"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Smuggling Donkeys lacks nothing in largeness of thought or spirit. Helwig's sense of life's unpredictability/possibility grows more acute with each new book, and perhaps his novellas demonstrate this best. They are finely tuned explorations of flawed but redeemable human existence, intense and tender, buoyed by gentle humour and hope. And as the storyteller, he is a little like the comedian from silent film making you laugh and breaking your heart'. As Warren says of his new role in Tessa's play, Every single thing he tells the audience leaves out something else that there's no time to tell them or maybe no way to tell them, ' and yet we get it all: God's in his heaven, noticing things.' And Helwig, for whom it's about more than searching, continues to peel back the curtains, so that we too are noticing and truly seeing what's right under our noses. -- Ingrid Ruthig "Canadian Notes & Queries"
In the last few years, David Helwig, who lives in Prince Edward Island, has been quietly producing some of the best work of his lengthy literary career -- poetry, fiction, memoir. He's never more entertaining than he is in the novella form, and his three recent ones -- "The Stand-In" (2002), "Duet" (2004) and now "Smuggling Donkeys" -- are as funny and absorbing as anything you'll find in Canadian literature today.'--Dave Williamson "Prairie Books Now "
"Smuggling Donkeys" lacks nothing in largeness of thought or spirit. Helwig's sense of life's unpredictability/possibility grows more acute with each new book, and perhaps his novellas demonstrate this best. They are finely tuned explorations of flawed but redeemable human existence, intense and tender, buoyed by gentle humour and hope. And as the storyteller, he is a little like the comedian from silent film making you laugh and breaking your heart'. As Warren says of his new role in Tessa's play, Every single thing he tells the audience leaves out something else that there's no time to tell them or maybe no way to tell them, '' and yet we get it all: God's in his heaven, noticing things.' And Helwig, for whom it's about more than searching, continues to peel back the curtains, so that we too are noticing and truly seeing what's right under our noses.'--Ingrid Ruthig "Canadian Notes & Queries "
...[The theatre is the passion of protagonist Warren Thouless. A retired history teacher who once gave up a chance to tread the boards at Stratford, Warren is in his golden years rediscovering a passion for the stage. His wife Laura has just left him to practice yoga in India, leaving Warren susceptible to the wiles of former student Tessa Niles, who convinces him to buy an old deconsecrated church and open a theatre for her. It is fitting that as Laura embarks on a spiritual quest, Warren in living in this symbol of faithlessness; in truth, he has given his spiritual self over to drama and the words of his favourite playwrights. Warren's thoughts are often derived from his heroes like Thornton Wilder, William Shakespeare, and Anton Chekov, and it a testament to Helwig's skill that this does not make Warren insufferable.'
"... Smuggling Donkeys" ...[has an honest and truthful voice that makes Warren painfully real for the reader and maintains interest even when the story gets mired in Warren's self-loathing.'--Brenna Clarke Gray "Canadian Literature "
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Book Description Soft cover. Condition: New. 1st Edition. Original printed wraps. 96 pp. Octavo. Warren Thouless, recently retired teacher, long-retired actor, aspiring thinker, stuffed up in a small basement room that fell into disorder: that's how the narrator of Smuggling Donkeys sees himself. His wife has left him, gone off to someplace in India on a spiritual quest; now and then she sends a postcard. Impelled by some mixture of desolation and high spirits, Warren has let Tessa Niles, a talented and beautiful former student, talk him into buying a deconsecrated church to turn it into a theatre, and he struggles to survive a winter of solitude in the empty building, delivering a comic monologue to an audience of one. Gradually his life takes a new course. With Tessa's assistance he begins to revive his career as an actor. His life becomes its own kind of spiritual quest. Shakespeare and Chekhov and Thornton Wilder provide words for him to speak. The gods (in all their strange variety) hover. He ends his story on the brink of astonishing possibilities. Printed offset by Tim Inkster on the Heidelberg KORD at the printing office of the Porcupine's Quill in the Village of Erin, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada. Smyth sewn into 16-page signatures, with hand-tipped endleaves front and back. Seller Inventory # 9780889842946
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 87 pages. 8.75x5.75x0.50 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # 0889842949