macCloud Falls

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Pub Date 31 Oct 2017 | Archive Date 15 May 2018
Luath Press | Luath Press Ltd

Description

macCLOUD FALLS is both an exploration of early Scottish colonisation of B.C., its ongoing impact, and a road-trip romance full of humour, rich characters and incident in the shadow of impending death, played out against the backdrop of the Vancouver Canucks vainglorious Stanley Cup run.

 

macCLOUD FALLS is both an exploration of early Scottish colonisation of B.C., its ongoing impact, and a road-trip romance full of humour, rich characters and incident in the shadow of impending...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781912147076
PRICE $29.95 (USD)

Average rating from 7 members


Featured Reviews

4 and 1 / 2 stars

What a wonderful, wonderful story.

Gilbert “Bert” Johnson is a cancer survivor from Edinburgh. He travels to the Vancouver, BC area to learn about a possible grandfather of his, a James “Jimmy” Lyle, the nephew of a wealthy self-made man named John MacLeod. Jimmy married a First Nations woman and learned the languages and brokered a treaty between the First Nations peoples and the British Colombian Prime Minister. He lived in a little log cabin with his wife high up in the mountains.

The wonderful thing about this book is not only the quality of the writing, but the descriptions of the beautiful scenery around the MacCloud Falls area. It was very interesting learning about the changes in the locale’s name and the different spellings of MacLeod, and how MacLeodsville became Cloud Falls. The history of the transportation and the people in the little village; I could see it all in my mind’s eye. I could smell the woods and see the rivers rushing downstream. The white man’s need to “Christianize” the First Nations peoples and the Scottish colonization of British Colombia are also discussed.

On the plane to Vancouver, he meets a woman who is also a cancer survivor. She may bear a slight resemblance to Sigourney Weaver, but she hates being asked if she’s Sigourney. She travels with her dog Hero. She receives a postcard from Bert as she returns home to Vancouver with a cryptic note on it. She rushes to Cloud Falls to make sure he is okay. While there, she happens across his journal and reads a fascinating story about herself – but not. She recognizes herself in the story, but is also surprised and a little uneasy that he seems to have changed the details of their meeting. She is also uncomfortable with how insightful Bert has been in talking about her.

The writing style of Mr. Jamieson is a little disconcerting. For someone who might like short to the point chapters and a lot of action, this book could be seen as being a little tedious. But once one gets used to the meandering and lyrical style of writing, the book draws the reader in. It is very well written and the use of language is wonderful. The descriptions in the book, whether talking about the scenery or people’s history, are beautiful and well-drawn. It was a joy to read and I’ll definitely be looking into more of Mr. Jamieson’s novels.

I want to thank NetGalley and Luath Press for forwarding to me a copy of this most wonderful and beautiful story for me to read and enjoy.

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The author is a Scot, and some of the words are spelled a wee bit differently than what we Americans are used to, and some of them are totally different, but they are fun, and easily understandable.

This is what I would call a 'gentle' book—no blood, no gore, no adrenaline. Gilbert Johnson, a dealer in antiquarian books lives in Edinburgh, has recently buried his mother, and undergone cancer treatment. He's travelled the world through his books, and thinks it's now time to do so for real. En route to British Columbia, to research an ancestor of his to write a book, he meets Veronika, who lives in Vancouver, BC, and they discover they are 'cancer twins.'

Gil takes a bus to the village where his ancestor lived, and sends Veronika a short, cryptic note on a post card. She drives to him, concerned about his health and safety, and they spend a week or so together while Veronika drives him around to meet and greet and conduct his research. This is a story of two damaged people learning trust again, learning to laugh again, learning to love again.

There is a lot of humor in this book, especially when people in the village decide Veronika is really Sigourney Weaver and Gil is her script writer, and the villagers convince themselves a movie will be made there soon and they will all get rich.

The book is in five parts, no chapters. I had no problem with that, but for people who are used to fast paced books and short chapters, it might be a tad disconcerting. My biggest complaint was near the 25% read area, when we were given a lot of the actual history of the people and area involved. While it was interesting, it really bogged down the story, and didn't help propel it along. It kind of reminded me of the Begats in the Bible. Hence, 4 stars instead of 5.

Highly recommend this book.

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