Vanderhaeghe, Guy

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BORING
impossible to put down
The best book ever written!
Why you should go to Canada
SUCKS

The Englishman's Boy: A Novel
Guy Vanderhaeghe
Manufacturer: Picador
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

The Last Crossing
The Rope Eater
Mercy Among the Children: A Novel
George and Rue: A Novel
Brave Cowboy

ASIN: 0312195443

Book Description

Winner of the Governor General's Award

Counterpointing the stories of the legendary Western cowboy Shorty McAdoo and Harry Vincent, the ambitious young screenwriter commissioned to retell his story in 1920s Hollywood, this novel reconstructs an epic journey through Montana into the Canadian plains, by a group of men pursuing their stolen horses.

The Englishman's Boy intelligently and creatively depicts an American West where greed and deception are tempered by honor and strength. As Richard Ford has noted, "Vanderhaeghe is simply a wonderful writer. The Englishman's Boy, spanning as it does two countries, two centuries, two views of history —the Canadian Wild West as 'imagined' by Hollywood —is a great accomplishment. Readers, I think, will find this book irresistible."

Customer Reviews:

BORING.......2006-05-31

By far the boringest most pointless book I've ever read in my life. I seriously don't see how it won this award and I seriously don't see a life in anybody who would bother to read past the first chapter of this pointless novel.

impossible to put down.......2005-07-12

Guy Vanderhaeghe has crafted a masterful novel about the Canadian WIld West and 1920s Hollywood which starts as a riveting thriller and turns into a meditation on quetions of identity (personal and national), the role of memory in historical reconstruction, and the value (or is it futility?) of remembering and retelling the past.

The book tells two stories. In one, the Swan Hills Massacre looms as Caandian settlers head out into the West, following "horse thieves." Among them is the Englishman, from the point of view of whose servant-- the Boy, Shorty McAdoo-- the action unfolds. The other story tells of Damon Ira LaChance, Hollywood mogul, who wants to make an epic D.W. Griffiths-inspired Western. La Chance's producer seeks out the reticent McAdoo and the narative alternates between the Hollywood and Wild West stories.

ALthought the characters remain opaque, Vanderhaghe is on sure fictional footing here. One of the novel's points is that history ironically becomes less knowable the more it is interpreted. The horror of the events that McAdoo will witness is both the subject of LaChance's film and the simple fact that makes it necessary for the film to "misintepret" the events it portrays. So it is with the characters: we see actions and words, but motivations are strangely absent, as is interior character development. It is as if the narrator knows that his own story is a re-creation (and not recreation) whose limits-- a hundred and twenty years after the "fact"-- are acknowledged in his refusal to make up yet ANOTHER story about the men's interior lives. Perhaps, as some have suggested, this is the flaw in Vanderhaeghe's novel; perhaps it is his subtle nod to the Hollywood tradition within which the novel must work.

The book is an edge of the seat thriller, a philosophical question-poser, and often oddly beautiful, its nostalgia shot through with a bitter self-consciousness. Like all great Westerns (Unforgiven, The Wild Bunch, The Shooting, The Great Northfield Minnesota Gang, High Noon), The Englishman's Boys is about the death of the imagined West and, sadly, the death of the real, complex but strangely opaque people who once lived there.

The best book ever written!.......2005-04-22

Guy is my cousin and I am very proud to say that. This is the best book that I have ever read and for those of you who say it sucks because it is confusing, clearly you are just uneducated and you don't deserve to read this book.

Why you should go to Canada.......2004-04-02

When I occasionally get to Canada, I always search out the bookstores, as you can find great Canadian novels like this one that are practically unknown in the US. The characters and storylines in this novel ring historically true and are at the same time unique. The book intriguingly weaves together the not so familiar old West of Canada (at least to readers in the US) with prohibition-era Hollywood. The writing is plain, direct, and superb. This is great literature with important things to say, delivered in the form of a compelling and engrossing story.

SUCKS.......2004-03-18

By far the dumbest, most confusing novel I have ever read. We read it in our Contemporary fiction class in College and we are now trying to get them to change the curriculm so we are never forced to read such rubbish again.

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The Gaunts Put the 'Dis' in Dysfunctional
Great read. Definitely recommended
Won't Find Better Writing
An interesting Mix
Fabulous!

