Mister Sandman: A Novel [Paperback]

Barbara Gowdy (Author), Katherine Dunn (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 3, 2008

Barbara Gowdy’s outrageous, hilarious, disturbing, and compassionate novel is about the Canary family, their immoderate passions and eccentricities, and their secret lives and histories. The deepest secret of all is harbored in the silence of the youngest daughter, Joan, who doesn’t grow, who doesn’t speak, but who can play the piano like Mozart though she’s never had a lesson. Joan is a mystery, and in the novel’s stunning climax her family comes to understand that each of them is a mystery, as marvelous as Joan, as irreducible as the mystery of life itself. In its compassionate investigation of moral truths and its bold embrace of the fractured nature of every one of its characters, Mister Sandman attains the heightened quality of a modern-day parable.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This riotous account of "the family unit" was a smash hit in Europe, Canada, and England. In the Times Literary Supplement, author Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid's Tale) praised Barbara Gowdy's novel as surprising and delightful, containing moments "at the same time preposterous and strangely moving." The Canary family guards many secrets, including the mystery of tiny daughter, Joan, who was dropped on her head at birth and has never spoken. Joan plays the piano like Mozart, yet has never had a lesson. The outrageous hilarity rises into a climax that creates a stunning new definition of family togetherness. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

The Canarys are not your typical family. Gordon and Doris are the parents of Marcy and Sonja, who at the age of 15 is pregnant with Joan. As Joan is born, she is dropped on her head, and the resulting brain damage turns her into an idiot savant. Gordon has affairs with men while Doris approaches other women. Marcy loses her virginity during her teens and then proceeds to have numerous affairs with men, usually sleeping with two or three at a time. Sonja stays at home, eating a lot and knitting, while Joan learns to read yet never speaks and avoids strangers and daylight. She serves as the group consciousness and mutely listens as each family member confides his or her various quirks and thoughts. Solidly written, this thought-provoking, challenging novel by a Canadian writer with a story collection and two previous novels to her credit is recommended for large fiction collections.?Robin Nesbitt, Columbus Metropolitan Lib., Ohio
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Zoland Books; Reprint edition (June 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581952260
• ISBN-13: 978-1581952261
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.4 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,394,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A breath of fresh air in a world of dysfunction-lit., February 12, 2002

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mister Sandman: A novel (Loose Leaf)

Barbara Gowdy, Mister Sandman (HBJ, 1996)

Mister Sandman was a Publishers' Weekly Best Book of 1996, and it's easy to see why. Gowdy's third novel (and fourth book) is an engaging look into a world the is both completely warped and so close to the surface of reality that sometimes it's hard to remember that what's on the page is fiction.

Mister Sandman is the story of the Canary family, who are your basic everyday family. At least, they would be if life were a David Lynch film. Gordon, the patriarch, is a closet homosexual in a house full of women. (Perhaps it's more odd that he isn't a transvestite than it would be if he were.) His wife Doris is exploring her own enjoyment of the members of the fairer sex. They have three children: Sonja, fat, housebound by choice, and rich from her job as a pin clipper; Marcia, somewhat nymphomaniacal, able to converse with the aphasic; and Joan, dropped on her head as an infant, considered brain-damaged by her doctors and family but actually a genius. Joan, we find out in the first few sentences, is actually Sonja's daughter, but for the sake of propriety (Joan is born in the late fifties), she's passed off as one of Gordon and Doris'.

The book looks at the life of the family, mostly as it relates to Joan, but also in other snatches at various times in their lives (Sonja's seduction by Joan's father, Gordon's lovesickness over a redheaded plumber, etc.). Joan's inability to speak and propensity to spend her time in small dark places makes her the perfect confessor, and we spend our time snickering at the revisions the pentitents make when they get to the alter. Joan, though, is a bit too smart for them, as the book spends its time making clear. How she ends up making it clear is truly a beautiful scene, and quite worthy of the accolades from PW. I don't think it would be too much of a plot spoiler to say that the book's climax takes on Biblical proportions.

Gowdy's reputation in America didn't start growing until the novel after this, The White Bone. Thus, some Americans who are already familiar with her may have missed this little gem, I urge you to take a step back and give it a look. Those unfamiliar with Gowdy who like their family sagas more insane than dysfunctional are sure to get a kick out of it. Highly recommended. ****

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mister Sandman, April 11, 2000

By 

Heather R Sabian (Fosston, Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mister Sandman (Harvest Book) (Paperback)

This is an amazing book! I have read it at least six times. The characters are so strange and bizare but yet so real and human. I could not put this book down. The most facinating chapter is the one that describes how Joan, a mute savant, sees the world. Prepare yourself, it's a strange tale but well worth the read!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes funny, possibly disturbing, October 23, 2001

By 

Shane Tiernan (St. Petersburg, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mister Sandman (Harvest Book) (Paperback)

I was suggested this book by Amazon's recommendations engine and then was convinced by all the 5 star reviews to add it to my wish-list. So then I got if for Christmas and finally got to it a couple weeks ago.

I wouldn't call it a waste of time. There are some very funny parts (mostly in the beginning and the end) and it's definitely unique. But... the story didn't really hold together well for me. It was more like a bunch of short stories set in the same place, as Gowdy takes one character at a time and exposes their strange (though I'm sure more common than most people think) lives. I wasn't disturbed by the amount of sexual material in the book but anyone that thinks this book is about some cute, angelic child should definitely beware.

Another reviewer mentioned purpose and resolution. I would have to agree, the ending didn't really explain much or give you any idea about the future of the family members. I don't think there really was a point Gowdy was trying to get across, unless it was "life is stranger than it looks at a glance".