Galveston [Import] [Paperback]

Paul Quarrington (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 26, 2005

From one of Canada’s beloved fiction writers comes a tale of love and loss, guilt and forgiveness -- and finding redemption in the eye of a hurricane.

Few people seek out the tiny Caribbean island of Dampier Cay. Visitors usually wash up there by accident, rather than by design. But this weekend, three people will fly to the island deliberately. They are not coming for a tan or fun in the sun. They are coming because Dampier Cay is where it is, and they have reason to believe that they might encounter something there that most people take great measures to avoid -- a hurricane.

A lottery windfall and a few hours of selfishness have robbed Caldwell of all that was precious to him, while Beverly, haunted by tragedy and screwed by fate since birth, has given up on life. Also on the flight is Jimmy Newton, a professional storm chaser and videographer who will do anything for the perfect shot. Waiting for them at Dampier is the manager of the Water’s Edge Hotel, “Bonefish” Maywell Hope, who arrived at Dampier by the purest accident of all -- the accident of birth. A descendent of the pirates who sailed the Caribbean hundreds of years ago, Hope believes if he works hard enough, he can prevent the inevitable. Until, that is, the seas begin to rise . . .

Cinematic and harrowing, spiced with Quarrington’s trademark humour, Galveston shows just how far people will go to feel alive.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“It's brilliant; I loved every page of it. It has a lovely lightness, the words and characters, and it manages always to be funny and real.”
—Roddy Doyle

“Lovely and amazing …. A stylistic tour de force; readers will be — yes — blown away. Galveston is a novel of great compassion; Quarrington does a knockout job of conveying to us the importance of every human breath.”
—Quill & Quire

“Paul Quarrington takes readers into the eye of a storm.”
—The Ottawa Citizen

“Buy Galveston right now, but save it for a rainy day–a really rainy day. Paul Quarrington’s ninth novel (and one of his best) is a terrific, brilliant, near-perfect piece of vacation reading for that inevitable low in every holiday when black clouds gather, the sky turns to thunder, plans fall apart and a paper world is preferable to the real one. Galveston will keep you engrossed page by page until daylight fades, the power goes out or a bottle of wine gets the better of you….”
—T.F. Rigelhof, The Globe and Mail

“His characters are drawn just to the edge of believability and treated with wry humour and dry wit…. Quarrington expertly creates extraordinarily visual imagery of storms and approaching hurricane, and effortlessly weaves the weather around the turbulent lives of his characters.”
—The Calgary Herald, Sarah Deveau, 15 May 2004

“Quarrington has a dark side…in Galveston, the darkness is more apparent than ever. So while there are times when the catastrophe does get laid on a bit thick, Quarrington, who invariably writes about misfits, writes about them wonderfully here. He lets his characters voice all their screwy and occasionally bang-on pronouncements on fate, luck, regret, loss and God’s silence…. Everyone talks about the weather, another old saying goes, but no one does anything about it. Well, Quarrington has: he’s written an engaging and intelligent novel about it. Put this on the back cover of the next edition: reading Galveston is more fun than watching the Weather Channel.”
—The Montreal Gazette, Joel Yanofsky, 15 May 04

“In a startling tour de force of comedy, tragedy and wry observations on the nature of loss, guilt and sorrow, Quarrington’s tale delivers a wallop like a gale-force wind. Loose as a fable but taut as the need to survive, Galveston is a rollicking depiction of man versus the cyclone within…. Quarrington…writes cinematically and the tension evokes the harrowing noir of Key Largo or the explosive ride of Twister. The magnitude of deadly force fills the pages and reading it becomes a storm watch itself.”
—The Citizen’s Weekly, Richard Wagamese, 16 May 2004

“But throughout all of Canadian literature, there remains one constant truth: There’s odd, and then there’s Paul Quarrington odd.”
—Corey Redekop, Winnipeg Free Press, 16 May 2004

“His lean, masterful prose is slicked with irony and can raise a smile.”
—Rebecca Wigod, The Vancouver Sun, 9 June 2004

“Paul Quarrinton’s sense of humour definitely lies on the quirky, even bizarre, side of life…. Galveston’s humour is a veil over the astonishing grief that human beings can endure. Quarrington makes you laugh, but also slams you in the solar plexus.”
—Candace Fertile, Times Colonist, 20 June 2004

"A terrific novel, as impressive for its compassionate inquiry into the psychology of obsession as for its remarkable narrative urgency."
—Barbara Gowdy

Praise for The Spirit Cabinet:
“No one gives humanity to life’s oddballs as well and as sensitively as Paul Quarrington.”
—Roddy Doyle

About the Author

The author of ten novels, Paul Quarrington was also a musician (most recently in the band Porkbelly Futures), an award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker, and an acclaimed non-fiction writer.

