/2 stars, if that was possible on GR.
From the cover description:
Demoralized by his job and dissatisfied with his life, Mark punches the clock with increasing indifference. He wanted to help people; he’d always believed that as social worker he would be able to make a difference in people’s lives. But after six years of bureaucracy and pushing paper Mark has lost hope.
All that changes when he meets Bumi, an Indonesian restaurant worker. Moved from his small fishing village and sent to a residential school under the authoritarian Suharto regime, Bumi’s radical genius and obsessive-compulsive disorder raise suspicion among his paranoid neighbours. When several local children die mysteriously the neighbours fear reaches a fevered pitch and Bumi is forced to flee to Canada.
Brought together by a chance encounter on the bus, Mark and Bumi develop a friendship that forces them to confront their pasts. Moving gracefully between Canada and Indonesia and through the two men’s histories, Drive-by Saviours is the story of desire and connection among lonely people adrift in a crowded world.
Okay, so this is what I have come up with:
This novel is Chris Benjamin’s debut work and is brought to readers via Roseway Publishing, a small Nova Scotia-based publisher that “…aims to publish literary work that is rooted in and relevant to struggles for social justice.” Roseway was acquired by Fernwood Publishing, also based in Nova Scotia, in 2006. Fernwood operates under a unique principle:“…to provide authentic opportunities to first time authors and to groups who are often silent or silenced in today’s media. We are not afraid to take risks in this regard and, because of our confidence in the quality of the work we choose to publish, many of our first time authors remain with us throughout their publishing career.” Armed with these two pieces of information, I can understand why the publisher was drawn to Benjamin’s meaningful new novel.
Chris Benjamin has, to this point, led a varied and interesting life and it feels as though he has drawn from all of these aspects in creating a memorable work. While not a social worker, Benjamin did have the opportunity, during his time living in Toronto, to work with immigrants new to the country. He was drawn to people who had come to Canada, willing to start life over again. In a recent interview with Arts East magazine, Benjamin described it like this:
“The stories I heard from new Canadians blew me away. These were people who – by choice or not – picked up their entire lives, everything they’d ever known, and relocated on another planet – a cold planet. I’d lived abroad a fair bit but seeing these folks out of their cultural context, trying to rebuild their lives from scratch, I wanted to write about that.”
I read Drive-By Saviours quickly, beginning it this past Sunday and finishing last evening. It was a book I had trouble stepping away from, or even finding moments within where I felt comfortable taking a break. I was so keen to follow the path Benjamin was taking me down. We are introduced to Bumi first, in chapter one, on the day of his birth on Rilaka, an Indonesian island. We meet Mark, in Toronto, at the start of the second chapter. Mark looks back on his younger years, and career trajectory then tells us he was “content by 25″. Going forward, the novel alternates chapters, with each character having their own arc and unique timbre. Each young man is on a different course – Bumi’s complicated by the regime of Suharto and undiagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and Mark’s fraught with emotional personal entanglements that lead to choices of self-sabotage.
We know these two characters will, eventually, cross paths and that the resulting relationship will change both of their lives. With each of these young men, and with the novel as a whole, I have been left with the feeling Benjamin has written a novel about the importance of personal connection with others. The author offers us contrasting views of relationships, with all of the complexities these entail. Bumi, though less fortunate because of political impositions on personal freedoms, has a wife and daughter he loves, then loses. Marc, with all of the advantages the Western world has to offer, has a common-law relationship with his girlfriend that is on the decline and barely any relationship with his own family.
Benjamin underscores his study in humanity with a theme of social justice (or injustices) while informing readers about OCD. Ideas this big could have proved labyrinthine, but Benjamin is a deft guide and as a reader I never felt as though he was preaching or cloaking his personal feelings under the guise of fiction. The characters of Mark and Bumi are so well developed that you can’t help but feel empathy for them. For Bumi, in particular, I marveled at his strength and determination. I only have two minor criticisms of Drive-By Saviours. First, perhaps the background story about Mark’s family – particularly the relationship with his sister Michelle – could have been addressed more thoroughly earlier on. For me, the depth of their troubled relationship was not strongly evident until Mark tried to reengage with Michelle. Second, Bumi’s ocean travel seemed a bit tidy. These are so minor though, and I mention them only because I ended up curious about several things within the story, once I had finished the novel.
