- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Anchor Canada (Oct 30 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0385259875
- ISBN-13: 978-0385259873
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 14 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 340 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #412,044 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
2001 Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award Winner: When Toronto poet and playwright Michael Redhill published his first novel, Martin Sloane, he made headlines for the novel's long gestation through 12 complete drafts written over 10-plus years. In an age when many blockbuster novels read as though they never saw an editor's pencil, Redhill's stamina and his ruthless self-appraisal were enough to make him newsworthy. But all that attention to its composition raises the basic question about the book itself: was Martin Sloane worth all the effort?
As it turns out, Redhill's first novel is an intense, poetic evocation of the experience of time and place and the personality of a fictional Irish-Canadian collage artist, Martin Sloane, whose work, if not his life, resembles the nostalgic boxes built by the real-life sculptor Joseph Cornell. Told through the voice of his abandoned lover Jolene Iolas, who had a relationship with the older man in her youth, the story explores the connection between Sloane's life and his art. Iolas ends up following the cold trail of his life back to Dublin, where he lived as boy before he was exiled by illness and first began to pack up his life in little boxes: "Martin kept his eyes open only slightly and let the layers of time and memory swim down into the street. His whole life. His whole life had happened here, against these buildings, against these streets, and he was leaving it." Redhill has created a powerful meditation on life and memory, and his work as a poet stands him in good stead. Even if some of the characters are not quite fully realized and the narrative transitions at times a little rough, Martin Sloane proves that hard work pays off. Long live revision. --Robyn Gillam
From Publishers Weekly
Martin Sloane, the protagonist of Redhill's elegant debut, is an Irish-born Canadian who makes dioramas from "found objects." Among these chanced-upon entities is the book's narrator herself, Jolene Iolas, a Bard undergrad who happens upon Martin's work and falls in love with the artist. Their affair lasts several years, until one day Martin purposefully and inexplicably vanishes. Achingly sweet in its execution, the novel explores what it means to love, as we follow a dual narrative: Jolene's attempt to recover after Martin disappears, and Martin's own childhood memories of Ireland, as retold by Jolene. "It's not really safe to love other people, is it?" asks Jolene's former college roommate Molly, in Ireland years later to help Jolene track Martin down. Redhill's book reminds us that love can be half imaginary. even Jolene's recollections of Martin's childhood must pass through the lens of Martin's inventiveness: one story that Martin tells Jolene and Molly is proven a lovely fabrication. Then, too, our sense of love is shaped by our own desire. In a surprise ending, Jolene visits someone who asks for information about Martin, to which Jolene responds: "Whatever I tell you about him will just end up being about myself." A memorable and satisfying read, Redhill's book leaves the reader with a child's sense of nostalgia and a sympathy for the impasses of adulthood.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
An admittedly lyrical shaggy-dog tale,
By
This review is from: Martin Sloane (Hardcover)
I came to this novel rather circuitously. Having seen an article in a Toronto weekly referencing 'Consolation' last winter, I recently chanced upon two of his books on clearance tables. As 'Martin Sloane' seemed to have quite the reputation, I dove right in. I can't say the swim was as rewarding a one as I'd have expected.Maybe it had something to do wth the two previous novels I'd read, Mark Helprin's 'Winter's Tale' and Mark Spragg's 'The Fruit of Stone'. Although quite different sylistically, they're both tales. Well-crafted tales, weaving various threads into two distinct tapestries. I fear though, that Mr Redhill was not able to bring all the various elements of his story together into something cohesive. Considering the build-up, the ending -the 'punch-line' if you will- just wasn't satisfying for me. (But then, maybe he didn't see that as a priority.) Nor was it a 'literary' enough endeavour for it to be a novelistic version of an 'indie film', therefore allowing it extra points for style. Also missing was a sense of energy that I expect from first novels, an audaciousness, verve, something to leave me wide-eyed, if only in the sense of chutzpah displayed, the ambitions manifest on the page. There were a few flashes...but not enough. For me, in the end, it was neither 'this' nor 'that'. And certainly didn't live up to the hype.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.4 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews) 16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A surprising book, with personal messages for each reader.,
By Mary Whipple - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Martin Sloane (Paperback)
I can't recall a recent book in which so many professional reviewers find so many different messages at the heart of the story... It's not that Redhill is vague or obscure; in fact, multiple messages are probably what he was hoping for.Integrating all these themes into a deceptively simple story, Redhill emphasizes that for each of us, our past always shapes our understanding of the present. Martin Sloane, a fifty-ish artist who creates enigmatic boxes, and Jolene Iolas, a college student who falls in love with him and his artwork, speak to the reader unpretentiously about the past and present, and one quickly identifies with them, falling into the rhythm of their alternating voices. Martin's inexplicable disappearance from Jolene's apartment and Jolene's renewed search for him many years later provide a framework for the story, along with unlimited opportunities for the author to explore themes of love and loss, home and family, death and dying, childhood and memory, and, most of all, our personal identities as a result of our separate pasts. As the reader filters the separate and combined stories of Martin and Jolene through his/her own past experiences, s/he also distills from the author's themes whatever personal messages are relevant, pertinent, or even unique for him. Redhill's background as a poet is obvious here. His ability to compress allows him to pack short scenes with big meanings, to ensure that every detail advances his story and themes, and to create fresh images which allow the reader to see common experiences in new ways. Wonderful, pithy observations keep the reader energized and involved on many levels, while an intriguing mystery maintains the suspense. Though a transition might help to avoid some minor confusion (eventually resolved) in a couple of scenes, and a few questions of character remain unresolved, this is an amazing debut novel, one of the year's most enjoyable for me. Mary Whipple 4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the finest novels I have ever read,
By Martin Ternouth - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Martin Sloane (Paperback)
I read my first adult novel something over forty years ago. Since then I have read three or four books a week.Martin Sloane is quite simply one of the finest novels I have ever read, crafted by a magnificent intelligence. Read it once for the story, then twice more page by page to pick up the textures and evocations and resonances. Then read it again - and again next year. 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enigmatic powerful literature,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Martin Sloane (Paperback)
Martin Sloane is a novel worthy of the Pulitzer Prize, Booker Award, Governor's General Award and/or any other noteworthy award for distinctive, discriptive, and evocative literature. The novel tugs at the central core of the reader's heart and mind by taking you into the interior and intertwining lives of the main characters, Martin, Joleen, and Molly. The author, writes with deft clarity and an uncanny understanding of human foibles,and evokes powerful emotions of happiness and pain in the reader.Martin is an artist with a deep and dark past with an erstwhile desire to come to grips with his past when he embarks upon a love affair with a young woman who might have been his soul-mate, had he allowed himself to accept the depth of her love and understanding. Unfortunately, the meddling and controlling influence of Molly, Joleen's best-friend dooms the relationship by grabbing at the fragile psyche of Martin through a jealous encounter with him when she attempts to expose to him his weaknesses and motivations during a visit to the couple's home after years of separation after college from Joleen. Molly, thereafter, embarks upon a vicarious desire to live through the lives of these two people by trying to re-establish a connection between them that spans from the US to Ireland all the while trying to mend her shattered friendship with Joleen. Joleen, glistens as the true survivor as all who read this book will find. This is a novel worthy of reading for those who love good literature. Martin Sloane was a reading experience of exceptional magnitude that I did not beyond my wildest expectations hope to find between the covers of this marvelous novel when I purchased it. |
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