I loved this book. As well as enjoying the characters, prose and plot, the structure of the story really caught my attention. ( )

Connie Gault is a new-to-me author - this book came my way via the GoodReads giveaway that ran a short time ago.

From the start I was struck by how beautiful her prose is; how gentle an observational touch she gives as each of the characters' portions of the story are told. This was a little different for a multiple point-of-view story, with one told in first person and the remaining in third person. It didn't turn out to be as startling a change as I expected. The story flowed just fine between each character - from the beginning in Trevna with the Gustaffson's, Elena and the other townspeople, right through to those whose path Elena crosses on her journey. Every story, every observation gives a uniquely intimate glimpse into the mind of the character telling their part (and includes many gorgeous descriptions of the rural Saskatchewan landscape and customs of the people of that era). It is all these parts that together as a whole made a story I found hard to put down.

Thank you Connie Gault for this one. I'll be looking up more of your work for sure! ( )

A BEAUTY, by Connie Gault.

Connie Gault is not a writer I knew, but then I live in the U.S. where Canadian authors are often unknown, which is a terrible shame, because it's been my experience that the Canadian writers I do read are invariably wonderful writers. In any case, I saw Gault's new novel had been long-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize this year, which is a strong recommendation. Another is that the book has been endorsed by one of Canada's finest contemporary writers, Elizabeth Hay. Two damn good reasons to read this book, so I did, and I am soooo glad I did. Because this is simply one helluva fine novel.

Gault has created an unforgettable character in Elena Huhtala, a motherless Finnish immigrant who, with her taciturn father, finds herself surrounded by Swedish families in the tiny hamlet of Trevna, set deep in the Saskatchewan prairie in the depths of the Great Depression and the drought-stricken days of the Dust Bowl. (And yes, those dust storms did reach deep into Canada too.)

When Elena's father, a former university professor in Helsinki who had fled Finland after their Civil War, one day simply walks away from his failed farm leaving her a note that implies he intends to kill himself, the beautiful eighteen year-old, destitute and starving, meets a handsome stranger at a village dance. And when Bill Longmore, dipping and twirling her on the dance floor, whispers in Elena's ear, "Can I take you home tonight?" she doesn't hesitate; she leaves with him in his long, gold Lincoln convertible roadster. And when he asks where she wants to go, she replies: "Anywhere."

Thus begins an aimless and desperate - for her - road trip across the dusty plains of Saskatchewan, through dying villages - Addison, Charlesville, Virginia Valley, and eventually to the big city of Regina. In each of these places, you meet other characters, similarly hopeless, stuck, existing. And like Elena and Bill, these other characters come vividly to life - Merv and Pansy Badger, the Gustafsons, Scott and Leonard Dobie, Albert Earle, and, especially, the McLaughlin family in tiny Gilroy. There we learn that our story's narrator is Ruthie McLaughlin, the eldest of seven children. In Gilroy, Elena discards Bill Longmore and leaves town with Ruthie's charming father, Davy. Yup, the one with all those kids.

I've only scratched the surface of the twists and turns this story takes. Filled with colorful and utterly human characters, the story jumps forward from the thirties to the early sixties. Ruthie's role in the story becomes more important, but the ethereally beautiful Elena remains crucial to the story, a curious mix of charisma, sensuality and survivor. Ruthie's father, we learn, was only one in "a succession of men." Each of them have obviously contributed to her prosperity, as she emerges, nearly thirty years later, as a coolly beautiful and wealthy woman who has learned something of her own origins following a trip back to Finland.

I don't want to give anything else away about this complex and skilfully crafted story. But I can see why it's grabbed the attention of the Scotiabank Giller Prize committee. I loved this book and hated to see it end. As novels go, it is A BEAUTY, and Connie Gault is a wonderful writer. My highest recommendation. ( )

so, i think this book would have been a better read for me under two circumstances:

1) if i was reading this in the summer time: this story is mostly set on the saskatchewan prairies, during summer. it was hot. stinking, sweating hot. the novel is anchored in the drought, and economic depression of the 1920s/30s. the wheat was roasting. the locusts were swarming. the people were wilting in the heat. because i love to read to the season, i just felt hyper-aware of the weather given we are under an extreme cold alert here in toronto.

2) if the mirror device was relied upon so frequently/awkwardly: sigh. mirrors are relied upon a lot in this story. once, i could have been okay with, forgiven, or gotten past. but three different characters have three different moments at a mirror, plus there are a couple of mentions of mirrors in passing. so that was a bit of overkill for me, and distracting.

those points aside, gault has a lovely, quiet way with her writing. she was certainly able to evoke the characters, places, and times for me. i found this novel read more as a collection of connected short stories. individually, chapters - which are denoted by a town's setting - are often fairly strong. as a whole, i found it a bit awkward in its flow.

the choice of the narrator is interesting too, and i am still thinking on this trying to figure out how i feel. the narrator is ruth - when we first meet her, she is an 11yo girl and she grows with us through the read. but she isn't the main character, and it does leave open the question of how she's come to know all of the details revealed in the book. at the end, quick connections are made between ruth and a couple of characters, but i didn't feel that quite worked for me.

i have highlighted a number of passages - moments when i felt gault was spot-on in identifying human nature. i think gault has a keen eye and i bet she's a great listener. as she notes in the novel:

"Speak a little, hear a lot, that's a Finnish proverb." ( )