ANNE MICHAELS
A beautifully written, poetic phrases pour from the pages, but plot wise unsatisfying novel. It me against the critics on this one. VAULT has been longlisted for the Giller Prize. The background to this poetry are the dam building projects in Quebec in the 50’s and Egypt in the 60’s. Perenial problem is what do we do with the people whose land is flooded. Avery is an engineer in both projects. He met his wife Jean on the former and lost her during the later. All is well at this point but three-quarters into the story Michaels interjects a new character into the mix and fogets about Avery until the last few pages. She has an affair with an old man, an artist. And a new background Warsaw pre, during and post WWII. What Avery thinks or how he feels is not there which creates a large gap in the tapestry of Vault.
Quote: “–Please go. His words turned her cold. But he did not let go. She gradually felt her longing was not separate from his. The slow, impossible, surrender to what was true. He did not let go, and in this union, his confession of aloneness was as close to love as all that had yet passed between them; as close as love is to the fear of love.”
Read it for the language. Forgive the breach in the tapestry.
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