Canada

By: Richard Ford

Narrated by: Holter Graham

"First, I'll tell about the robbery our parents committed. Then about the murders, which happened later."

When 15-year-old Dell Parsons' parents rob a bank, his sense of normal life is forever altered. In an instant, this private cataclysm drives his life into before and after, a threshold that can never be uncrossed.

His parents' arrest and imprisonment mean a threatening and uncertain future for Dell and his twin sister, Berner. Willful and burning with resentment, Berner flees their home in Montana, abandoning her brother and her life. But Dell is not completely alone. A family friend intervenes, spiriting him across the Canadian border, in hopes of delivering him to a better life. There, afloat on the prairie of Saskatchewan, Dell is taken in by Arthur Remlinger, an enigmatic and charismatic American whose cool reserve masks a dark and violent nature.

Undone by the calamity of his parents' robbery and arrest, Dell struggles under the vast prairie sky to remake himself and define the adults he thought he knew. But his search for grace and peace only moves him nearer to a harrowing and murderous collision with Remlinger, an elemental force of darkness.

A true masterwork of haunting and spectacular vision from one of our greatest writers, Canada is a profound novel of boundaries traversed, innocence lost and reconciled, and the mysterious and consoling bonds of family. Told in spare, elegant prose, both resonant and luminous, it is destined to become a classic.

©2012 Richard Ford (P)2012 HarperCollinsPublishers

Disturbing but Literary

This book does what good literature is supposed to do: provoke thought. Anyone looking for a good time read to pass the time while driving should steer away from this one. Richard Ford's phrasing is often poetic here, and one gets the idea that he spent much time considering how to construct his narrative for maximum meaning. Destined to show up on English teachers' reading lists, the book provides substantial fodder for analysis and thought. Despite the disturbing and ultimately somewhat depressing events of Del's life, Holter Graham manages to create a sympathetic voice for the hero even though it recounts a life that few of us will envy.

Interesting and Well Told Story.

What made the experience of listening to Canada the most enjoyable?

Characters were well developed and story was interesting -- a true page-turnerDD

Who was your favorite character and why?

Dell. Ford developed character of young man put into most trying circumstances. Dell had integrity

Which character – as performed by Holter Graham – was your favorite?

Dell

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The development of the murders of the two men from Detroit.

Canada viewed by a 16 year old

Is there anything you would change about this book?

shorten the stream of consciousness descriptions

What could Richard Ford have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

limited the 16 year old's obsessive dwelling over and over on thoughts

Any additional comments?

An enjoyable book but too long and tedious.

extaordinary

Richard Ford has been a favorite of mine - and many - for years, but this novel is the best he has ever written. A spare and thoughtful meditation on time, family, history, mystery and their effects on a young boy, the book has a wonderful narration with just the right tone to capture the spare and beautiful language Ford uses. Only once in the past decade have I gone out and bought a book after listening to it and this is the one. I want to go back and reread it - savor the words and the images. The audio version helps imagine the openness of the skies, solitary and reflective nature of the book's protagonist, and it speaks to all who have painful memories and unanswered questions in our lives. And that would be all of us. A simply wonderful book.

Possibly my favorite Richard Ford!

I heard and related to every word! The young narrator drew me into his story, plan to share and suggest for book club!

As good as the NY Times said it was

I listen to audiobooks frequently and found this listening experience to be among the top: great story, wonderfully human characters -- warts and all, great descriptions of time and place. I thought Holter Graham's narration was outstanding: flow, dramatic touches, even his voice were right-on in his capture of the main character and reveal of the story.

A Unique and haunting novel.

The first lines of this book show us the “before and after” of an event which changed and vastly influenced the life of Dell Parsons, and his twin sister, Berner. "First, I'll tell about the robbery our parents committed. Then about the murders, which happened later." When the twins are fifteen, their parents, (immature and dysfunctional adults at the best of times) got the brilliant idea to rob a bank in a small town in order to get them out of debts to some dangerous people. The twins, who know nothing about this until after it happens, are abandoned as the parents are taken off to jail and ultimately convicted. Their mother did ask a friend to help them. Berner didn’t wait around for help but took herself off to San Francisco, but Dell was taken by this friend to Canada to live with her brother. He turned out to be a violent man who committed murder to rid himself of people coming to arrest him, and from there Dell’s life changes for the better. This is a haunting and well written story about events which happen, over which very young teenagers have no control, and how they each dealt with those events through the rest of their lives. It’s an excellent book.

Not what I expected

I had heard how wonderful this book was and it was good, just not what I had expected. It was a bit melancholy. The main character is interesting and tells his story well. A bit too sad for me but very well done.

An achingly beautiful book

This novel grabs you from the first surprising sentence to the last. The first half of the novel, in which the main character deals with his recollection of how his parents became bank robbers and how that affected his life, is both touching and suspenseful. Del, the main character, just wants to be the geek he is--chess club and raising bees!--but his parents' reckless decisions get in the way. The second half is less compelling, but still well done, as Del tries to adjust to his life as a lonely semi-adult on his own in Canada, surrounded by ambiguous characters.

The narration by Holter Graham is wonderful. He perfectly captures the longing and innocence of Del, as well as his sincerity and sense of character.

This is one of the best novels I have read in a long time. I had read Richard Ford's Independence Day and liked this one much better.

Plain-spoken poetry

If you could sum up Canada in three words, what would they be?

Plain spoken poetry

Any additional comments?

It has a way of gripping you once you give yourself over to its rhythm