Book 326: The Cure for Death by Lightning
This book reminded me in a lot of ways of The Power of the Dog. These are both subtle books, with the undercurrents of a story running below the real story, although this one is more overtly perverse. You get the sense that many of the characters in this book are actively, commit to the insane asylum crazy, and the whole book has a very spooky, kind of creepy feel.
I ended up reading this book in one setting, because I felt so pulled along by the story. There were parts of the book that totally horrified and disgusted me, and others that had a simple, aching beauty. I loved that even as this horrible story was unfolding, the characters went through the motions of their daily lives. While I was consumed by the story, they weren’t: they still had work to do, chores to finish, cows to milk.
It’s an interesting take on the Coyote myth, and a fascinating slice of life in rural Canada during the Second World War. This might just be the book of the month, because it was just that good, and I suspect that I will be reading it again in a few days to pull even more out of it.
Demographics:
The Cure for Death By Lightning, by Gail Anderson-Dargatz. Published 1996, 294 pages. Fiction.
Tags: book project