Customer Reviews

The Custodian of Paradise: A Novel

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Johnston's excellent Colony of Unrequited Dreams featured Joey Smallwood
with Sheilagh Fielding as a strong secondary presence. This novel
reverses that order--it features Sheilagh Fielding with Joey Smallwood
more in the background. This is not a book that you can hurry through--
think of a cup of very hot, very rich coffee--you have to sip it and savor
it slowly.

The writing is superb--rich prose with a wonderful sense of time and
place. Sheilagh Fielding, for reasons unclear at first, takes up
residence on an island off Newfoundland's south coast--in an abandoned
fishing village. There's very little of the present--perhaps 90% of
the story is retrospective--a looking back at the events in her life.
At six feet three and sharp-tongued (to put it mildly) she has not made
many friends (other than Smallwood). But she has a mysterious "provider"
who has kept an eye on her. The provider's role slowly unfolds--and much
of what Sheilagh (and the reader) thought they knew about her (Sheilagh's)
life gets turned around. In a way, this reminds me of Robert Goddard's
novels (qv) where the past gets unravelled many years later--but in this
case (unlike Goddard's books) Sheilagh starts learning about the
provider when she's 16, and at age 44 (when the novel opens) she has
been learning bits and pieces since she was 16. For me, the process was
like slowly and carefully taking the many layers of wrappings off a very
delicate object.

Johnston has written another wonderful book--this doesn't have the
historical sweep of Colony--but it's layered and rich, and not to be
missed.

I have to admit, Wayne Johnston could write about anything and I'd gladly read it, and the fact that critics have compared him to Dickens is no surprise to me. I would, without hesitation, say he is the greatest novelist of our time. His words are like a warm sea that I could float in all day, and the continuity between this book and The Colony is perfect.

Sheilagh Fielding is my favorite character of all time, and when I first heard Mr. Johnston was devoting an entire novel to her, I thought it was too good to be true. And it was definitely worth the wait. There could have been no better followup to The Colony, and The Guardian may even be a greater book, if that is possible. My hat is definitely off to Mr. Johnston, a true genius in our midst.

Wayne Johnston is a favorite author of mine. He writes so beautifully but the heroine this time around chained me and dragged me into whatever abyss the author happened to be in at the time. I always enjoy the historical aspects of his work, and the colorful characters generally make one think, laugh and commiserate but I could only find despair in Sheleigh. Her sarcasm was clever and intriguing for about three chapters, then I had no further tolerance. It was difficult to finish.

With World War II in the background, forty-something-year-old Sheilagh Fielding packs her trunks to take up residence on a "deserted" island - population zero, Sheilagh checked - off the coast of Newfoundland. Her solitary goal is to write a novel. She has a tale to tell and an extraordinary tale it is, for it is the story of her tumultuous life.

Ms. Fielding is a unique individual; physically striking and over six feet tall; she is also lame in one leg. She is highly intelligent with a razor sharp wit. Conversing with Sheilagh - or finding yourself on the wrong side of her acerbic pen - Fielding is a "journalist" - is a dangerous proposition and not recommended for the thin-skinned. (She describes herself as "pointlessly at odds with everything".) Seemingly invulnerable, Sheilagh is also very human and just like the rest of us, is seeking her place in the world.

The Custodian of Paradise is a sweeping old-fashioned novel in the finest sense, sliding back and forth between "real-time" and the past with a wealth of interesting and quirky characters. There is much despair in Sheilagh's life and much of it is self-inflicted, yet as we learn, each time "Fielding" is knocked down - and she is knocked down a lot - she brushes herself off, rises and continues to persevere. Her mind - and particularly her wit - serving as both her protective armor and her psychological/emotional weapon of choice.

This may sound depressing or even maudlin, but it's not. Fielding's story is not only poignant, but at times laugh out loud funny, with Shielagh's uncanny ability to turn a phrase, sentence and paragraph - her saving grace and the book's driving force.

Just to add the novel's complexity there is a multi-level/multi-generational mystery concerning Sheilagh's familial connections and her heritage.

The Custodian of Paradise is a pseudo-sequel to the critically acclaimed The Colony of Unrequited Dreams - an historical novel based on the life of Joseph Smallwood, the first Prime Minister of Newfoundland. (Smallwood has a - err - small role here in this book.) And although I would suggest reading that book, it is not necessary to do so before reading this one. Interestingly, although I enjoyed Unrequited, I do not remember the details and will reread it soon. Conversely, this book which did not receive similar glowing reviews as its predecessor, I see sticking with me for quite some time.

Highly recommended.

I had a love/hate relationship with this book. Main complaint: The protagonist, Sheilagh Fielding's renowned "wit." The dialogue between this irreverent journalist and her would-be sparring partners is so ponderously clever and self-consciously written that it's not at all believable. No plausible human could extemporize such intricate wordplay *every* single time she opens her mouth. This flaw repeatedly "breaks" the reality the book is trying to create. Far worse are the supposedly scandalous "columns" the character writes for the local paper. These are painfully "witty." The reader is meant to believe that all of St. Johns, Newfoundland pores over these writings, but they're far too smug and boring to attract any following.

Other novels have famously witty characters. Jane Austen's, for instance, but Elizabeth Bennett is believably clever... partly because she's not so relentless about it.

Let me say upfront that I did not read "Colony" and was not aware that this was something of a second installment advancing the fictional lives of Joey Smallwood, Sheilagh Fielding, et al. I picked it up solely based on exceptional book reviews.

Although the book started out well, I found it stopped being interesting by the middle and was downright tedious by the end. The characters are underdeveloped, lead dull unexplored lives, and the storyline is advanced not by action but by long, tedious letters from the omnipresent "Provider" that explain why things are happening. Overall I regret spending so much time on this unsatisfying book when I have a stack of others waiting for their turn.

The author may deserve high praise for previous works, but those should not predispose a reviewer to issue less than an objective review of this book.

When I came to this book on my nightstand and read the blurb, I couldn't imagine why I had bought it in the first place. When you read descriptions of the plot, it seems, at best, dull.
But the writing is wonderful. And the details, and sense of place, are fantastic. I couldn't put this book down, and you won't be able to either.
Excellent.