by Thomas King
This book starts with a young man, a scientist, planning to commit suicide by drowning himself on the BC coast. He is part native Canadian and is drumming and singing as the water rises around him. However, rather than drowning he actually seems to rescue a young girl and other people from the water.
We learn that the young man feels responsible for a terrible environmental tragedy that occurred in the area. He had been partly responsible for a foliage reduction chemical that was used incorrectly. It devastated the water, trees and killed local people including the residents of a local Indian village.
The young man Quinn is befriended by Nicholas Crisp, a strange talking, very hyper individual, who rents him a trailer to live in. He also meets a young artist and a young mentally retarded boy who lives at the local (now abandoned) motel.
Meanwhile in Toronto we meet Quinn`s former boss, Dorian. Dorian is enjoying living the high life, buying expensive clothes and jewellery. He feels no remorse for the devastation. He seems to be ill but keeps on with his acquisitiveness. He is very annoyed that his employee Quinn is AWOL. He is also annoyed because a ship that was supposed to be taking the bad chemicals to storage has also gone AWOL. He is somewhat less annoyed when his wife, who had been bugging him to buy property in Florida, announces that she wants a divorce (she has a lover).
As the story goes on we learn that Quinn's family was living in Lethbridge but his father decided to take an assignment in the U.S. Quinn went with him, but while she said she would follow later his mother and his sister never join them. Quinn's father is killed on duty. Quinn completes his education in Minnesota and then finishes off in Stanford. He did not keep in touch with his mother nor sister. We find out that Quinn's mother and sister and his nephew were living in the native village where the pollution occurred so he is doubly devastated, hence his desire to kill himself.
Quinn later learns that the young artist, Mara, also suffers from guilt. She had left the village to study art, against the wishes of her mother and grandmother. She didn't return often and she wasn't there when the devastation occurred. He is shocked to learn that Mara knew both his sister and her best friend.
The young retarded boy keeps scouring the shore for "treasures". His father isn't around but he keeps thinking about what his father would say or what his father would have wanted him to do. Sonny survives through the assistance of his uncle, Nicholas. He decides that he will build a tower on the beach from scraps he finds and things he steals.
Mara decides to move back into her Grandmother's house. Shortly after she settles in she is visited by a number of strangers who join her in a big meal.
The area had been famous for turtles coming to hatch their eggs. Since the devastation there is little sign of wildlife. But one day a bird is seen in the sky and a sea turtle is spotted laying eggs. Could it be that the area is recovering?
Then we find out that the strangers who arrived at Mara's for the meal, are the same people that Quinn thought were ghosts who came out of the water. They did indeed come from the water. They escaped from the ship carrying the bad chemicals. Soon there is a high tide and the ship threatens to run aground on the beach.
They manage to direct it away.... but..... what will happen next? We are not told....
This was a great book. I really enjoyed the cantankerous, strange characters and the interesting plot. I like King's sense of humour and his language, a very storytelling voice. I was sorry when the story was over.
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