Man of Bone has a thriller’s taste for blood, but Alan Cumyn delivers something more: a heart-wrenching portrait of an ordinary Canadian jerked into third-world terrorism. Bill Burridge, his wife and their little son have moved to the “island paradise” of Santa Irene on Bill’s first diplomatic posting. At the short-staffed embassy, he is thrown, almost unbriefed, into work he scarcely understands. After less than two weeks, while driving alone on a “safe” highway to an afternoon of badminton in the country, he is snatched by revolutionaries. Against his will, Burridge turns out under torture to be a “man of bone” who can’t give up and die. His ignorance and low status make him useless to his captors, but they can’t simply let him go. They continue to torture him until, distracted by other battles, they abandon him and his keeper in a mountain village. Suddenly one day helicopters rake the village with gunfire, and the whole situation turns upside down. Alan Cumyn is well known for creating men with tender hearts and iron wills. Bill Burridge, angry at God for making him live, keeps his wits by remembering his and Maryse&@146s courtship and marriage and their life with young Patrick. Although he isolates this part of himself from his torturers, he and his beloved family discover when he returns to Ottawa, barely alive, that “living happily ever after” will be more complex than they could have imagined.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From the Inside Flap
Man of Bone has the power of a thriller, but Alan Cumyn delivers something more: a complex portrait of an ordinary man jerked into the horrors of terrorism. Bill Burridge, his wife, and their son move to the “island paradise” of Santa Irene on Bill’s first posting as a Canadian diplomat. At the short-staffed embassy, he struggles with work he scarcely understands. Ten days later, driving alone on a supposedly safe highway, he is kidnapped by revolutionaries. Burridge’s ignorance and low status make him useless to his captors, but they can’t simply let him go. His body broken by relentless torture, Burridge determines to keep his spirit whole by concentrating on his childhood and his life with his wife and his little boy. Eventually, distracted by other battles, the kidnappers abandon Burridge and his keeper in a mountain village. A sudden, violent rescue throws Burridge back into his own world, but he and his beloved family discover that “living happily ever after” will be more complex than they could have imagined.
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From the Back Cover
Three weeks into his first diplomatic posting in the “island paradise” of Santa Irene, Bill Burridge is jerked into terrorism by a disorganized gang of revolutionaries. Under torture, he yearns for death, but he can’t conquer his will to live, clinging to sanity by recreating scenes from a peaceful past made luminous by present horror. His hypnotic voice, often edged with dark humour, takes readers on a mesmerizing journey to the depths and peaks of the human spirit.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Gripping account of torture and transformation,
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This review is from: Man of Bone (Paperback)
Cumyn's character Bill Burridge is captured during his diplomatic assignment on a third world tropical island. He undergoes torture and hallucinations. The book is gripping, horrifying at times, yet always eloquent. Cumyn's voice is incredible. He is able to describe Bill's ordeal without being obvious. He brings the reader to the brink and then pulls you back in to a a safer place, leaving the readere to reflect on the value of human life and the value of a poor nation's human rights. Cumyn is a master of flashback. He effortlessly weaves the story back and forth in time, and in and out of the characters hallucinations. An outstanding book with an excellent sequel. (Burridge Unbound)
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