"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Born into debilitating poverty, Smallwood is sustained by a bottomless faith in his own industry. His unabashed ambition is to "rise not from rags to riches, but from obscurity to world renown." To this end, he undertakes tasks both sublime and baffling--walking 700 miles along a Newfoundland railroad line in a self-martyring union drive; narrating a homespun radio spot; and endlessly irritating and ingratiating himself with the Newfoundland political machine. His opaque and constant incitement is an unconsummated love for his childhood friend, Sheilagh Fielding. Headstrong and dissolute, she weaves in and out of Smallwood's life like a salaried goad, alternately frustrating and illuminating his ambitions. Smallwood is harried as well by Newfoundland's subtle gravity, a sense that he can never escape the tug of his native land, since his only certainty is the island itself--that "massive assertion of land, sea's end, the outer limit of all the water in the world, a great, looming, sky-obliterating chunk of rock."
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams bogs down after a time in its detailing of Smallwood's many political intrigues and in the lingering matter of a mysterious letter supposedly written by Fielding. However, when he speculates on the secret motives of his peers, or when he reveals his own hyperbolic fantasies and grandiose hopes--matters no one would ever confess aloud--the novel is both apt and amiable. Best of all is to watch Smallwood's inevitable progress toward a practical cynicism. It seems nothing less than miraculous that his countless disappointments pave the way for his ascension, that his private travails ultimately align with the land he loves. This is history resuscitated. --Ben Guterson
Wayne Johnston's widely acclaimed tragicomic elegy for the "colony of unrequited dreams" that is Newfoundland is a masterful tribute to a people and a place, and establishes him as a novelist of profound and manifold gifts.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Book Description Condition: New. Brand New. Seller Inventory # 9780385495431
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 462466-n
Book Description Condition: New. pp. 592. Seller Inventory # 26744140
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Brand New Copy. Seller Inventory # BBB_new0385495439
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0385495439
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Buy for Great customer experience. Seller Inventory # GoldenDragon0385495439
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0385495439
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0385495439
Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0385495439