This is a brilliant and engrossing portrait of a fragile American family and the fragile consciousness of a teenage boy. It is also fascinating in the way it reveals the plot in the opening page and then winds backwards, offering a more and more intimate version of the story. (Colm Toibin)Pure vocal grace, quiet humor, precise and calm observation. (The New Yorker)[Canada]confirms his position as one of the finest stylists and most humane storytellers in America his most elegiac and profound book (Washington Post)Robust and powerful Ford is able to tap into something momentous and elemental about the profound moral chaos behind the actions of seemingly responsible people Ford has dramatized the frightening discovery of the worlds anarchic heart. (Wall Street Journal)A triumph of voice.... The writing... is spare, but heartbreaking. (USA Today)Richard Ford returns with one of his most powerful novels yetFord has never written betterCanada is Richard Fords best book since Independence Day, and despite its robbery and killings it too depends on its voice, a voice oddly calm and marked by the spare grandeur of its landscape. (Daily Beast)Awe-inspiring The laconic, grief-stricken voice of Dell, looking back on his past, trying to make some kind sense of what happened when his family imploded, keeps you turning pages, as do the quiet, thought-provoking revelations that Ford drops in throughout. (O, the Oprah Magazine)Told in Fords exquisitely detailed, unhurried proseFord is interested here in the ways snap decisions can bend life in unexpected directions... Canadas characters grapple with this... and the answers they come up with define the rest of their lives, along with this quietly thoughtful book. (Entertainment Weekly)Masterly in Fords American tragedy, filled with lost innocence and inevitable violencea rusting carnival, a rabbit caught in a coyotes jawsgeography feels a lot like fate. (Vogue)One of the most memorably heartbreaking novels of the year. (Christian Science Monitor)[Fords] newest novel Canada, shows an artist in full command of his craftsparsely elegant and bracingly direct, with a refreshing lack of irony or tricks. (Mens Journal)MarvelousCanada is a masterpiece of a story with rich language and dialogue filled with suspense, bleakness, human frailties and flaws, and a little bit of hope seen through the eyes of an adolescent boy whose emotions seem often aligned with the desolate landscape of its setting. (The Oregonian (Portland))A must-read. . . . Canada reminds us why Ford is considered one of this countrys most distinguished writers. (St. Paul Pioneer Press)[A] deeply felt and magnificently imagined workWith Canada, Ford has given us his deepest exploration yet of weakness and betrayal set amid a boys coming of age. It is a memorable novel, suffused with love, sorrow and regret. (Austin American-Statesman)[A] novel about big truths told by a writer with clear visionsolid, satisfying craftsmanship. This is a Richard Ford novel in the tradition of his earlier work. It also is a coming-of-age story, and a story about the discovery of identity. (Washington Independent of Books)From the Back CoverWhen fifteen-year-old Del Parsons' parents rob a North Dakota bank, his normal life is altered forever, and a threshold is crossed that can never be uncrossed. His parents' imprisonment threatens a turbulent and uncertain future for Del and his twin sister, Berner. Fierce with resentment, Berner flees their Montana home for California. But Del is not completely abandoned. A family friend spirits him across the Canadian border toward safety and a better life. There, afloat on the Saskatchewan prairie, Del finds only cold refuge from Arthur Remlinger, an enigmatic and alluring American fugitive with a dark and violent past.Undone by the calamity of his parents' robbery, Del struggles to remake himself. But his search for grace only moves him nearer to a harrowing and murderous collision with the forces of darkness that shadow us all.A true masterwork of haunting and spectacular vision from one of our greatest writers, Canada is a profound novel of boundaries traversed, innocence lost and reconciled, and the mysterious and consoling bonds of family. Told in spare, elegant prose, both resonant and luminous, it is destined to become a classic.About the AuthorRichard Ford is the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of the Bascombe novels and the New York Times best-selling Canada and Let Me Be Frank With You. He is the author of the renowned stories collections Rock Springs and A Multitude of Sins. He is the 2016 recipient of the Princess of Asturias Award for Literaturein Spain, and lives in East Boothbay, Maine, with his wife Kristina Ford. how can i read google books for free Canada
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A boy's lonely heartBy Kathleen M CoadyDell survived in a way few of his age could have under the circumstances. He made a life from emptiness and loss as he struggled to be true to himself. That he held onto who he was and built a life he could embrace is quiet proof of his strength and determination. Somewhere inside him there must have remained that boy who longed for a solid, secure, loving family and home. With all that, he brought what he could to his life through his marriage and his teaching and carved out a place of relative peace and love. Sadly, his twin sister was unable to achieve her peace until almost the end of her life. Apparently, she didn't possess that inner core of self-awareness that bolstered Dell throughout all that ensued in their lives. Somehow, I believe she found what she needed as she faced her death and came to an understanding of her life.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A True Tour de ForceBy MadDog2020I recommend Canada by Richard Ford. The author is a Pulitzer winner who certainly shows his skill as a writer as he presents this story of an amazingly dysfunctional family--a mother and father who probably should never have gotten together and a brother and sister who suffer an unusual estrangement. When he describes events you feel as though you are there--in the room--with the characters. It is very humbling reading someone like him; he layers the plot like tissues tied together. Early on he tells you what happens much later and then goes back and fills in details without becoming his own spoiler. The details he fills in enable the story to grow organically, becoming ever more rich as you progress through the book. I rate this novel higher than his well-written trilogy.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. An offbeat story that makes you think about lifeBy judy wileyA compelling read. Thoughtful and weird at the same time. Full of words to live by from strange sources. With the exception of Dell, who tells his tale, the men in the novel are all seriously flawed and the women are much less so. The women support Dell, whereas the men try to corrupt him in some way. I want to read more of this author.