Overall, Drive-By Saviours is a very strong debut and Benjamin has some serious writerly chops. I look forward to his next novel, which he hopes to release in 2012.
From the cover description:
Demoralized by his job and dissatisfied with his life, Mark punches the clock with increasing indifference. He wanted to help people; he’d always believed that as social worker he would be able to make a difference in people’s lives. But after six years of bureaucracy and pushing paper Mark has lost hope.
All that changes when he meets Bumi, an Indonesian restaurant worker. Moved from his small fishing village and sent to a residential school under the authoritarian Suharto regime, Bumi’s radical genius and obsessive-compulsive disorder raise suspicion among his paranoid neighbours. When several local children die mysteriously the neighbours fear reaches a fevered pitch and Bumi is forced to flee to Canada.
Brought together by a chance encounter on the bus, Mark and Bumi develop a friendship that forces them to confront their pasts. Moving gracefully between Canada and Indonesia and through the two men’s histories, Drive-by Saviours is the story of desire and connection among lonely people adrift in a crowded world.
Okay, so this is what I have come up with:
This novel is Chris Benjamin’s debut work and is brought to readers via Roseway Publishing, a small Nova Scotia-based publisher that “…aims to publish literary work that is rooted in and relevant to struggles for social justice.” Roseway was acquired by Fernwood Publishing, also based in Nova Scotia, in 2006. Fernwood operates under a unique principle:“…to provide authentic opportunities to first time authors and to groups who are often silent or silenced in today’s media. We are not afraid to take risks in this regard and, because of our confidence in the quality of the work we choose to publish, many of our first time authors remain with us throughout their publishing career.” Armed with these two pieces of information, I can understand why the publisher was drawn to Benjamin’s meaningful new novel.
Chris Benjamin has, to this point, led a varied and interesting life and it feels as though he has drawn from all of these aspects in creating a memorable work. While not a social worker, Benjamin did have the opportunity, during his time living in Toronto, to work with immigrants new to the country. He was drawn to people who had come to Canada, willing to start life over again. In a recent interview with Arts East magazine, Benjamin described it like this:
“The stories I heard from new Canadians blew me away. These were people who – by choice or not – picked up their entire lives, everything they’d ever known, and relocated on another planet – a cold planet. I’d lived abroad a fair bit but seeing these folks out of their cultural context, trying to rebuild their lives from scratch, I wanted to write about that.”
I read Drive-By Saviours quickly, beginning it this past Sunday and finishing last evening. It was a book I had trouble stepping away from, or even finding moments within where I felt comfortable taking a break. I was so keen to follow the path Benjamin was taking me down. We are introduced to Bumi first, in chapter one, on the day of his birth on Rilaka, an Indonesian island. We meet Mark, in Toronto, at the start of the second chapter. Mark looks back on his younger years, and career trajectory then tells us he was “content by 25″. Going forward, the novel alternates chapters, with each character having their own arc and unique timbre. Each young man is on a different course – Bumi’s complicated by the regime of Suharto and undiagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and Mark’s fraught with emotional personal entanglements that lead to choices of self-sabotage.
We know these two characters will, eventually, cross paths and that the resulting relationship will change both of their lives. With each of these young men, and with the novel as a whole, I have been left with the feeling Benjamin has written a novel about the importance of personal connection with others. The author offers us contrasting views of relationships, with all of the complexities these entail. Bumi, though less fortunate because of political impositions on personal freedoms, has a wife and daughter he loves, then loses. Marc, with all of the advantages the Western world has to offer, has a common-law relationship with his girlfriend that is on the decline and barely any relationship with his own family.