The Last Crossing: A Novel
Guy Vanderhaeghe
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Action & Adventure | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

The Englishman's Boy: A Novel
The Rope Eater
The Time It Never Rained
Waterborne
Crofton's Fire

ASIN: 0802141757

Amazon.com

Set in the late 19th century, The Last Crossing, Guy Vanderhaeghe's first novel since his acclaimed Englishman's Boy, is the story of three well-off English brothers: twins Simon and Charles Gaunt and their elder sibling, Addington, a former soldier and an arrogant scoundrel. At the behest of their dictatorial father, Charles and Addington travel the prairies of the U.S. and Canada in search of sensitive Simon, who has disappeared. Much of the novel concerns their journeys--bottles of port and claret rattling in their wagons--through Indian country with a cast of intricately drawn, fully realized characters. The small troupe is led through the whiskey-coloured light by Jerry Potts, a half-breed with one foot firmly in each world. The heart of the plot involves the love that Charles, a painter, feels for Lucy Stoveall, a simple but lovely country woman who accompanies them, secretly intent on avenging her sister's murder. However, the most intriguing character in this marvelous collection of all-too-human personalities is Custis Straw, a Bible-reading, heavy-drinking Civil War veteran who hides his tremendous dignity behind a bumbling facade, and who also loves Lucy.

Vanderhaeghe's rich language reveals a genuine feel for the prairies and their rough settlements: "a boom town draws rogues like a jam jar draws wasps," he writes, and describes "miles of wet plain patched with apple green, new penny copper, glints of silver." Though this is a Western in the traditional sense, Vanderhaeghe never sinks into parody. Rather, he uses the Western motif to reveal a number of profound universal truths about personal honour, and human failings and strengths. His humane character depictions reach emotional depths found in few novels today. --Mark Frutkin, Amazon.ca

Book Description

The Last Crossing is a sweeping tale of breathtaking quests, adventurous detours, and hard-won redemption. Englishmen Charles and Addington Gaunt are ordered by their tyrannical industrialist father to find their brother Simon, who has gone missing in the wilds of the American West. Charles, a disillusioned artist, and Addington, a disgraced military captain, set off to remote Fort Benton on the edge of the Montana frontier. The brothers hire the enigmatic Jerry Potts, a half Blackfoot, half Scot guide, to lead them North, where Simon was last seen. Addington takes command of the mission, buying enough provisions to fill two wagons, and hires sycophantic journalist Caleb Ayto to record the journey for posterity. As the party heads out, it grows to include the fiery Lucy Stoveall, Civil War veteran Custis Straw, and saloonkeeper Aloysius Dooley. This unlikely posse becomes entangled in an unfolding drama that forces each one of them to confront personal demons. Told from alternating points of view with vivid flashbacks, The Last Crossing is a novel of ruggedness and salvation, an epic masterpiece set in a time when worlds collided, were destroyed, and were built anew.

Customer Reviews:

The Gaunts Put the 'Dis' in Dysfunctional.......2006-09-06

Young Englishman Simon Gaunt, religious zealot, has gone missing in the Old American West (specifically Canada). Dear old dad Henry, the overbearing so-and-so, sends older brother Addington and Simon's twin Charles in search. These folks put the `dis' in a dysfunctional family. Addington, a self-centered martinet, loves only himself and his pleasures and timid Charles, an aspiring artist, seems not to know what he wants. They hire Jerry Potts, a real-life Canadian frontiersman (Vanderhaeghe is Canadian) to help find Simon and meet up with a collection of society's castoffs and loose ends and form an odd posse.

To some readers, calling this book Western literature might be a put off or a putdown - I happen to love Western writing (A.B. Guthrie and Larry McMurtry to name two) - so let's just call it literature set in the Old West. Vanderhaeghe is a tremendously talented writer.

Highly recommended for fans of Western literature or just fine writing of any kind.

Great read. Definitely recommended.......2006-06-13

Richly painted and diverse characters fill a story highlighting American and Canadian Western Frontier history. A nearly boiling-over melting pot of Englishmen, Scots, Americans, Native Americans, men and women, and mixes in between. Wonderful writing style that moves along at a great pace while spending time diving deep into the people and places that make up the tale.

Won't Find Better Writing.......2005-03-09

You won't be able to find any better writing than this. Frequently I had to stop just to admire the wordsmithing I had just encountered. Mr. Vanderhaeghe has an unparelleled ability to use metaphors, similes and simple words to describe something so vividly that you think you are looking at the object rather than a page in abook.

The story line is a young, idealistic Englishman gets lost in America. At the urging of their tyrannical father his two brothers search Montana and into Canada for him. Along the way they are joined by a Civil War veteran and a woman who are key players and a few ancillary characters. There are interactions with Indians throughout, but not of the cowboy and Indian type.