Paul Quarrington's novel, Galveston, was nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize; King Leary won the CBC's 2008 Canada Reads competition and the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal; and Whale Music was awarded the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction. Recently, Porkbelly Futures' self-titled second CD has been released to widespread acclaim, and Paul Quarrington's short film adaptation of The Ravine, entitled Pavane, was featured in the Moving Stories Short Film Festival. Paul Quarrington's non-fiction writing includes books on some of his favourite pastimes, such as fishing, hockey, and music. A regular contributor of book reviews, travel columns, and journalism to Canada's national newspapers and magazines, he also taught writing at Humber College and the University of Toronto.

Paul Quarringon passed away in January 2010.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Vintage Canada (April 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679312382
• ISBN-13: 978-0679312383
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,281,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wallop Like A Gale Force Wind, August 29, 2005

By 

prisrob "pris," (New England USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Galveston (Paperback)

"Galveston, Oh Galveston", this is not a book like the song sung by that "Rhinestone Cowboy". Oh, no, this is a book like no other. A Gale-force wind that hits you like a wallop by the strangest set of people ever you should meet.

I started reading this book during the night of the Katrina Hurricane, set at a gale-force wind of 5, and bound for the coast of Louisiana. Like this hurricane, Galveston, upon which this book is referenced from 1900, took the city by surprise and wiped out whole neighborhoods. Into this kind of setting arrives a crew of humanity, some of whom follow hurricanes and some of whom were taken by surprise. Dampier Cay, an island in the Carribbean, near Jamaica. An ex-coach turned millionaire by The Lottery, Mr Caldwell; Beverly, the lovely lass upon whom all is lost, nothing good ever happens to her; the "Weatherman" aka Jimmy Newton, the famous storm chaser; all come together with the rest of the myriad of people to vacation upon Dampier Cay during a severe storm. The two lovely sisters on vacation, the mystery man with the suitcase he won't let go of, the couple who say "Whatever will be, will be" and the employess of the Water's Edge Hotel,all with their own motley tales to tell.

They settle here to await the coming of the storm. This strange assortment fills the bar of the hotel with humour and darkness. What to make of this group, how will their fortunes fall? I found the book riveting, simplistic in style and rich with dark humour. When you have lost everything, what is there to live for? What excitment can you find that will bring you out of your reverie? There is passion and sex and grit and determination and love and loss. To whom will the bell toll? Will anyone possbily live through a 5 gale-force hurricane and live to tell their stories? With bleakness and bare bones, the stories come tumbling out through the past, future and present tense. You want these pople to live, at least some of them, and you hope for the best, while fearing the worst. Paul Quarrington, the author, was a Giller Prize Finalist for this book, "Galveston". The hurricane of the century for this author.
Highly recommended. prisrob

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Giller Jury Disapoints Me, August 15, 2005

By 

Bruce Robinson (toronto) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Galveston (Paperback)

It is beyond me why anyone would enjoy this novel, better yet,
how the esteemed jury for the Giller Prize could think of nominating
this book. It is poorly written and the plot and characters are silly
and inconsequential. None of the story is believable nor is any
of it particularly interesting or amusing. And I fail to see where any
of the humour is in the book. The humour that does exist is of the
jock locker room variety, not very sophisticated or particularly interesting. The event that brings the characters together is so silly
and unbelievable, that the novel reminded me of an episode of
Gilligan's Island. The whole thing reads falsely. And there is not one
appealing character among the bunch. I couldn't wait for the novel
to be over and done with and on many occasions thought of giving
it up because I found it so dull and silly. A dreadful read.