The Saturday Night Ghost Club is on the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize shortlist. The Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize recognizes Canadian writers of exceptional talent for the year’s best novel or short story collection. The winner receives $50,000 and all finalists receive $5000.
https://www.writerstrust.com/awards/r...


Everything about this book is sheer perfection. From the Hardy Boys inspired cover, to the uneven edging of the pages, to the scenes of Canadiana - such as when twelve year old Jake "... was sitting on the sofa watching The Beachcombers..."

Reading this book is like taking a walk through my own Ontario childhood when children actually played outside, when kids could disappear for hours and explore places that today's helicopter parents would never dream of allowing their bubble-wrapped kids to go. It was a time when "bullying" was just a part of growing up. You had to either submit to it or learn to fight back.

"Suck it up, Buttercup," was more likely the parental response to any type of bullying during my childhood and that of Jake Breaker as opposed to what happens now - complaining to the teachers, the Principal, the School Board, and anyone who will listen and likely even posting about it on social media.

It was a time when you would have been mortified if your parents got involved. Kids learned to solve their own problems, or they didn't and if not, they ended up as perennial victims.

Craig Davidson takes the reader back to a time when imagination was King. A time before internet. You couldn't just Google information about anything you wanted to know. You asked your parents or if you were as lucky as the protagonist, you asked your "Strange Duck" Uncle.

The way the author describes Uncle Calvin is so vivid and so very detailed that readers are able to picture him vividly, from his height. "He was incredibly tall, or so he seemed back then. (I realize now that, at six foot three, he was not quite the fairytale giant who exists in my memory.) To the way he moved - "He moved awkwardly, as though threads were attached to his limbs, trailing up to a novice puppeteer. He claimed this was the result of his nerves failing to stretch down to his toes and fingertips..." To his teeth, hair and even the clothes he wears. Uncle C becomes as vital and real to the reader as he is to his nephew, Jake.

The tale is told through the memories of a now grown up Jake. He has become a neurosurgeon and tells us the story of one summer when he was a pre-teen. It was a summer in which he still believed in ghosts, ghouls and things that go bump in the night.

I was so wrapped up in this story that the world around me fell away and through the amazing talent of author Craig Davidson, I was transported into the story.

It takes a rare and exceptional talent to make me excited enough about a book that I feel compelled to tell everyone I meet about it. THE SATURDAY NIGHT GHOST CLUB is the best book I have read this year, and I have read many.

The descriptive power of words is on full display in this work of Literary Fiction. For example, read this:

"The girl was eight years old ... An MRI revealed a mass lodged near her pineal gland ... an aggressive form of cancer manifesting in children. She was booked into surgery immediately. My sucker wand transited the lobes of her brain, moving through sticky webs of glia - brain glue, as it is known in our racket - to arrive at the tumor, which lay anchored in her ocular nerve. The delicate procedure was like vacuuming caramelized sugar off a strand of spaghetti. The slightest misstep would snap the nerve and rob the girl of sight in that eye. I removed as much as felt safe before retreating."

Comparing author Craig Davidson to other authors would just not be fair. It would be like comparing a CB Radio to a Smart Phone. He is in a class by himself and is sure to win award after award for his writing.

I received a copy of this book from the Publisher and I am thankful to them for introducing me to this author. I need to get my hands on anything and everything else he has written. If those books are even half as good as this one, they are books I absolutely must read.

The rating system for books only goes to 5 Stars, but I believe this book warrants a higher rating, one that distinguishes it from all others, therefore, I rate The Saturday Night Ghost Club as 5+ out of 5 Stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

4.5 Stars

The Saturday Night Ghost Club is a fantastic, bittersweet coming-of-age story. It follows neurosurgeon Jake Breaker as he recalls the summer he turned twelve, which he spent with his eccentric Uncle Calvin and his first real friends. Together they create the Saturday Night Ghost Club to investigate some of the urban myths of Niagara Falls. While the majority of the book focuses on that summer, Jake’s experiences as a neurosurgeon are weaved into the story, for reasons that become very clear towards the end of the book.

