Review
From the same geographical area that has produced Sandra Birdsell and Armin Wiebe, David Elias, author of two acclaimed story collections, Places of Grace, and Crossing the Line, gives us a humorous and profound look at a Sunday afternoon in the small southern Manitoba Mennonite Community of Neustadt. It is during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and just across the American border the US Military are burying Minuteman Missiles in preparation for a possible Armageddon. What precipitates the action is the return of a stranger, a gorgeous blonde in a yellow convertible with california plates. She is Katie Klassen, a local girl who has become a hollywood star, and has been drawn back to Manitoba by forces she doesn’t understand. Katie was once destined to be Abe Wiebe’s wife, perhaps she still is meant to be, but Abe took her desertion to Hollywood very hard. As Katie crosses the border back to Canada, a lightning storm develops, a threat perhaps equaling that of the burrowing missiles. Elias is dealing with major themes here-the destruction of the species, the apprehension which we suffer in the presence of military might. But what Elias tells us is that despite the possibility of imminent apocalypse, the urge to procreate supersedes all, and on this Sunday afternoon, the community, even its most unlikely members, succumb to primal urges in response to the threat of annihilation. The following scenes are both heart-warming and heart-wrenching, with just a touch of the surreal, learned, I suspect, from the master Robert Kroetsch. Sweet, humorous, profound and scary. A marvelous debut.
W.P. Kinsella (Books in Canada)
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Books in Canada
Book Description
Elias effectively raises to consciousness our deepest fear - the self-destruction of the species - and our terror at military power. Instead of Apocalypse, he proposes ecstasy. Instead of missiles in their silos.... "Make love, not war." The deeply human and sensual depiction of sexuality is a perfect counterpoint, an antidote, to the cold diction of nuclear discourse.
Prizes and Awards:
Amazon.ca/Books in Canada
First Novel Award Shortlist 2004