CanLit Challenge discussion

I said in the thread for The Man From Glengarry that as far as I was aware, this was a stand alone. However, we do meet up with characters form the previous book, namely Hughie Murray and his family who are supporting characters in that one.

I should be starting this one soon, but feel free to jump in with your thoughts at any time.

I just got it from the library, one of my friends read it for school and liked it, so I have high hopes.

The plaque on the inside cover of the book reads "This book is a gift to the Minneapolis Public Library from the Canadian Government Travel Bureau". Thanks, Canada!

How is this going for people who are reading it? What do I have to look forward to?

It reads quickly, and the tone, style, etc are pretty similar to the Little House on the Prairie series if you are familiar with that.

Certainly not as heavy-handed as the bulk of Man From Glengarry, thank goodness. In addition to Angel Mrs. Murray, we have Saint* Mrs. Finch. Connor really had a thing for idealising (in a Christian Victorian mould) and idolising the mature women in his stories. Yet his opinion of girls and women in general is hyper-patriarchal (for the most part...I keep thinking of Kate driving that frisky team of horses). The girls scrub and clean up the school room while the boys have the freedom to go out in the woods and gather evergreen branches, playing the entire time. The man of the house is expected to lay down the law in the form of a beating and only relents when challenged by another man (his wife is yelled at and told to STFU). The denigration of the "gurl" teachers and the general consensus of everyone, including Her Holiness Mrs. Murray, that a man is required for the position.

A couple other interesting points of observation:
The gun culture is crazy. It's really more expected than not that the boys will be playing with real guns. I know the focus in this part of the story is about Hughie's fall into temptation, but I can't help but be distracted by the fact that the object for which he fell was a pistol that he could shoot squirrels with.

Foxy reminds me of a baby Milo Minderbinder from Catch-22.


***spoiler for Chapter 9 ff.***
*and Martyr, one would presume

I forgot to post my final thoughts on this one.

***spoilers ahead***
I was kind of turned off by the whole mass conversion thing. Surely Tom Finch, Hughie, and Craven could think of doing something better with their lives than becoming ministers.

Apart from that, we had the expected deathbed martyrdom of the female saint, which was also rather...I dunno, can something be maudlin and twee at the same time?

All made up for with the shinny chapters. Really got me in the mood for the World Juniors which started the day after I finished the book. It's worth reading those chapters alone.