Happy new year!
I rejoice. After years of believing the fortunes of Chinese fortune cookies were obsolete, of thinking they had all been replaced by prosaic, faux Confucian sayings like "A wise man is one who keeps his mouth shut," I have been given hope. Taste of the Silk Road, on the Danforth, gives out fortune cookies with actual fortunes! And my fortune at dinner on Saturday: "Your present plans are going to succeed."
Music to the ears, when one plans on going to Africa for a year without a plan! Without a job! Flight to Cape Town to be booked tomorrow!!
So - last word on The Navigator of New York - I'm lukewarm on the book. What great settings: rough and raw Newfoundland, New York, the city of promise, and the isolation and purity of the Pole. But what a lack of character development. Devlin Stead acts as narrator, and he is used only to channel the story about Dr Frederick Cook's quest for the pole. Devlin, coming of age while besetted by the most trying of emotional situations; challenged constantly to define and redefine family, love, home and trust, and we learn so little of his growth and maturity. Good storyline, but a wasted opportunity to add a human dimension to the book.
My boyfriend's mother recommends Johnston's earlier book, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams. Any good?
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1 comment:
Good for people to know.
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