Annabel

By Kathleen Winter

This book received lots of praise, it was a Canada Reads book plus a finalist for the Giller Prize.

I am not sure what I expected, but I think I expected it to be a better book.  The story is certainly unusual, a hermaphrodite child is born to a couple in a remote Labrador community.  They are advised to select one sex for the child, the father opts for a boy, the mother would have preferred a girl.

The child seems to have a desire for some girly things, a shiny synchronized swimming costume (if I remember correctly).  The father does everything he can to make the boy a man.   The boy builds a bridge on the family land and he and a female friend decorate it with lights and fabric and spend a lot of time there.  The father is fine helping the boy design and build the bridge structure but after he sees what the kids have done to it he dismantles it and buys his son a puppy an apology.  The boy does not take to the dog and the father eventually gives it away.

The father is a trapper, he is a strange man.  He is first to go out onto the trap line and the last to return.  He seems to enjoy life more out in the wild on his own, wear he reads philosophical books, than the time he spends with his family.  The child's mother is very depressed, she misses her life and the liveliness of Newfoundland.  I had to wonder why he ever got married.  The mother sufferes severe depression partly because of her anxiety about her child and the isolation of living in Labrador with such an unloving, inattentive husband.

The child is on hormones but isn't told why he is taking them.  One day, a female friend of the family, who is also a local teacher, finds the boy in discomfort and decides to take him to the hospital because she cannot reach his parents.  It turns out menstrual blood has been collecting in his body.  The father is furious that she has chosen to do this and the teacher is suspended for her actions.

The boy is eventually told the truth about himself.  In some ways he is relieved as it explains why he has always felt different.  When he graduates high school he leaves for Newfoundland where he finds a job delivering meat.  He decides to stop taking the hormones regardless of the consequences. He tells a boy he hardly knows the truth about himself, this person blabs to some other guys and they brutally rape the boy.  The boy confides what has happened to his father when he comes for a visit.  The father plots to revenge his son on the perpetrators.  It isn't spoken of again but we assume he did.  He also gives the son money he saved from buying gold stocks so the boy can finance a future for himself.  So despite his harsh treatment of the boy in the past we know he cares about him.

Near the end of the book the mother and father seem to develop some sort of companionship, going out for dinner.  Meanwhile, the family friend has tracked down the boy's childhood friend and arranges for him to visit her in Boston where she is living and studying.
He goes to visit her and realizes he thinks he could fit in in a university setting.

I found the book very sad, I think the boy's confusion about himself was portrayed adequately but I just don't understand why the character of the father had to be so cold and cruel.  I also don't know why they couldn't have told the boy about his condition sooner.  Was it because they didn't want to admit to the situation? I think the book could have included a bit more about the father's thoughts and the mothers.

I wonder if the appeal of the book was the unusual story, as I don't think the writing itself or the entire story were all that memorable. The story seemed to be about coming to terms with who you are, the father seems to have done this and the son near the end, but we don't see any such redemption/resolution for the mother.  I have to say I was disappointed in the book.  I spent more time asking "why" or "why not" than thinking "wow".