Prizes and Awards:
Amazon.ca/Books in Canada
First Novel Award Winner 2004
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Product Details
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Product Description
From Amazon
Readers may be excused for approaching Colin McAdam's Some Great Thing, a historical novel set in 1970s Ottawa, with a degree of cynicism. While the popularity of historical novels has never been stronger, the genre has reached the point of exhaustion, with most recent books being little more than moralizing reconsiderations of the past. Thankfully, Some Great Thing reverses the course of this trend by returning to the genre's roots--not by rewriting history, but by exploring how history came to be made in the first place.
In this case, the history of Ottawa is shaped by the passions of two men: house developer Jerry McGuinty and bureaucrat Simon Struthers. McGuinty is obsessive in his desire for Kathleen, a free-spirited woman he eventually marries. But McGuinty is also obsessed with fantasies of building a city out of the empty land around Ottawa--of building the future. His desire to build perfect neighbourhoods consumes him, and he is unable to see his home life falling into ruin until it's too late. Similarly, Struthers's desire to leave a legacy leads to his quest to create some sort of lasting monument in the developing city, but this passion becomes entangled with his yearnings for a young woman, with disastrous results.
The lives of the two men intersect over the course of the novel, and their interactions shape the development of Ottawa itself. Not surprisingly, the city's history is one of broken dreams and failures, of corruption and the desire for power winning out over visions and ideals. Out of this bleak material, however, a story of redemption and self-discovery slowly emerges. McAdam's characters apply the basic premise of the historical novel--reconstruction of the past--to themselves, and they explore their own lives not only to make amends for the past, but also to find new ways of living in the present. --Peter Darbyshire
From Publishers Weekly
Urban planning and construction in Ottawa, Canada, might seem like dull subjects on which to build a novel, but in this compelling, bawdy debut, McAdam fashions them into powerful metaphors for the ambitions and personalities of two opposing characters, Jerry McGuinty and Simon Struthers. An introverted construction worker whose most reliable expression is "fuckin eh," McGuinty dreams of building better houses than the shoddy tract homes he's hired to plaster; eventually, he becomes one of the most powerful developers of suburban Ottawa. Struthers, on the other hand, is the master of the charming, vapid bureaucratic memo; the government's director of design and land use, he has a reputation for a smooth tongue in the office and among the ladies. Distracted by one love affair after another, Struthers feels age erode his promise until he becomes desperate to accomplish some great public works projectâ€"on the same piece of land where McGuinty is determined to build his most magnificent housing community yet. Fans of Martin Dressler will appreciate McAdam's attention to the mechanics of real estate development, but his forceful, cartwheeling prose style is more akin to that of Dermot Healy or Lawrence Sterne. His first-person narrators wink and hint at the reader, and he sometimes indulges in stream of consciousness or other formal play. Some of these sections have more flash than substanceâ€"the book's least successful bit is its first 20 pages. But McAdam redeems himself by fusing his housing narrative with a thoughtful exploration of the dynamics of home, where the relationships between fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, can often be more loving than those between husband and wife. Technical prowess and a surprising empathy mark McAdam as a writer to watch.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A very interesting look and unlikely interesting characters,
By
This review is from: Some Great Thing (Hardcover)
Colin McAdam's 'Some Great Thing' is a book that explores the lives of the creators of Ottawa; its two protagonists, Jerry McGuinty and Simon Struthers are responsible for the expansion of Ottawa, but much like their lives, this expansion spirals out of control before either of them realize it.Its braided narrative is quite a nice touch and gives us insight into both the characters' personal lives, and their business endeavors. Jerry McGuinty is clearly the hero in McAdam's novel, but although Simon is unlikeable, his desperation, obsession and letdowns are remarkably redeeming and endearing, though they are indeed pathetic. The novel has some mildly interesting side characters, very strong and ambitious dialogue, great poetic structure and word play, and very relatable for anyone who has spent time in Ottawa, past or present. Although not the best read in the world and at times, if you are unfamiliar with the inner workings of the building industry, a bit tedious and confusing, McAdam has great insight into the human psyche and the saddest and happiest most human moments of 'Some Great Thing' are absolutely inspiring.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Virtuoso performance,
By A Customer
This review is from: Some Great Thing (Hardcover)
MacAdam's novel is a great and lasting achievement, a book that will be read for year's to come in this country and around the world. That he should have such a deft ability to create such different and convincing voices in what is his first novel is deeply impressive. MacAdam displays a brilliant range of tone and emotion. The book is funny, sad, dark, scabrous and ultimately humane and optimistic. One gets to know the characters as if one has walked in on the middle of their lives. There is no omniscient authorial presence telling us how to feel or who to trust. As in life, one works this sort of thing out as events unfold. While some might find this cimematic, even epigrammatic, style to be difficult at first, it ultimately proves to be one of the great strengths of the book. The scenes jump cut from one to the next, and jigsaw-puzzle-like, one gradually develops a view of the whole world the the book contains. One arrives at the end of the book with an organic sense of how the lives of the characters came to be the way they are. The journey along the way is filled with brilliant, poetic, hard-edged, profound and engaging writing. Get this book and read it.
4 of 7 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Of interest to Ottawans,
By A Customer
This review is from: Some Great Thing (Hardcover)
I found it interesting to try and figure out which real people the author had in mind with this story of family breakdown, and the building industry in Canada. The style is quirky, and can be hard to follow as the voice changes. I found it a bit of a struggle. I don't think I would recommend it.
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