Benjamin underscores his study in humanity with a theme of social justice (or injustices) while informing readers about OCD. Ideas this big could have proved labyrinthine, but Benjamin is a deft guide and as a reader I never felt as though he was preaching or cloaking his personal feelings under the guise of fiction. The characters of Mark and Bumi are so well developed that you can’t help but feel empathy for them. For Bumi, in particular, I marveled at his strength and determination. I only have two minor criticisms of Drive-By Saviours. First, perhaps the background story about Mark’s family – particularly the relationship with his sister Michelle – could have been addressed more thoroughly earlier on. For me, the depth of their troubled relationship was not strongly evident until Mark tried to reengage with Michelle. Second, Bumi’s ocean travel seemed a bit tidy. These are so minor though, and I mention them only because I ended up curious about several things within the story, once I had finished the novel.
Overall, Drive-By Saviours is a very strong debut and Benjamin has some serious writerly chops. I look forward to his next novel, which he hopes to release in 2012.
February 25, 2025
This book is so immersive - it transports you across the world to where these two unlikely allies meet. The description is rich and the writing takes its time to percolate the big ideas down into the details.
April 27, 2011
One of my favourite things about living in Halifax, N.S. is that the writing community is a manageable size and in my experience, overwhelmingly supportive. I do my bit by occasionally reading a book by a local author and that was my main motivation behind purchasing Drive-by Saviours by fellow Haligonian Chris Benjamin. I'd also been following Chris on Twitter (@benjaminwrites) and while we've never met, we've had brief on-line conversations that led me to expect he would be a thoughtful and articulate writer. He is, and so much more.
Drive-by Saviours is the type of debut novel I'd like to write–ambitious, impactful and sweeping. It boldly creates characters that are flawed yet sympathetic, and a plot that is unpredictable, tragic and hopeful. Rarely does a book feature strong characters and plot, one usually coming at the expense of the other, but this book has them both in equal doses.
One of the two main characters, Bumi, grows up in Rilaka, a small Indonesian fishing island. As part of Suharto's educational reforms, Bumi is forced from his home into a city school where he is expected to forget his peasant upbringing and accept a highly censored curriculum without question. Bumi is incredibly bright and rebellious, traits that prohibit his immersion into this new culture and continually land him in trouble.
The other main character, Mark, is a young social worker living in Toronto during the 2003 blackout that left city without power for several days during an August heat wave. The blackout profoundly affects how Mark sees and relates to his fellow citizens. As I, too, lived in Toronto at that time, I found the descriptions of how people interacted during the blackout totally accurate and insightful. Chris's writing about it and his observations about multicultural Toronto in general are so astute I felt (and rather wished) I'd written them myself.
I struggled initially with Bumi's storyline and was confused by some of the Indonesian names and political events of the time. In the early chapters I yearned to stay with Mark's story. It focused on the paralyzing stasis of his relationship with his girlfriend, Sarah, and his work. The further I got into the book, however, the more I yearned to read about Bumi. His struggles were with demons real and imagined, while Mark's were more with a lurking discontentment that seemed self-indulgent when contrasted with Bumi's problems. It took a long time for these two characters to meet but as expected, they had profound influence upon one another once they did and for me, that's when the book became exciting.
While the second half felt more rushed than the first, overall the writing is well paced in that it moved the story forward but paused when necessary to paint a picture or evoke a feeling. The tale is sad but it's a beautiful melancholy. The author ambitiously weaved many important social issues into the story and managed to present them in sufficiently informed and respectful ways.
Drive-by Saviours proved to me yet again that when you buy local and read local, you discover some of the best writers live close to your home.
Drive-by Saviours is the type of debut novel I'd like to write–ambitious, impactful and sweeping. It boldly creates characters that are flawed yet sympathetic, and a plot that is unpredictable, tragic and hopeful. Rarely does a book feature strong characters and plot, one usually coming at the expense of the other, but this book has them both in equal doses.
One of the two main characters, Bumi, grows up in Rilaka, a small Indonesian fishing island. As part of Suharto's educational reforms, Bumi is forced from his home into a city school where he is expected to forget his peasant upbringing and accept a highly censored curriculum without question. Bumi is incredibly bright and rebellious, traits that prohibit his immersion into this new culture and continually land him in trouble.
The other main character, Mark, is a young social worker living in Toronto during the 2003 blackout that left city without power for several days during an August heat wave. The blackout profoundly affects how Mark sees and relates to his fellow citizens. As I, too, lived in Toronto at that time, I found the descriptions of how people interacted during the blackout totally accurate and insightful. Chris's writing about it and his observations about multicultural Toronto in general are so astute I felt (and rather wished) I'd written them myself.
