- Paperback: 342 pages
- Publisher: Roseway Publishing; 1st edition (September 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1552663698
- ISBN-13: 978-1552663691
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 14.6 x 1.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 422 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #563,999 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
Review
"Chris Benjamin's debut novel is part contemporary fiction, part social commentary and part kick-in-the-ass storytelling." --Carla Gunn, author of Amphibian
Product Description
Demoralized by his job and dissatisfied with his life, Mark punches the clock with increasing indifference. He wanted to help people, but after six years of bureaucracy and pushing paper Mark has lost hope.
All that changes when he meets Bumi, an Indonesian restaurant worker. Moved from his small fishing village and sent to a residential school under the authoritarian Suharto regime, Bumi's radical genius and obsessive-compulsive disorder raise suspicion among his paranoid neighbours. When several local children die mysteriously the neighbours fear reaches a fevered pitch and Bumi is forced to flee to Canada.
Brought together by a chance encounter on the subway, Mark and Bumi develop a friendship that forces them to confront their pasts. Moving gracefully between Canada and Indonesia and through the two men's histories, Drive-by Saviours is the story of desire and connection among lonely people adrift in a crowded world.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fascinating novel,
By Zoë S. Roy "The author of The Long March Hom... (Toronto, ON) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Drive-by Saviours (Paperback)
Drive-by Saviours by Chris Benjamin is a great read. It has two storylines beginning in a small island of Indonesia and a large city of Canada. Bumi, born to a fisherman's family, developed an obsessive compulsive disorder without knowing it. As a murder suspect, he fled to Canada, leaving his wife and children behind. Mark, a social worker in Toronto, lived with his girlfriend and helped with refugee claimants. "Toronto," meaning "meeting place" in Ojibwa, is where Mark encountered Bumi during a subway commute. Since then, their friendship had impacted each other's lives, and more dramatic events happened throughout the book.I enjoyed this novel that has stories to tell and is set with the realistic social background. I was also fascinated with the characteristics of the two protagonists: Bumi's eccentrics and wits, and Mark's ideals and social conscience. I'm glad to see that elements of idealism and anti-materialism are with the Generation X. The structure seems to be experimental. All the chapters alternately tell the story of Bumi in the third person and of Mark in the first person. Nevertheless, the novel is a page-turner to the end.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Immersive Narrative,
By
This review is from: Drive-by Saviours (Paperback)
The intersection between two worlds, the so-called first and third worlds, in the characters of Mark and Bumi, is seamlessly pulled off by the author. The themes in themselves are interesting, but really it is the entertaining and somehow heart-centred, or down-to-earth yet agile execution of those themes that is appealing. I found the prose carried me along effortlessly, while often steering me into emotional reactions, and not infrequently had me laughing out loud. A great read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best I've Read in 5 Years,
This review is from: Drive-by Saviours (Paperback)
Big cities are collections of people who all come from somewhere else. They don't belong where they live, and they no longer belong to the places they long for. Drive-by Saviours explores that theme with a passionate social and political analysis. Also explored are obsessive-compulsive disorder, multiculturalism, immigration, and the arrogance of international "development." With so many heavy themes you might expect a sermon, but in fact it's an entertaining page turner, building suspense until the last page.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Literature & Fiction
- Books > Nonfiction > Politics > Reference
- Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Sociology > Class
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