This book is beautifully written and immersive. Davidson manages to capture childhood in a way that other books fail to do, and The Saturday Night Ghost Club is filled with genuine nostalgia and heartbreak, life lessons and hard truths about what it means to grow up. Don’t be fooled by the title or the cover – this is not a horror story or a story about ghosts (except for those that live within us). The ending of the book was incredible, and I truly hope that this book receives the recognition that it deserves.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada/Knopf Canada for providing me with a copy of The Saturday Night Ghost Club in exchange for an honest review.

Brilliant, compelling story, with wonderful relatable characters. I loved Cataract City and I loved The Saturday Night Ghost Club. Craig's writing is expressive, and eloquent, and such a pure joy to read.

The Saturday Night Ghost Club was a wonderful coming-of-age story. It tells the story of a neurosurgeon, Jake, who is looking back at the summer that he was twelve. It was an amazing and bittersweet time. That summer, in the Niagara Falls area, Jake meets his first real friend, falls in love for the first time, and comes to understand more about his uncle, Calvin, and the events that have shaped his uncle's way of life. This book had the whole shebang: beautiful writing, evocative of feelings of nostalgia and childhood memories, and a great story that was interconnected (the coming-of-age story connects with the cases of various patients that Jake has seen during his career as a neurosurgeon).

"Our memories change over time. Some of this change comes through aging. But a much greater part of the change has to do with how we want to remember. The more distant a memory becomes, the more our minds manipulate it. The reasons for this are multiple, but often render down to: I want to remember myself, my own history and the people I care for in this specific way. So, our brains oblige. .... Everything I've told you is true. Every word of it. But you must know this, too: I want it to be true. Everything in me wants that."

Thanks to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher, Penguin Random House Canada, for the opportunity to read a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Neurosurgeon Jake Breaker recalls a summer spent in Niagara Falls many years ago when along with two of his friends and his eccentric Uncle C, they formed the Saturday Night Ghost Club – a ragtag group of misfits who explored the urban myths of Cataract City.

The Saturday Night Ghost Club is a remarkable novel. Although it is set in the heart of the 1980s, it doesn’t resemble the current trend of mining nostalgia for a quick buck – characters aren’t quipping quotes from sci-fi movies or talking about the next great 8-bit video game on the horizon. Instead, this story focuses on memory and the power of the human mind to re-shape our own past for better or for worse – how the events of your life will shape and define you, even if you remember them differently than they happened.

As much as I loved Cataract City – and I would probably still consider that my favorite of Davidson’s books to date – The Saturday Night Ghost Club makes a strong case as his best written work. There are some passages and quotes within that absolutely blew me away. I fell hard for this story. There is some deep heartbreak on display here with characters who will stick with me for years to come. This isn’t a novel you let wash over you; it isn’t a beach read. It’s a story you find pieces of yourself in; similarities of the small town you grew up in and those who aged around you. The best comparison I can make would be to some of Stephen King’s more introspective work like The Body (Stand By Me), an author whom Davidson credits in his acknowledgements as someone who shaped his style early on in his life.

If I had it my way, I would just fill this review with passage after passage, but I feel I would just end up copy/pasting the entire novel which I don’t believe I’m allowed to do. The Saturday Night Ghost Club further establishes Craig as one of my favorite authors – this is not one you should miss.

This is such a wonderful coming of age story filled with nostalgia and beautiful imagery. Davidson is an incredibly talented author with some mad writing chops! While reading, I found myself constantly highlighting passages in this novel.

This is the kind of literary fiction that will appeal appeal also to genre readers, like myself. While not at all scary, this story has many elements a classic horror story, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Well constructed and tightly written, this short piece of fiction was the perfect length and a joy to read. I highly recommend this gorgeous piece of Canadian literature to a wide range of readers..

I received a copy from the publisher.

In The Saturday Night Ghost Club, a neurosurgeon named Jake reflects on his twelfth summer, when his odd duck of an uncle leads him and a few friends in forming the club. What follows is a summer of terrifying romps, strengthening relationships, and ultimately, growing up. Sprinkled throughout the narrative, the adult Jake recounts neurosurgical experiences and anecdotes about the brain, which are meaningfully connected to the plot by the end of the book.

This book is short and entertaining, but it also packs some literary punch to be pondered. Davidson has a way with words that is a pleasure to read. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the ARC. I really enjoyed it.