I struggled initially with Bumi's storyline and was confused by some of the Indonesian names and political events of the time. In the early chapters I yearned to stay with Mark's story. It focused on the paralyzing stasis of his relationship with his girlfriend, Sarah, and his work. The further I got into the book, however, the more I yearned to read about Bumi. His struggles were with demons real and imagined, while Mark's were more with a lurking discontentment that seemed self-indulgent when contrasted with Bumi's problems. It took a long time for these two characters to meet but as expected, they had profound influence upon one another once they did and for me, that's when the book became exciting.
While the second half felt more rushed than the first, overall the writing is well paced in that it moved the story forward but paused when necessary to paint a picture or evoke a feeling. The tale is sad but it's a beautiful melancholy. The author ambitiously weaved many important social issues into the story and managed to present them in sufficiently informed and respectful ways.
Drive-by Saviours proved to me yet again that when you buy local and read local, you discover some of the best writers live close to your home.
December 26, 2010
Drive-By Saviours, the debut novel by Canadian author Chris Benjamin, tells the story of two men from very different backgrounds who meet one day on the subway in Toronto and form a friendship that changes both of their lives forever. One of these men is Bumi, an illegal immigrant from Indonesia, on the run from his troubled past. The other is Mark, a Canadian social worker who is growing increasingly disillusioned with his job. As they get to know each other, Mark learns that Bumi is suffering from OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and decides to try to help him get the treatment he needs – and at the same time discovers that this new friendship could have important consequences for his own future.
The novel moves back and forth between Indonesia and Canada, with alternating chapters being told from first Bumi's perspective, then Mark's. Bumi's chapters are in chronological order, whereas Mark's are in the form of flashbacks and anecdotes. This might sound like a confusing structure, but the author handles the transitions very well and the story flows nicely.
This wasn't a bad book by any means, but overall it didn’t quite work for me. Although I enjoyed the first half of the book, there were a few occasions during the second half where I started to lose interest in the story. And while I thought Bumi was a fascinating and sympathetic character, I felt less engaged with the chapters narrated by Mark. Maybe I just wasn’t the right reader for this book as most other reviews seem to be very positive.
However, there were some things I really liked about this book. First of all, I enjoyed the chapters set in Indonesia which described Bumi's childhood on a small fishing island and the difficulties he experienced when he was sent to school in the city of Makassar as part of a government experiment. I know very little about Indonesia so it was nice to have the opportunity to learn something about the history, politics and culture of the country. I also found the portrayal of Bumi's OCD very interesting to read about. The author spent a lot of time describing how Bumi's obsessions originated and spiralled out of control, what the symptoms were, and how people reacted to his behaviour in a community where most people were uneducated and had a limited understanding of mental illness.
A lot of other interesting issues are touched on, including families being separated by immigration, the effects of tourism and progress on an island community, and life in Indonesia under President Suharto's regime. But at the centre of the novel is the idea that two people who have grown up thousands of miles apart can discover a number of parallels in their lives and form a bond that transcends their cultural and personal differences.
The novel moves back and forth between Indonesia and Canada, with alternating chapters being told from first Bumi's perspective, then Mark's. Bumi's chapters are in chronological order, whereas Mark's are in the form of flashbacks and anecdotes. This might sound like a confusing structure, but the author handles the transitions very well and the story flows nicely.
This wasn't a bad book by any means, but overall it didn’t quite work for me. Although I enjoyed the first half of the book, there were a few occasions during the second half where I started to lose interest in the story. And while I thought Bumi was a fascinating and sympathetic character, I felt less engaged with the chapters narrated by Mark. Maybe I just wasn’t the right reader for this book as most other reviews seem to be very positive.
However, there were some things I really liked about this book. First of all, I enjoyed the chapters set in Indonesia which described Bumi's childhood on a small fishing island and the difficulties he experienced when he was sent to school in the city of Makassar as part of a government experiment. I know very little about Indonesia so it was nice to have the opportunity to learn something about the history, politics and culture of the country. I also found the portrayal of Bumi's OCD very interesting to read about. The author spent a lot of time describing how Bumi's obsessions originated and spiralled out of control, what the symptoms were, and how people reacted to his behaviour in a community where most people were uneducated and had a limited understanding of mental illness.
