Customer Reviews

The Island Walkers: A Novel

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I savored this story, rich and riveting and bursting with compelling characters. John Bemrose pours so much into this story, too much, perhaps, but I did not complain while reading. It was one of those books I really regretted coming to an end.

He tracks the lives of a dozen or more characters. Too many to really do justice to them all, and it is hard to disagree with critics who fault the story on this count. But all are so worthy of exploration that I cannot say who should go. Similarly, the gorgeous writing at times slowed the flow (there is quite a lot of good tension and narrative suspense to keep one turning the pages), but I enjoyed almost all of it. If anything I wish he'd expanded the stories of at least a half-dozen characters.

The first tragedy to strike Jamie I could have done without; so many fiction writers have woven this in to their stories that it's almost hackneyed. This unique story did not need it.

The ending felt a bit rushed, in contrast to the slower build-up to smaller critical events earlier. But I simply wished the story would not end, so no conclusion could leave me feeling that all had been told, that it was 'enough'.

It's 464 pages and I read it in less than a week so as you can guess, I really got into it. Alf Walker works at a Canadian textile mill in the mid-'60s . A company (Intertex) brought the place, called Bannermen's Mills. Alf tried to bring the union in there in 1949 with disastrous results. He has ambivalent feelings about the union trying again to come in.

Most of the book is about this but also about his family. His son Joe wants to go to college and is in love with a girl (Anne) who is into poetry. In his mind, she is better than him. Anne is with Brad so she asked Joe to ask her friend Liz out so they can double date. It gets complicated in a high school kind of way. There is also his wife Margaret, his son Jamie who is 8, and his 10 year old daughter Penny.

I think the union story grabbed my attention since I worked at a factory in Detroit when the Teamsters hustled their way in. We too had to vote yes or no to letting them in. Well, I ended up being in Teamster's local 299, Jimmy Hoffa's old union. I still have the card. Being a union member has it's good and bad points. The process of the union coming in was an interesting time, I'll say that.

Attawan,a knitting mill town, is the setting for this wonderful book. Follow the trials and tribulations of the Walker family, each member lovable, but dysfunctional as a family. Individual secrets and lack of communication saboutage the family who must also deal with management/union problems taking place at the local knitting mill. Tragedy helps to bring back stability and hope to the family.

I read The Island Walker, on the recommendation of a work associate who has appreciated the same books as me. This one didn't cut it for me, however. Beautifully written, I'll give it that, and a strong and dramatic set of themes - very "book club". Without knowing anything except that it was a "really good book", I was filled with dread early on, as it seemed to be hauntingly like "A Fine Balance" - the foreboding tone just deepened. Like life, I guess, is the reason the book was hailed as being "epic" - challenge, tragedy, sorrow upon sorrow... but the joys were so fleeting and anxiety-ridden, they couldn't really be enjoyed by the characters ( and thus this reader). In desperation, I skimmed through part of it closer to the end to see if the resolution would give me some meaningful satisfaction. Sigh.No such luck. So I read on... Life in tough times - but there are always tough times. The endurance, perhaps, is what my workmate found meaningful for her. For me , I simply endured the tragedy.

Bemrose's The Island Walkers intrigued and impressed me at first. His ease switching from one character to the next was masterful. That's about as far as my compliments will go. After all was said and done, I didn't like this book. I thought that despite switching from one character to the next, Bemrose focused on the wrong characters, ie., Alf Walker (the father) and Joe Walker (the oldest son). I could not have cared less about Alf's union problems when Jamie (his youngest son) had had such a horrific experience. Jamie's story would have been more compelling. Initially after reading what happened to him (I won't offer any spoilers) I felt like vomiting. It was that awful. But then the subject is essentially dropped (not entirely- it did pop up in his nightmares but it was not a focal point of the book). Who could care about unions, extramarital affairs, or highschool romances after that? Likewise, Margaret (the mom) and Penny (the daughter) seemed to play minor characters and in my mind (granted maybe its just a personal taste thing) the book suffered for it. In other cases, switching to the stories of side characters was just unnecessary. Joe's history teacher, for example. You get one small glimpse into his world and the matter is dropped. I wished Bemrose had gone all out or not at all. And the supernatural thing? I didn't get it. It felt silly and really out of place whilst under the illusion of having some higher meaning.

I enjoyed reading this novel. I like books set in my home province, with real characters and real situations. If you like fiction, you should like this book.