The Macken Charm - Softcover

Hodgins, Jack

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0771041853 ISBN 13: 9780771041853

Publisher: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1996

Synopsis

It's the summer of 1956, and Rusty Macken is eager to leave rural life on Vancouver Island for the mainland and university. He dreams of graduating to Hollywood and making movies. But escaping his large, rambunctious family will not be easy.
First, there's Glory's funeral to endure. This glamorous city girl who fell for the wildest Macken of them all has died in tragic circumstances, leaving behind a widower whose reputation for outrageous behaviour has everyone anxious to see what form his mourning will take.
Scores of Mackens and their relatives, neighbours, and friends assemble at the site of the burned-down seaside hotel that was once the family base. Here, at the picnic that follows the service in town (where Toby, the grieving husband, fails to burn down the chapel but manages to stir the entire town into an uproar) the mourners exchange tales of the beautiful city girl who never quite adapted to their country ways. Since many of the Mackens are great storytellers, their conversations revive a good deal of family history, including the time Glory arrived in the midst of an earthquake. But eventually it becomes clear that mere talk will never be enough. Some significant gesture must be made. Being Mackens, however, they don't know when to stop.
Rusty, who has his own reasons for mourning, may wish to escape his family but the demands of reckless Uncle Toby and the seductive events of Glory's funeral will not make it easy. By the time the sun comes up on the following day, Rusty may have participated in something of a miracle. At the very least, he will have been forced to confront the uneasy secrets of his own heart.

About this title

Review

"The Macken Charm proves [Jack Hodgins] to be one of the best writers of novels in this country...."
-Quill & Quire (starred review)

"The Macken Charm takes up the theme of the family with wild exuberance....Hodgins is a funny writer and, in the comic tradition of W.O. Mitchell, Paul Quarrington and other tall-tale spinners, he can make you laugh out loud. He can also make you cry and there lies the gift of the storyteller."
-Kitchener-Waterloo Record

"Written in flawless prose - word for word, Hodgins is one of the country's best writers...."
-Books in Canada

"It is a fine, funny, sad and readable [novel], a great yarn, the kind only an expert storyteller can produce...."
-Ottawa Citizen

"An engaging tribute to family and community and lost innocence."
-Montreal Gazette

"A rollicking novel...."
-Canadian Literature

"A joyous, vigorous, humorous novel that, in the best traditions of comedy, hovers precariously but purposefully on the brink of the tragic....The Macken Charm is a bravura performance, and deserves a wide readership."
-CBRA

"[Hodgins] brilliantly evokes time and place...."
-Vancouver Sun

"Entertaining....This is a colorful, imaginative story...."
-Winnipeg Free Press

"Hodgins has written a powerful novel about grief and beauty, about what has been lost and how to redeem yourself after failure."
-Ottawa X Press

About the Author

Jack Hodgins was born and raised on Vancouver Island. He taught Creative Writing at a number of Canadian universities, and retired from the University of Victoria in 2002.

He is the author of seven novels, including The Invention of the World; The Resurrection of Joseph Bourne, winner of the Governor General’s Award; The Macken Charm; Broken Ground, winner of the Ethel Wilson Prize for Fiction; and Distance; and three books of short stories, Spit Delaney’s Island, a finalist for the Governor General’s Award; The Barclay Family Theatre; and Damage Done by the Storm. He is also the author of A Passion for Narrative: A Guide for Writing Fiction.

Hodgins has been awarded the Canada-Australia Prize, among many others, has received three honorary degrees, and has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
From the Hardcover edition.

About this edition

• Publisher: McClelland & Stewart Inc.
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0771041853
• ISBN 13: 9780771041853
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320