A lot of other interesting issues are touched on, including families being separated by immigration, the effects of tourism and progress on an island community, and life in Indonesia under President Suharto's regime. But at the centre of the novel is the idea that two people who have grown up thousands of miles apart can discover a number of parallels in their lives and form a bond that transcends their cultural and personal differences.
November 1, 2012
Bumi lives in Indonesia. Mark lives in Canada. Bumi makes belts for a living. Mark is a social worker. The one thing they seem to have in common is a turbulent upbringing and uncomfortable relations with their families early in life. Their worlds seem far removed from each other, but they end up inextricably linked.[return][return]I came by this book entirely by chance, and the first time I tried to read it, it didn�t stick at all. I struggled through the first fifty pages in December, and then just gave up. It didn�t gel well with my situation at the time, as a holidaymaker on a sunny windswept island in the Atlantic, and so I decided it certainly isn�t a light holiday read. Having now reached the end, I�m not completely sure that it is my kind of book at all. [return][return]The characters are a funny bunch. The Canadians mainly annoyed me; Mark is entirely defined by his job and seems to be quite flat beyond that, despite being the only character who is written in the first person, and his girlfriend Sarah is portrayed as, shock horror, both beautiful and intelligent � how can this be?! Towards the end, I thought Sarah turned into a clich�d neurotic female figure and I think that cemented my annoyance at the whole Toronto section. At the start, I found the Indonesian sections somewhat impenetrable � there is a lot of unnecessary wittering about Bumi�s childhood that, although interesting and well-written, is just too long � but once Bumi hit adulthood, he became the most interesting figure in the book, and stayed that way throughout.[return][return]This is an excellent example of a book with two alternating foci; to begin with, the two worlds of Mark and Bumi seem so far removed from each other that I wondered how Chris Benjamin would ever convincingly bring them together, but the shift onto a collision course is deliciously instantaneous. This is probably the one feature of the book that I will remember long after the wanderlust and the intermittent boredom and frustration have long been forgotten. [return][return]So, is this a positive review, or a negative one? I�m still undecided. I ploughed through the second reading in a couple of days but I held on until the end out of a sense of obligation because I knew I had to review it for the ER programme, rather than out of any genuine interest. I was rewarded, to some extent, for my perseverance, but I think it will end up in the charity shop before long.
August 15, 2015
Drive-by Saviours is like two novels in one. Each character's story could have been told with the other character relegated to a minor role in the narrative. Bumi's story is told right from the day of his birth but Mark's story unfolds in a different way; starting in the present day, with occasional flashbacks to fill in the gaps in his life story. Bumi has been in Toronto for some time before he and Mark meet on the TTC in chapter 17, almost at the exact halfway point in the book. Thereafter, they quickly become friends.
Both Mark and Bumi are dealing with a plethora of complex problems that complicate their lives: Obsessive-compulsive Disease (OCD), unfulfilling work/careers, estranged family members, bad memories from the past, physical and psychological torture, even (in Mark's case) the plight of exploited Mexican migrant farm workers just to name a few. While Bumi struggles in oppressive Indonesia, Mark (who would appear to be living the idyllic life to many, Sarah even works as a catalogue model!) struggles to cope in ways that only someone from the Western world would understand, especially not wanting anything to do with family issues. So while there are obvious dissimilarities in their characters, there are still some common things they share, such as dealing with OCD tendencies and trying to understand them. Mark, seeing Bumi act in ways his sister did, is helped to recognize the disease, then seeks to reach out to his sister living on the west coast. Thus, in a way, Bumi acts as a 'drive-by saviour' to Mark, for soon thereafter he is suddenly deported from Canada and pulled out of Mark's life while he is out west trying to reconcile with his sister Michelle.
