The Sentimentalists
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Cornerstone
Published:5th Jan '12
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
The Giller prize-winning novel: an astonishing debut from a major new discovery
Haunted by the horrific events he witnessed during the Vietnam War, Napoleon Haskell is exhausted from years spent battling his memories. It is to Casablanca, on the shores of a man-made lake beneath which lie the remains of the former town, that Napoleon's youngest daughter also retreats when her own life comes unhinged.Haunted by the horrific events he witnessed during the Vietnam War, Napoleon Haskell is exhausted from years spent battling his memories. As his health ultimately declines, his two daughters move him from his trailer in North Dakota to Casablanca, Ontario, to live with the father of a friend who was killed in action. It is to Casablanca, on the shores of a man-made lake beneath which lie the remains of the former town, that Napoleon's youngest daughter also retreats when her own life comes unhinged. Living with the two old men, she finds her father in the twilight of his life and rapidly slipping into senility. With love and insatiable curiosity, she devotes herself to learning the truth about him; and through the fog, Napoleon's past begins to emerge.
Remarkable ... will stay with you long after you read the last page. -- Claire Messud
Deeply moving ... I was engrossed by the elegant plotting and intelligent writing ... I was, simply, moved to tears -- Patrick Ness * Guardian *
Rich, evocative prose reminiscent of Marilynne Robinson ... loaded with emotional resonance. * Observer *
Beautiful ... subtle, sharp and truthful * The Times *
An outstanding novel ... the emotional power is relentless. A sense of longing courses through the narrative, yet the irony of the title is well served; this is an intelligent, reserved novel, and is all the more moving for the restrained dignity that conveys not only the regrets but also the anger... an allusive, intelligent and solemn work -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times *
Sober, reflective, sometimes lyrical, always intelligently probing... remarkably accomplished for a first novel -- Allan Massie * Scotsman *
A probing exploration - now subtle, oblique, now forensic, scalpel-sharp - of the ramifications of a person's experience through the lives and relationships of those he loves. Of the way in which what we do, and witness, echoes through our lives, and the next generation's. -- Tim Pears
With its themes of memory and remembrance, presence and absence, it is a beguiling story that lingers in the liminal spaces between what is said and unsaid...This is a slender novel, but its dimensions belie how much it packs in...Skibsrud, an acclaimed poet, shows her talent for elegant economy in her slow layering of mood. Densely rich, her novel demands concentrated reading, but the result is often haunting, plumbing both the unreliability of memory and its characters' inner states with emotional immediacy. With its ghosts, its keen awareness of surface tension, and its nimble dips below, The Sentimentalists succeeds in hinting at the truth of a person's life, located somewhere in between the visible and invisible. * Sunday Times *
A beautiful tribute to a father-daughter relationship. * Globe and Mail *
The writing here is trip-wire taut as the exploration of guilt, family and duty unfold. * Giller Prize Jury *
ISBN: 9780099558361
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 16mm
Weight: 191g
256 pages