Agassiz: A Novel in Stories - Hardcover

Birdsell, Sandra

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0915943611 ISBN 13: 9780915943616

Publisher: Milkweed Editions, 1999

Synopsis

Set in a fictional Manitoba town, this novel traces three generations of the Lafreniere family and examines such issues as marital problems, sexual curiosity, and racial allegiances

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

This beautifully crafted assemblage of 23 stories chronicles the sometimes joyful, often difficult lives of the Lafreniere family of Agassiz, Manitoba. Canadian novelist Birdsell begins with the first generation--Maurice and his wife, Mika--and their ever-growing brood of children, shifting her narrative focus among these characters to provide alternate perspectives on family personalities and relationships. We see how Maurice's French and Indian heritages burden him with an inexpressible sense of social inferiority, how Mika's frustrations collide with her daughters' needs to pursue their own identities. As the collection progresses, Birdsell overlaps the experiences of several generations, with details provided earlier serving as essential background for a colorful, highly textured collage. Eventually the daughters, now grown, cope with adult problems and with the crises of their own offspring. Each piece is a model of economy; cumulatively, they resonate with the unsparing power of a memory mediated only by art.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Set in the fictional town of Agassiz in Manitoba, this novel tells the story of the Lafreniere family: Metis father, Russian Mennonite mother, and the six children of this incongruous alliance. The book focuses on the three oldest daughters, who come of age in the Fifties and Sixties, pulled in different directions by the force of their personalities, talents, and destinies. Life is not easy, but the Lafreniere girls are tough and resourceful and frank. Their discrete voices tell their stories, creating a collage of family history. Comparisons between Agassiz and Margaret Laurence's "Manawaka" cycle will be inevitable. Birdsell's candor, adroit characterization, and skill at storytelling make her a welcome successor.
- Marnie Webb, King Cty. Lib. System, Seattle
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Milkweed Editions
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0915943611
• ISBN 13: 9780915943616
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 346