You can read the entire review here at my site: http://miramichireader.ca
Both Mark and Bumi are dealing with a plethora of complex problems that complicate their lives: Obsessive-compulsive Disease (OCD), unfulfilling work/careers, estranged family members, bad memories from the past, physical and psychological torture, even (in Mark's case) the plight of exploited Mexican migrant farm workers just to name a few. While Bumi struggles in oppressive Indonesia, Mark (who would appear to be living the idyllic life to many, Sarah even works as a catalogue model!) struggles to cope in ways that only someone from the Western world would understand, especially not wanting anything to do with family issues. So while there are obvious dissimilarities in their characters, there are still some common things they share, such as dealing with OCD tendencies and trying to understand them. Mark, seeing Bumi act in ways his sister did, is helped to recognize the disease, then seeks to reach out to his sister living on the west coast. Thus, in a way, Bumi acts as a 'drive-by saviour' to Mark, for soon thereafter he is suddenly deported from Canada and pulled out of Mark's life while he is out west trying to reconcile with his sister Michelle.
You can read the entire review here at my site: http://miramichireader.ca
December 4, 2010
One of the top forty books nominated for the 2011 Canada Reads. New to me author, whom I might never have found but for Canada Reads. Subject area interests me immensely both professionally and personally. Was disappointed that it did not make it further in the CR process but happy it found me.
The cover has been nominated for Salty Ink's "Judge a Book by its Cover" contest. And, it is a stunning cover, so where is it on this site??? Grrr.
December 4, 2010
I finished reading the book last night but I haven't stopped thinking about it and all of its characters - Bumi and Mark especially - but also Yaty, Sarah, Michelle, Bunga, Baharuddin, Matthias, Sherry, Lily, Robadise, Pram, Arum and Lady Juanita. Not surprising. There's a hundred million love songs in the first chapter, a symphony in the last.
March 9, 2011
Well isn't this bloody well shameful. It's been three months since I finished reading this book and I've yet to do the review. Worse, guaranteed to cloud my memory is the fact that I've read at least a dozen books since this one (and haven't reviewed them either!) so they're all fighting for limited memory space in my brain. How ever will I get this one done?
Luckily, the author has posted some questions on his website to give me food for thought!
---to be continued---
The cover has been nominated for Salty Ink's "Judge a Book by its Cover" contest. And, it is a stunning cover, so where is it on this site??? Grrr.
December 4, 2010
I finished reading the book last night but I haven't stopped thinking about it and all of its characters - Bumi and Mark especially - but also Yaty, Sarah, Michelle, Bunga, Baharuddin, Matthias, Sherry, Lily, Robadise, Pram, Arum and Lady Juanita. Not surprising. There's a hundred million love songs in the first chapter, a symphony in the last.
March 9, 2011
Well isn't this bloody well shameful. It's been three months since I finished reading this book and I've yet to do the review. Worse, guaranteed to cloud my memory is the fact that I've read at least a dozen books since this one (and haven't reviewed them either!) so they're all fighting for limited memory space in my brain. How ever will I get this one done?
Luckily, the author has posted some questions on his website to give me food for thought!
---to be continued---
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 30, 2011
Indonesia, Canada and OCD.
This was a book with an interesting premise but almost too much content. I got a bit bogged down with the details and it has taken me over a week to read it.
I liked the characters - Mark, buried under bureaucracy in a Toronto psychiatric hospital and Bumi, an Indonesian boy who grows to manhood amongst poverty and deprivation on an isolated island and then a mainland Indonesian city.
After a huge amount of struggle and hardship, Bumi meets Mark in Toronto and events become rather easier to follow as the two stories are no longer in alternating chapters.
At first the OCD tendancies that Bumi has, seemed almost unnecessary to the story but as the narrative developed they became a fascinating thread that suggested to me that the author may have first hand experience of the subject.
Benjamin also covers a number of other pertinent topics - the Suharto dictatorship in Indonesia, escape of illegal immigrants into Canada and the treatment of immigrant workers there.
Sadly, I wasn't left feeling satisfied by the ending, yet again Bumi seemed short changed, but I will say no more.
I would read this author again as I enjoy his topics but hopefully, next time, he will take pity on the reader and resist the temptation to put absolutely everything in.
This was a book with an interesting premise but almost too much content. I got a bit bogged down with the details and it has taken me over a week to read it.