The tale is spun by the characters themselves, flashing from one to another. Occasionally a third person narrative is interjected to move the plot along. The author gets the different voices of the characters well so it is easy to maintain the identity of the speaker.

The historical context and relations with the Indians of the area are captured well. There is a love triangle and a character or two going over the edge. Sibling rivalries and love are explored deeply.

In addition to the fine writing, the author is terrific at developing the characters. Early on, the reader feels that he knows all of them, which always adds to a book. The dialogue between them is colorful and believeable. Often in a book such as this the first person narratives do not work because the author embues the speaker with too much knowledge or intelligence to be believable. Mr. Vanderhaege does not fall into the trap. The thoughts of each are credible and fit their personalities.

My only criticism of the book is that there are a few slow spots that are long enough to detract from the story line and the book as a whole. Even in the areas that are not so well paced, however, the writing continues to be absolutely wonderful. If there were half stars this would be be four and one half.

This is strongly recommended for the writing first, the characters second and the story line third.

An interesting Mix.......2005-02-18

Historical fiction with a modern eye overseeing all. Learned about some new people, but the pacing left a lot to be desired.

Fabulous!.......2005-02-16

I loved this book and could not put it down. The story is interesting and the writing is wonderful. His characters are rich and complex. I'm going to tell everyone I know about this book. Such pleasure must be shared. Highly recommended. Order one now! Operators are standing by!

Average customer rating:

Man Descending: Selected Stories
Guy Vanderhaeghe
Manufacturer: Stoddart
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Average customer rating:

Captivating stories
Saskatchewaners

Things As They Are?
Guy Vanderhaeghe
Manufacturer: McClelland & Stewart
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

By The Award-Winning Author Of The Last Crossing And The Englishman’s Boy

Deftly layered, humane, these stories brilliantly capture the pathos and comedy of the human condition. Following the death of his domineering father, a middle-aged man tries to uncover a truth about their sometimes difficult relationship. When a grade-six teacher tyrannizes a student without apparent reason, the boy learns an unexpected lesson and his young life is changed irrevocably. An elderly widow falls prey to a con artist, revealing what we are capable of sacrificing to appease what we dread the most. A twelve-year-old boy is shunted off to his grandmother’s farm and becomes part of an adult world he scarcely understands. A group of high-school students play on a classmate’s self-delusions and set up what promises to be the most loaded boxing match ever staged. Whether writing from the point of view of a child, an adolescent, or a man in his seventies, Guy Vanderhaeghe takes us into the lives of his characters with razor-sharp insights laced with gentle humour.

Customer Reviews:

Captivating stories.......2004-10-17

Guy Vanderhaege's characters voices live on in my head after reading this book. I still chuckle at the heated conversation between an old, proud man and a young punk wearing the fashion of the pants hanging down.
Each story captures the drama and the pain of life, from youth to old age. Guy knows how to buid up the scene and then break your heart with such bitter sweetness.
One minute you are laughing and the next you are holding your breath at the pain or pathos.
There are brilliant descriptions. My favourite was of the teacher who looked like Sitting Bull with a perm.
I did not want to finish reading such a crafted collection.

Saskatchewaners.......1999-02-26

Guy Vanderhaeghe's short stories are better than his novels, and this collection is the best of them. Quiet as a shady grove, this collection follows on Sinclair Ross' tone, and is marginally less depressing.

The trouble with heroes and other stories

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The trouble with heroes and other stories
Guy Vanderhaeghe
Manufacturer: Borealis Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

JOURNAL OF CANADIAN FICTION - Number 21, 1977-78: The Prodigal; Food for Poetry; Get On Board Sinners; A Place to Stay; Molly's New Hat; Time and Time Again; Trusting The Untrustworthy; Midsummer Madness: Marian Engel's Bear; et al

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JOURNAL OF CANADIAN FICTION - Number 21, 1977-78: The Prodigal; Food for Poetry; Get On Board Sinners; A Place to Stay; Molly's New Hat; Time and Time Again; Trusting The Untrustworthy; Midsummer Madness: Marian Engel's Bear; et al
John R. (editor) (Guy Vanderhaeghe; Sylvia Boorman; Northrop Frye; Margaret Laurence; Roch Carrier) Sorfleet
Manufacturer: Journal of Canadian Fiction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Average customer rating:

a novel about losing your way in life
My Present Age Review

My Present Age
Guy Vanderhaeghe
Manufacturer: MacMillan of Canada
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Book Description

Ed is punchy, unemployed, and on the wrong side of thirty. After his exasperated wife, Victoria, leaves him, Ed finds consolation where he has always found it, in his own rich and eccentric imagination. Pursued by the demons of his own obsession, Ed embarks on a quixotic quest to find Victoria. As he prowls the city’s parking garages and motel strips, Ed begins a journey back into his past and is forced – most reluctantly – to confront the web of lies and self-deceptions he has woven to keep reality at bay – until even his fantasies start to turn against him. Keenly observant, humane, and darkly comic, My Present Age is an irresistible story about what happens when an Everyman becomes a casualty of modern life.

