Still Life With June [Paperback]

Theft runs on parallel tracks as 30-year-old unsuccessful writer Cameron "steals" the stories of people he encounters at his job in the "Sally Ann" (i.e., Salvation Army) Treatment Center. He "takes" the identity of cokehead Darrel, a patient at the Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Center, when the addict commits suicide. He also takes to visiting Darrel's retarded older sister, June Greene, who has mosaic Down syndrome with complications of Becker's muscular dystrophy and has been taken care of for more than 16 years by the Sisters Who Gave Good Hope. "Darrel" develops a relationship with June and strikes a deal with the administrator, who lets him examine June's medical records, which he mines for story material. Cameron's resulting "Three River Stories" and incidental e-mails are set in a different font from that of the main narrative, which enhances this ironic, acerbic, and poignant novel's sense of shifting planes of reality. In short, terse sentences and equally compact chapters, Greer tells a compelling tale of identity theft. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

A rich read. -- NOW Magazine - A Top Ten Pick of 2003

Greer has masterfully created a character that is just sympathetic enough for the reader to care about him. Still Life with June is modern and urban without being too edgy for the masses. This book is highly recommended. -- The Edmonton Journal

Greer's observations of addiction and corporate domination ... are indeed sharp, his narrative voice infectious. -- The Globe and Mail

Greer's pithy prose keeps things moving quickly, and culminates in a realization and event that can be seen coming, much like a train's lamp through a darkened tunnel. But when that realization hits, it smacks with the force of that train, one that's packing a lifetime of emotional freight ... the cruel baggage of events and tragedies long sublimated and hard reckonings not faced, until now. It's all about identity, and facing yourself down. -- The Hamilton Spectator --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Cameron Dodds has just turned thirty. A writer, he get his ideas from the lives of others, often borrowing stories from the patients of his workplace, the Salvation Army Treatment Centre. When one of the patients, Darrel Greene, hangs himself, Cameron sees a great opportunity for a story -- maybe even a novel. He begins to research Darrel's past, and decides to visit his sister, June, a grown woman with Down's Syndrome. As Cameron develops a relationship with June and delves further into Darrel's past, he makes many discoveries, none of which is more surprising than the one he makes about himself. First published in 2003, Still Life with June won the 2004 ReLit Award and was nominated for the 2003 Pearson Canada Readers' Choice Book Award. It was also a finalist for the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGTB Fiction in 2005, and was named a 2003 Best Book of the Year by NOW Magazine.

Still Life with June was nominated for the Pearson Readers' Choice Award at The Word On The Street, Toronto, in 2003. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Darren Greer grew up in Nova Scotia. His first novel, Tyler's Cape, was published in 2001 to critical acclaim and was on the bestseller list of the Halifax Chronicle-Herald. Also a playwright, Darren's works for theatre have been produced in Canada and the U.S. He lives in Toronto.