Customer Reviews

Cape Breton Road: A Novel

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I gave this book three stars for one reason. It had a very unsatisfactory ending. I felt cheated. The conclusion was not an ending in the real sense.

It left several questions unanswered. The most important ones being the fate of the protagonist and his uncle. The author either ran out of interest, or made the beginners error of letting the reader come up with his own ending.

The book and characters was so very vivid and beautifully drawn that you could literally breathe the air and atmosphere. Then we are left high and dry.

This writer is no amateur. He is brilliant. I loved this book. And because I did, because I cared about the characters, i wish he had done a better job on the conclusion.

Still and all, I intend to read his other books. I guess that is the real test.

Deported to Cape Breton to live with his mean-spirited uncle, Innis might leave his pot-smoking, weed-growing, car-stealing days behind him as he comes to appreciate hard work and simpler ways. But no, he becomes obsessed with his uncle's girlfriend, and there is no redemption for any of them, three losers to the end. Meanwhile, some very interesting characters are left undeveloped. The writing is very good, both in setting the scenes and developing tension, but ultimatly, this is just not a good story and is a slow read. Want to sample Cape Breton life? Try Alister MacLeod's Island

This was a well-written tragedy. I compare it to a Shakespeare tragedy. I didn't like the ending but it wasn't that I didn't like what the author wrote. I kept hoping Innis would make better choices. It was that hope that kept me reading to the end. And, of course, the author's wonderful descriptions of Nova Scotia's people, woods, water, events also kept me reading with great enjoyment. So even though I didn't like the ending, I loved the book.

I found this to be a decent story up to the end. Would Innis get off Cape Breton? What would come of the love triangle between him, his uncle and his uncle's girlfriend. The ending did not answer these and left me disappointed.

be careful of this fiction. a triangle of woods and water and obsessions. cadillac dreams and hemlock nightmares. where does the end begin and the living end? the last chapter is an amazing drive through the last minutes of an innocent lost. there is more here than meets the sea.

I was totally enraptured by this novel about a 19-year-old boy ousted from the U.S. for stealing cars, and sent back to the place of his birth, Cape Breton Island, Canada. I was enraptured, that is, until the end when everything fell apart. It was an interesting tale about Innis, who just wanted to raise a small crop of weed in the woods and then make enough money from the sale of that weed to enable him to escape the confines of the island. Of course, along the way, he meets some wonderful characters, who teach him the value of the old-time ways. The end just didn't feel right to me, with Innis taking a giant leap backwards after all the believable little steps he had taken forward.

My 16 year old daughter got this book from school. Listed as young adult she was the one who showed it to me. Not approriate reading for teenagers.
The story includes crude language a lesson on pot growing and a 19 year old boy having sex with a 30 something woman who happens to be his Uncle's girlfriend. The story is not compelling, has no ending, and is a tedious piece of work to read