"Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club"

Canada Reads 2020

   This is the last book that I read in the list of five books for Canada Reads.  And this was the most difficult for me.  To be blunt, I saw no redeeming feature in this novel.

   Here is the dedication:

"I wrote this for myself.  And the beautiful vicious island that makes and unmakes us.  This might hurt a little.  Be brave."

  The whole novel takes place in a restaurant in St. John's, Newfoundland.  It is stream-of-consciousness writing, taking place in one day - one long, long, long day.

  It did not hurt to read it.  It made me sick, sad and depressed.

  The author is trying to reflect on the exploitation and oppression of women.  Much of the writing is metaphoric and you wonder what is really happening.  In fact, there is very little plot- only sexual predators and violence.

  I have read about the 'Ikea effect' in literature- the idea that people are more engaged with narratives that they've helped assemble themselves".  And it takes the whole, long book to figure out who each of the many characters are and what they are doing.  It is a novel that you have to assemble by yourself.

  And is it worth it?  Not for me!  There are some sentences that are lovely, but what did they mean?  Who are they talking about?

   The only thing that is really clear is the violent scene near the end.  And it was horrible.  I realize that the author wants to focus on the abuse of women, but is this the way to do it?

   There was more abhorrent language in this novel than I have heard in a lifetime.