I liked the characters - Mark, buried under bureaucracy in a Toronto psychiatric hospital and Bumi, an Indonesian boy who grows to manhood amongst poverty and deprivation on an isolated island and then a mainland Indonesian city.
After a huge amount of struggle and hardship, Bumi meets Mark in Toronto and events become rather easier to follow as the two stories are no longer in alternating chapters.
At first the OCD tendancies that Bumi has, seemed almost unnecessary to the story but as the narrative developed they became a fascinating thread that suggested to me that the author may have first hand experience of the subject.
Benjamin also covers a number of other pertinent topics - the Suharto dictatorship in Indonesia, escape of illegal immigrants into Canada and the treatment of immigrant workers there.
Sadly, I wasn't left feeling satisfied by the ending, yet again Bumi seemed short changed, but I will say no more.
I would read this author again as I enjoy his topics but hopefully, next time, he will take pity on the reader and resist the temptation to put absolutely everything in.
January 8, 2013
Drive-by Saviours by Chris Benjamin is a great read. It has two storylines beginning in a small island of Indonesia and a large city of Canada. Bumi, born to a fisherman's family, developed an obsessive compulsive disorder without knowing it. As a murder suspect, he fled to Canada, leaving his wife and children behind. Mark, a social worker in Toronto, lived with his girlfriend and helped with refugee claimants. "Toronto," meaning "meeting place" in Ojibwa, is where Mark encountered Bumi during a subway commute. Since then, their friendship had impacted each other's lives, and more dramatic events happened throughout the book.
I enjoyed this novel that has stories to tell and is set with the realistic social background. I was also fascinated with the characteristics of the two protagonists: Bumi's eccentrics and wits, and Mark's ideals and social conscience. I'm glad to see that elements of idealism and anti-materialism are with the Generation X.
The structure seems to be experimental. All the chapters alternately tell the story of Bumi in the third person and of Mark in the first person. Nevertheless, the novel is a page-turner to the end.
I enjoyed this novel that has stories to tell and is set with the realistic social background. I was also fascinated with the characteristics of the two protagonists: Bumi's eccentrics and wits, and Mark's ideals and social conscience. I'm glad to see that elements of idealism and anti-materialism are with the Generation X.
The structure seems to be experimental. All the chapters alternately tell the story of Bumi in the third person and of Mark in the first person. Nevertheless, the novel is a page-turner to the end.
December 26, 2014
There is a lot happening in this book, but somehow it all seems to work. The first half follows two story lines in mostly alternating chapters. We meet Mark, a Toronto social worker feeling unfulfilled in a job that has become all paperwork and no people. His home life is no better as his relationship with his live-in girlfriend is floundering. The other storyline follows the life of Bumi. Born on a tiny Indonesian island whose only industry is fishing, Bumi is torn from his family and sent to a residential school on the mainland, struggles with mental illness, is falsely accused of a crime, and flees his country to become an illegal refugee in Canada. It is to the author's credit that he made both story lines equally readable. In Toronto, Mark and Bumi meet, and not surprisingly heal each other. That is where the predictability ends, however. What could have been a very predictable story is made unique by the many delightfully well developed, flawed and very relatable characters that populate it. There are not many stereotypical characters here. I was left feeling somewhat unsatisfied with the ending, but a neat, tidy, perfectly happy ending would not have fit this book. Real life is messy, and I commend this author for remembering that.
January 9, 2011
It doesn't take a genius to see that these two men will cross paths, and it's a tribute to Benjamin's talent as a writer that the trek to that point is almost sheer pleasure. Perhaps by necessity, Bumi's tale is far more interesting, and Benjamin pulls off the neat trick of taking a potentially dark tale and never succumbing to despair. Bumi's life is harsh, but the bleakness never overwhelms either Bumi or the reader. Mark's life, likely more familiar to the average North American reader, is more comfortable than Bumi's, but his life too is full of pitfalls and disappointments. Benjamin is working with a universal theme here, the idea that happiness comes from within, and it is how we strive against obstacles that defines us. It's a far more palatable motif than the aforementioned theme of 'let's help those who cannot help themselves and feel better about ourselves as a result.'
