Review
This book is a form of autobiography; partly a memoir of growing up in the Similkameen Valley in British Columbia, and partly a chronicle of agricultural life. And as one who is unfamiliar with the territory, I was impressed by Rhenisch's evocation of that huge, unruly landscape. Yet, as the author admits in his prologue, it's the figure of his father who dominates the text. Rhenisch senior is a compelling character; he lived through the war in Germany and came to Canada to farm, although his personality -- nervous, impatient, and angry --would not seem to be well suited to that life.
The sections in which Rhenisch's father talks about his life during the war have a directness andforce often lacking elsewhere. Rhenisch tends to interpolate philosophic rambles, even when he's writing about spraying trees or keeping sheep, and sentences and sometimes entire paragraphs are overloaded with metaphors. Some of the metaphoric expressions are effective, but others don't hold up under close scrutiny. Consider this description of an eccentric neighbour: "He had become a night lake that you walk into in August, but neither see nor feel on your skin -- it is as thin as the air, a caught wind."
Maybe this could work in a briefer form such as poetry, but Out of the Interior has too many long stretches of prose filled with expansive description. As a result, the narrative has no clear destination, and by the end of the book I felt as though I'd just staggered through 40 acres of Nova Scotia scrub pines.
Virginia Beaton (Books in Canada) -- Books in Canada
Book Description
Extending the forms of autobiography, Rhenisch explores the immigrant experience in the orchard gardens of the Okanogan. The search for paradise in the new land, its discovery and loss, are portrayed through the experiences of a young boy struggling against the authoritarianism of patriarchy. This prose memoir of unrivalled intensity and beauty helps to fill a gap in the history of twentieth-century Canada.
About the Author
Harold Rhenisch is an award-winning poet, critic, and cultural commentator. His awards include the Confederation Poetry Prize in 1991 and the BC &: Yukon Community Newspapers Association Award for Best Arts and Culture Writing in 1996. He is a seven-time runner-up for the CBC/Tilden/Saturday Night Literary Contest. In 2005, he won the ARC Magazine Critics Desk Award for best long poetry review and the Malahat Review Long Poem Prize for "Abandon." He won this prize again in 2007 for "The Bone Yard." His non-fiction book Tom Thomson's Shack was short-listed for two BC Book Prizes in 2000. For its sequel, The Wolves at Evelyn, he won the 2007 George Ryga Award for Social Responsibility in Literature. Harold Rhenisch has recently moved from 150 Mile House in BC’s Cariboo region to Campbell River on Vancouver Island.
