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North East
North East | Wendy McGrath
5 posts | 1 read
SHORTLISTED FOR THE GEORGES BUGNET AWARD FOR FICTION!SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2015 RELIT AWARDS!In "North East," Wendy McGrath expands on the story she began with "Santa Rosa," as a working class couple living in 1960s Edmonton drift further apart while their young daughter tries to understand something she senses is hiding under the surface of her family and her neighbourhood. A visit to her grandparents' farm in the country reveals the abject poverty the couple came to the city to escape, and the internecine marital strife that threatens to be born anew.McGrath's crystalline, evocative prose conjures an image of the past that defies nostalgia, conjuring images of a city that is in the midst of rewriting its own history. Through the all-seeing eyes of her child protagonist McGrath conjures indelible scenes of harsh domesticity and small victories, of endless summertime days spent around the home and evenings at the drive-in theatre.Praise for "North East" "If the first entry in this trilogy felt like an elegy for a place, this second book is more an early funeral for a family struggling to remain cogent. This is an elegant, artful piece of work."--Andrew Wilmot, "All Lit Up""The interplay between form and content is masterful."Rona Altrows, "Alberta Views""[e]ven as the memory of Santa Rosa seems at risk of disappearing from the city's consciousness entirely, McGrath's fiction provides a bolt of hope. Her trilogy, once complete, may be the most visible and lasting tribute this neighbourhood has left."--Michael Hingston, "Edmonton Journal""Wendy McGrath, who is originally from Saskatchewan, has this poetic proficiency for illustrating the seemingly insignificant details of childhood, in the underwhelming idiosyncracies of youth and how they fathom the world around them."--Emil Tiedemann, "I Heart Edmonton"..". crystalline moments of poetic clarity."--Jade Colbert, "Globe and Mail""Wendy McGrath's novel is a must-read for those of us wanting to recapture the innocence of being a young child and the nostalgia associated with our hometowns."--Alexandira Wolfe, "The Wanderer Online""A compelling and solidly entertaining read from beginning to end."--"Midwest Book Review""tremulous and dreamlike"--Julienne Isaacs, "Humber Literary Review"
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Lindy
Lindy
North East | Wendy McGrath
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Pickpick

Written in vignettes from the close third-person view of a young child, this short novel has the feel of a long prose poem. The early 60s in an Edmonton neighbourhood are evoked through all of the senses. All the feelings are there too, as a girl grapples with understanding what is happening in the adult world around her.
A year ago, I gave this 3 stars. Upon rereading, I've bumped that up to 4 on Goodreads.

shawnmooney Interesting! What prompted you to re-read it? 8y
Lindy @shawnmooney Book club. A worthwhile revisit. 👍 8y
shawnmooney I so rarely reread. One of book challenge tasks this year is to do just that. I am thinking it might be
[tagged book]Do Not Say We Have Nothing
8y
Lindy @shawnmooney I'm the same. I rarely reread only because there are so many that I haven't even read once. But when I do reread, it's always a pleasure. (And it's usually for a book discussion.) DNSWHN would be excellent no matter how many times. 8y
32 likes4 comments
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Lindy
Lindy
North East | Wendy McGrath
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- "You can't fly home on one wing" ... that's what my gramma would say to us when we came to see her.
- What did she mean Dad?
- If you said it was time to go she would say that and pour you another drink.
- Even kids?
- Well for the kids it was this poppy tea.

32 likes
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Lindy
Lindy
North East | Wendy McGrath
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The girl was so sure of happy that when they passed the big lake she knew all the fish in the water were happy too and even if there were monsters or dinosaurs in that lake they would be so happy that they wouldn't even bother eating the fish and would let them just swim and live.

Suet624 💕💕💕💕 8y
44 likes1 comment
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Lindy
Lindy
North East | Wendy McGrath
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Her mother's hat could tell stories without even using words & the girl would just feel them in her mind like those feathers so soft & light. She wished she could turn herself into that hat for half-an-hour & she knew how long that was now. One episode of Batman or the Monkees.

Spiderfelt What a great hat! 8y
Lindy @Spiderfelt I agree. It was on display in the Feather Club Museum at Caboolture historical village in Queensland. 8y
34 likes2 comments
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Lindy
Lindy
North East | Wendy McGrath
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When she reached for the ice cream she imagined her arm was the wing of a swan & she took her time wrapping her fingers around the cone as the woman handed it to her. Her fingers were long white feathers wrapping around the cone like it was a queen's sceptre & the nuts were precious jewels.

29 likes