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From Amazon
Morrissey's lushly written narrative, steeped in outport dialect ("Cripes, why don't you ask Am for a spot on his liner? You're getting like father, bandied at the knees from straddling a boat"), alternates between Sylvanus's and Adelaide's points of view. While Sylvanus clings to his traditional ways with a reckless tenacity, Addie is a fireball of conflicting emotions, forever spewing invective or else brooding in silence. Forced to drop out of school by her perennially pregnant mother, she rails against fishing ("she prayed that each fish caught would be the last in the sea") and babies ("their grubby little hands forever snatching, picking and scratching"). Yet, before long, she finds herself married to her fisherman suitor and expecting their first child--a recipe for disaster if ever there was one. Sylvanus Now owes much to the tradition of naturalistic working-class fiction that produced Frank Parker Day's Rockbound--not surprising when one recalls that Morrissey championed Day's novel during the 2005 Canada Reads debate on CBC Radio. Like Rockbound, this quietly unassuming historical novel celebrates old-fashioned values like perseverance, and is bound to bring a tear to the eye. --Lisa Alward --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great, Greater and Greatest,
By Beverley Mallette (Vancouver Island) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sylvanus Now (Paperback)
Ms. Morrissey won me over with Kit's Law. Downhill Chance made her writing a part of my thoughts and Sylvanus Now made her writing part of my heart.Ms. Morrissey's ability to capture the Newfoundland dialect is absolutely incredible and the words in-between are nothing short of genuis. I felt, at times, I was seeing the marrow of the bones of Addie and Syllie, and Eva and Suze. I could see their weather-beaten faces, smell the odour of fish and toil, taste the salt. I could feel the sting of the salty fish-water in the lines of my own hands when Addie and Suze were turning the cod and I shivered with the dampness and coldness of mother ocean when Sylvanus jigged for cod. I have long been a reader of the great literature that is coming out of Newfoundland. This is that literature at it's very best. This book should be a mandatory read for high-schoolers. A history book that you can actually feel. Doesn't get any better than this! Thank you Donna Morrissey. Keep writing -- faster.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Heart-warming,
By Andrea Sentesy (Vancouver, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sylvanus Now (Paperback)
This is a wonderful novel. When I received this book as a gift, my first impression was that it was not a book I would be absorbed by, but then I was stuck in bed with the flu for a few days and thought I'd give it a chance. After the first few chapters I just couldn't put it down. Sylvanus and Adelaide's relationship is so intense and thought-provoking that I found myself thinking of them throughout the day. Their dedication to one another, throughout their personal and political struggles and hardships is heart-warming, and definitely eye-opening compared to the modern-turn dating and relationships have taken.If I can't sell you on the love-story, this novel is also worth reading, as it discloses the short-sightedness of the government during the crisis of the fishing industry on Canada's East Coast during the 1950's. It reveals a personal view of how long-standing tradition and families were affected by the government's decisions. One word of warning: it may take a few pages/chapters to get used to the East Coast dialect the narration is written in, but in the end you will be thankful for it, as it adds to the authenticity of the story. Please let Sylvanus and Adelaide into your lives... they will sweep you away!
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sylvanus Now,
By
This review is from: Sylvanus Now (Mass Market Paperback)
"Sylvanus Now" takes place in the 1950s on Canada's Atlantic coast. Sylvanus Now is a Newfoundland fisherman and all he wants is a new suit, so he can catch himself a wife.Adelaide is smart and beautiful with ice blue eyes. She excels in school, but her mother takes her out of school to work the fish flakes which Adelaide absolutely abhors. Due to lack of money to care for all the children Adelaide's mother has born Adelaide is forced to help provide for and care for them. Sylvanus becomes infatuated with Adelaide and decides to make her his wife. She is cool and aloof towards Sylvanus, but after a melt down at home she is more than willing to marry Sylvanus especially since he promises her that she would not have to have anything to do with the fishing industry and she could have a home to herself. Times have never been easy for Canada's Atlantic fishermen and with the freezer factories and other huge boats over fishing the waters and scraping the ocean's floors lifeless there is less fish for Sylvanus to catch on his own. Not only is the ocean becoming lifeless, but Adelaide and Sylvanus' babies keep dieing at birth. The government has a plan to relocate the Newfoundlanders since the fish industry is decimated, forcing Sylvanus and Adelaide to make a decision to stay and fight for their lifestyle or to relocate. The decision they make makes Sylvanus a lesser god, but protects what gave their life meaning. "Sylvanus Now" is beautifully written, I was able to picture the Atlantic Ocean and Sylvanus fishing on it and the big freezer factories decimating our Canadian waters. Definitely a great read for those interested in what over fishing has done to our oceans and for anyone yearning to know more about Atlantic Canada.
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