Comments on: Cities of Refuge, by Michael Helm

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Tue, 11 May 2010 21:05:28 +0000

Shelley: Canadian ecologists tend to be whining more about oil sands than offshore drilling (we haven’t had any bad experiences on that front) so I don’t have anything to report.

By: Shelley

Shelley — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:27:16 +0000

I don’t visit many Canadian blogs, and (off-topic, sorry), as I read your interesting posts, in the background on TV I’m hearing the CEO’s of BP and Halliburton defending what they did in the oil spill…and I’m wondering whether Canadian ecologists have weighed in on this disaster.

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Tue, 11 May 2010 16:12:09 +0000

Max: My copy was 400 pages and the type was pretty large and spaced out — it felt like less. I think Helm simply became too engrossed in the possibilities of his story rather than what he could deliver.
Tom: There is an excellent book to be written about 21st century Toronto and someone will eventually do it. This novel represents a start, but only a start.

By: Tom Cunliffe

Tom Cunliffe — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:35:16 +0000

I think the key word in that review is “complex”, or perhaps “over complex”. Some authors try to cram in a little too much and end up with a lack of flow and forward movement. It sounds like this one is juggling too many balls in the air, although I can see why the Toronto theme is of interest to you. A great review which certainly lets me know what this book is all about!

By: Max Cairnduff

Max Cairnduff — Tue, 11 May 2010 12:43:45 +0000

About the time you asked if I had the impression there might be too much plot, I was starting to get a little lost following the review. Nice timing Kevin, there did indeed just seem to be too much going on for one novel.

How big a book is it? Is it one of those huge 600 page plus state of the nation affairs? I can see if one were in the right mood that might give space for this kind of scope, with less I would fear it could get cluttered (as it seems to).

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Sun, 09 May 2010 19:06:37 +0000

kimbofo: I did wonder as I was reading it whether, if I had been more enrolled in one of the story lines, that would have pulled the rest of them along. As it was, I felt that Helm would have to turn from one to another just when I was getting interested — the result being that I always felt distanced from the book and found it increasingly frustrating. It is an ambitious book and not without merit, despite its shortcomings.

By: kimbofo

kimbofo — Sun, 09 May 2010 18:01:59 +0000

Before I’d even got to that part in your review where you ask “are you getting the impression that perhaps there is just a bit too much plot here?” I was thinking that were an awful lot of balls being juggled in the air. It sounds like a rather ambitious novel, but an interesting one nonetheless.