Customer Reviews:

a novel about losing your way in life.......2003-10-02

This book takes the characters and themes of the last two stories in Man Descending (a collection of short stories by Vanderhaeghe) and expands them into a full length novel. As his protagonist pursues an obsessive and hopeless quest to reunite with his ex wife, Vanderhaeghe explores the themes of disquiet, losing your way in modern society and a life that peaks too early. The uniqueness of My Present Age is that it features a character who should, by all means, be a very successful member of society and yet is living a life that is slowly deteriorating out of control. It is an often overlooked character type, unknown to those who assume that intelligence engenders success. Vanderhaeghe uses a straightforward, yet elegent, writing style to show that it is easy to lose your way in the modern world if you have never truly learned how to live in it. A good balance is struck between examining where individuals fail and where the sometimes ludicrously absurd nature of our society fails.

My Present Age Review.......2000-05-01

This multiple award winning, unforgettable, Canadian novel is a fictional story about one man's downward sloped life. Ed, a unwealthy yet educated school teacher in his late 30's, had hopes of persuing a virtuous life living with his wife Victoria while seeking employment in the writing business. However, after a short marriage, the wedded couple separated. This seems to a milestone in Ed's life as he now spends countless hours trying to track down his ex-wife, whom is bearing his only child.

He resides directly above an elderly and irritating individual named Mr. McMurtry that seems to devote his entire retired life to pestering Ed. It appears that he will not halt until Ed has lost all mental health from listening to numberless hours of his poor choice in music or has been kicked out of the apartment complex all together. Nevertheless, Ed continues his search for Victoria. Risking his flourishing profession, friends, and both mental and physical health to re-unite himself with what he feels is his only achievement in life, Victoria.

This novel is a surprising dark, yet amusing drama written in first person. The use of a complex mixture of both brief and elaborate sentances strongly describes the setting and mood of every scene. The use of setting well defines Ed's true living style and previous life experiences as the author explains in extreme detail everything from room odors, to what Ed is wearing on his feet. This truly helps to define each environment that Ed is placed in, and only adds detail that helps us be transposed into Ed's environment.

A development of a theme is well exemplified when Ed is in perusal of Victoria. He starts out by calling all close relatives in hopes that they may lead him in the direction of his dreams. However, due to previous mishaps, nobody wants to assist him, and keep all information from him. This only adds to Ed's slowly declining downfall. He is then found roaming the streets in his damaged, loud, out of style, yellow, Italian vehicle. This development of theme only increases thorough the novel. The author uses the same techniques in many points in the book as we learn about the life of Ed.

There are few situations where neither humor nor irony is greatly used in the novel. In some most instances, the novel takes on a serious tone, as Ed goes from one crisis to another. However, in some instances the author incorporates humor, such as when Ed seeks help from his intelligent friend Benny. Ed rudely interrupt's a business meeting and pretends to mishear Benny when asked to leave, as an invitation to sit down. Ed continues the escapade for several minutes until Benny can take no more nonsense and escorts Ed to the door with no more that a few words of wisdom.

I feel that a notably strong point in this novel is it's remarkable description in detail. The author soundly sets the scenes with numberless amounts of fine points. This however does not seem to bore the tone of the novel, as each itemized account is required for true understanding, and interruption of the novel. Despite all this detail, it only applies to scenery. I felt that character development was poor, as only Ed, the main character, can truly be analyzed due to lack of detail in sub characters. For example, we hear little about Victoria, Benny, Max, nor Mr. McMurtry, as more focus is on Ed himself. Despite this however, I feel My Present Age was an excellent novel, a great story, and something I hope to remember.

The Englishman's Boy
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The Englishman's Boy
Guy Vanderhaeghe
Manufacturer: McClelland & Stewart Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NSDO2U

Man Descending - Selected Stories
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Man Descending - Selected Stories
Guy Vanderhaeghe
Manufacturer: Ticknor & Fields
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IWUJGK

The Englishman's Boy
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The Englishman's Boy
Guy Vanderhaeghe
Manufacturer: McClelland and Stewart
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IMRG0C

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