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 Virtual
Clearcut or, The Way Things Are In My Hometown
by Brian Fawcett
Book review by Ralph Maud
This is a disappointing book, and author Brian Fawcett knows it. He presents
it as such.
At first we are allowed to think it's going to be a hard-hitting documentary,
an expose of gigantic malfeasance in the clearcutting of 53,000 hectares in the
Bowron Valley, near Fawcett's family homestead in Prince George, BC. Then, halfway
through, when we realize that no horror story is unfolding, there is the suspense
of how the author will bring the book to conclusion without one. In the end we
have to accept that truth is a lot less exciting than fiction could have been.
Having got that thwarted expectation out of the way, however, we can pick around
in the rubble of sheer honesty for the rewards of pages that most authors would
have thrown away. Fawcett painstakingly introduces us to the friends and acquaintances
of his early years in Prince George, puzzling over how they have changed or stayed
the same. These "mute, inglorious" W.O. Mitchells are not funny. We
too are forced to a level of sensitivity where we have to take pains.
There are moments when Prince George becomes an allegory of globalization's destruction
of the local. If Fawcett had done what we know he is capable of doing, taking
the evidence in front of him back on a clearcut path to its causes in the mechanisms
of our abominable fin-de-siecle capitalism, this would have prime relevance. He
does do it sporadically, but mostly through the taped expostulations of people
who want to have a say, and it turns out to be cracker-barrel only, or indeed
"virtual."
What I miss is the chutzpah of the storyteller himself. The young Fawcett was,
as we knew him at Simon Fraser, the most engaging and high-minded of hucksters.
In this book he says, "I've since become a man who never does sales pitches"
(P. 167) Not quite accurate-but his one pitch in Virtual Clearcut is merely the
unadorned truth, which, when there is not that exuberance that Prince George once
gave him, is a sad, tattered truth indeed..."All I've ever seen is river
silt and sewage mixed with effluent from the pulp mills," says Fawcett's
best friend, looking at the Fraser River (p. 244).
Virtual Clearcut or, The Way Things Are In My Hometown is from Thomas Allen
Publishers, 2003.
 Treasure
Forest by Cat Bordhi
Book review by Catherine Chapman
This novel begins with a grandmother's death. As Ben and Sara, our young teenaged
protagonists, grapple with this event, they come to understand that life is a
treasure to be cherished.
Grandma Daphne lived on the edge of a forest; a mysterious forest full of excitement
for Ben and Sara, unknown terror for their mother. After Daphne's death,
the family consisting of Ben, Sara, and their reluctant parents, move to the grandmother's
house and begin to explore their feelings for the forest and each other.
Beyond the swamp lives Daggett, a fierce and determined hermit with a score to
settle. Bordhi weaves a gripping tale of adventure and mystery, at its centre
a difficult riddle. A cast of quirky characters sparkle with life and grow as
the plot develops. Elements of spirituality, self-realization and the power of
now are effortlessly incorporated. The effect is subtle yet substantive. One is
left with an openness and emotional growth without feeling like it's been
a lesson.
Treasure Forest, aimed primarily at the young adult audience, will appeal to people
of all ages. It was a little difficult to get into at the beginning, made up as
it is of short sections with perspectives that jump around, but well worth the
effort. The characters are interesting and likeable, realistic yet unreal enough
to allow for magic and mystery. At times almost scary, this book is a real page-turner;
while at the same time, important teachings and values are presented in a way
that is both understandable and enlightening.
Namaste Publishing, 2003
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