Book report.

      Somewhere around 1900 my uncle, Oscar, went to Alberta, Canada to homestead. Perhaps with the mantra "rain follows the plow" on successive years he planted wheat which withered for lack of rain. Eventually he gave up and returned back to Brookings County, SD., from which he'd left for Canada. In much the same way farmers in the 1880s tried to grow wheat in southern Australia with the same results as uncle Oscar. 

    This is the backdrop for the story of seven nights of a lost boy, told in 333 pages. The Sun Walks Down, (sunset) Fiona McFarlane, is the Parnassus Book Club Selection for February. There is much that makes its way into this book, including how Afghan cameleers treat constipation in camels and Krakatoa,  Ann Patchett said about it "...Down is the kind of book I'm always longing to find: brilliant, fresh and compulsively readable."

    McFarlane owes much to Knut Hamsun, 1859-1952, the Norwegian author who pioneered introspective novels focusing much on his character's internal life; see for example Mysteries or Hunger. Likely McFarlane knows this becasue she teaches at the University of California, Berkeley. In Down inner life, musings and feelings of the characters comprise much of the story, A final chapter, set in 1901, tells of the outcomes of many of the characters. The clergyman is portrayed as a pathetic character. What's that about? 

    I rate it five stars out of five.

Takk for alt,

Al

                                   Ya, then,,,