Read the rest of the review here.
Read the rest of the review here.
November 24, 2016
I'd probably give this 3.5 stars if that were an option. The writing was sometimes beautiful and sometimes so corny I found myself rolling my eyes. Uneven, is the word, I suppose. The book tells a story of an unsatisfied social worker in Toronto and an Indonesian boy/man/emigrant. Bumi's life story was fascinating and well worth the read, but the sections about Mark and the connection between the two stories were unsatisfying. I think the story could have been told better with all Bumi. But then I would never have read it, because I picked this up for my reading challenge, looking for a protagonist who's a counselor. Mark brought me to Bumi, but other than that, he was not terribly worth hearing from.
June 7, 2012
Chris is a friend and we were in a writing group in Halifax together. Reading the novel written by someone you know can be a daunting experience - what if you don't like it? Fortunately, I did like Drive-by Saviours, from the title and beautiful cover, through the characterization, and onto the plot. Being taken to a locale and society that is unknown to me is one of the pleasures of reading. This novel gets the reader into the landscape and social fabric of the protagonist, and into his heart, in a way that is affecting. This character, and this book, stayed with me long after I had finished it.
April 13, 2015
I'll skip the synopsis as it seems to be covered already.
Why I gave this book 5 stars:
- Handling of mental illness in a meaningful way while the characters' lives extend well beyond the illness.
- Unusual straddling of countries and cultures which seemed to accurately depict the realities of modern cities and that people come from everywhere.
- A compelling plot line that draws you in and forward.
- A dense writing style that requires effort but rewards greatly. Kinda like climbing a mountain; the steps aren't easy but the payoff is exceptional.
Genuinely a "good read."
Why I gave this book 5 stars:
- Handling of mental illness in a meaningful way while the characters' lives extend well beyond the illness.
- Unusual straddling of countries and cultures which seemed to accurately depict the realities of modern cities and that people come from everywhere.
- A compelling plot line that draws you in and forward.
- A dense writing style that requires effort but rewards greatly. Kinda like climbing a mountain; the steps aren't easy but the payoff is exceptional.
Genuinely a "good read."
March 6, 2017
Since Mark is a social worker so I believe that’s the reason that he loves to help others, he thinks that he can make a difference in other’s life. Let’s not say he hates his life but he is not happy with it. a two stories of a guy from big city of Canada and another guy from small island of Indonesia. Story of Mark and Bumi. Sometimes it does not matter from where you are, you just need to open your eyes, share your thoughts and see how similar we are. We human usually look at the difference between us therefore we don’t see the similarities. A book with realistic social background.
March 5, 2015
Longlisted for Canada Reads and a ReLit Award. A Salty Ink Top Notch Book of the Year.
“…giant storytelling talent unleashed.” –Atlantic Books Today
“…one of the finest first narratives to emerge from Atlantic Canada in recent memory.” –Chronicle Herald
“Benjamin’s depictions of life in Indonesia and Toronto are affectionate, the voices of his characters occasionally joyful and often witty. His characters are humanly flawed, authentic.” -Globe and Mail
“…giant storytelling talent unleashed.” –Atlantic Books Today
“…one of the finest first narratives to emerge from Atlantic Canada in recent memory.” –Chronicle Herald
“Benjamin’s depictions of life in Indonesia and Toronto are affectionate, the voices of his characters occasionally joyful and often witty. His characters are humanly flawed, authentic.” -Globe and Mail
May 9, 2012
There are so many different themes and ideas in this book, from migration to mental illness to development, and although that makes it interesting, it also makes the content a bit overwhelming. I really liked the character of Bumi, but found the character of Mark unsympathetic and somewhat annoying. Overall, I enjoyed this book, but didn't love it.
October 1, 2012
An excellent first-time novel by Chris Benjamin. I loved the flipping between a life in Toronto (very familiar) and a life in Indonesia (totally foreign). I also appreciated reading for the first time in fiction the 2003 power outage that covered southern ontario, helped me look at it from a different perspective than my own. Looking forward to this author's second book.
December 6, 2014
When the author finally brought the two stories together, it was more interesting.
January 19, 2015
The Bumi character is unforgettable.
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