- Paperback: 368 pages
- Publisher: Vintage; New edition edition (3 Mar 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099458942
- ISBN-13: 978-0099458944
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 13 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,301,930 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
PRAISE FOR SOME GREAT THING
"A powerful, poetic, bawdily funny, and tenderly sad novel about class, about love, about drink, about poetics, about land, and about money-a few of the salient things that life and history are made of." -O, THE OPRAH MAGAZINE
"This brash, ribald first novel bursts with energy and spirit . . . Some Great Thing is a boisterous, uncompromising debut."-ESQUIRE
"A powerful, poetic, bawdily funny, and tenderly sad novel about class, about love, about drink, about poetics, about land, and about money-a few of the salient things that life and history are made of." -O, THE OPRAH MAGAZINE
"This brash, ribald first novel bursts with energy and spirit . . . Some Great Thing is a boisterous, uncompromising debut."-ESQUIRE
Book Description
A thrillingly original debut novel, with the same epic emotional grandeur as The Great Gatsby.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The bull-dozing, digging, grading, and construction in Ottawa in the 1970s serve as metaphors for the ambitions and dreams of two men, whose parallel lives exist on completely different planes until they briefly intersect at the height of their careers. Jerry McGuinty, an up-by-the-bootstraps contractor comes from a family of plasterers, a man dedicated to giving good product for a good day's work. Simon Struthers, the wealthy son of one of the "Mandarins" of Ontario, on the other hand, is a powerful administrator in the National Capital Division, an independent division of government formed in 1899 to plan the land use within Canada's capital. While Jerry sees land as offering unlimited possibilities of houses, malls, and golf courses, Simon sees land as a resource to be conserved, not for the sake of conservation so much as to keep the demand high, his own power intact, and his importance enhanced.
Jerry's unpretentious and ungrammatical story alternates with that of Simon, and their paths cross when Jerry sets out to build a subdivision that will surround a golf course. As Jerry's business becomes almost totally hamstrung by the red tape at the Capital Division, his home problems intensify with his wife's alcoholism and infidelity, along with his son's alienation and resentment. Simon, unable to make any sort of commitment in his private life, also delays action on Jerry's permits.
McAdam has tried to make the construction industry an exciting subject for a novel by focusing on the emotionally limited characters in the story, rather than on the industry itself. Unfortunately, Simon Struthers, one of the main characters, is a cipher with whom the reader will develop little, if any, genuine connection, while Jerry McGuinty commands our full attention and emotional involvement. With the point of view alternating between Jerry and Simon, the author creates scenes reminiscent of one-act plays, often filled with humor and irony, and inspiring the reader's empathy with Jerry. Several scenes consist entirely of dialogue and are easy to imagine on stage, but these dialogues also remind the reader of the inanities with which we pepper our everyday conversations, and some readers may become impatient with this conversational "filler." Ultimately, the novel focuses on the idea of land as potential, a parallel for the goals and dreams of the characters, which for Jerry is "something big you can walk right past...your modest contribution to the bigness of the world." Mary Whipple
Format:Paperback
This novel describes the lives of two distinctly different characters. Jerry McGuinty is a builder/plasterer who apparently doesn't understand the principles of emotion. Simon Struthers is a civil servant working in the Planning Division. His life is full of longing but it seems he never finds emotional warmth.
Both of their lives come together late in the book when Jerry is planning a golf course on the green belt, and Simon is trying to block the development.
The book is based on chapters alternating between the two main protagonists, thus creating views from their different lives.
What impressed me most is the apparent lack of emotional stability of the lives. Jerry's relationship with an alcoholic woman who sells sandwiches at the building sites is at times hilarious, but more often than not, it portrays an emotional sadness, suggesting the characters don't know what they are doing. She gets pregnant and Jerry decides to call his son Jerry. The ensuing monosyllabic dialogues are comical but, again, they show a deep-seated uneasiness as to how to converse with your son.
Simon, incidentally, has one relationship after the other. Constantly thinking of other women, unitl he finds his match. Then the narrative changes and he seems to understand.
Overall I found this novel tells a lot about how those two characters view their priorities without noticing what is really important. I believe that most of us are guilty of being unable to stop and look at our lives. Instead we get on with our material lives.
It certainly is an astonishing read, almost like a mixture between Forest Gump and Vernon God Little
Both of their lives come together late in the book when Jerry is planning a golf course on the green belt, and Simon is trying to block the development.
The book is based on chapters alternating between the two main protagonists, thus creating views from their different lives.
What impressed me most is the apparent lack of emotional stability of the lives. Jerry's relationship with an alcoholic woman who sells sandwiches at the building sites is at times hilarious, but more often than not, it portrays an emotional sadness, suggesting the characters don't know what they are doing. She gets pregnant and Jerry decides to call his son Jerry. The ensuing monosyllabic dialogues are comical but, again, they show a deep-seated uneasiness as to how to converse with your son.
Simon, incidentally, has one relationship after the other. Constantly thinking of other women, unitl he finds his match. Then the narrative changes and he seems to understand.
Overall I found this novel tells a lot about how those two characters view their priorities without noticing what is really important. I believe that most of us are guilty of being unable to stop and look at our lives. Instead we get on with our material lives.
It certainly is an astonishing read, almost like a mixture between Forest Gump and Vernon God Little
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
8 reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
For those interested in "New School" fiction...
12 Mar 2004
Format:Hardcover
"Some Great Thing" is a well-above average piece of writing and an absorbing story (at least the sections that involve Jerry). It far exceeds most debut fiction. The most compelling sections integrate the growing pains of rapidly expanding Ottawa in the 70's with the much more excruciating pain of a family breaking apart due to neglect and alcohol abuse. Listening (and that's fairly accurate given the narrative style) to Jerry, with his rough workday speech, describe his ascent from blue-collar plasterer to real estate empire-maker is mesmerizing. The hints of familial disaster that surface early in the book suggest something in sharp contrast to Jerry's sturdy construction projects. Ideas about the city, the neighborhood, Jerry's family, and Jerry himself are beautifully intertwined.
The other prominent storyline is not as memorable. Maybe it's just the subject matter - a self-absorbed, womanizing bureaucrat well practiced in the art of governmentspeak. We get no clear vision of Simon (he doesn't really have a clear idea of himself so maybe that's the point). His delusional obsession with Kwyet and his vacillations over the future of the park don't inspire the same passion as Jerry's singleminded drive to leave his mark on the world, at the expense of his family.
Overall, I would recommend this book for those who read regularly, particularly if you enjoy exploring "modern" narrative techniques and are willing to take a chance with a newly published writer.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Working Class Great Gatsby
10 April 2004
Format:Hardcover
This is simply one of the finest novels - first or fifth - to be published in the english language in many years. My friends from Canada have been raving about it and I'll admit I was skeptical as I approached (anything with that much advance hype tends to disappoint). But the book exceeds all expectations. It's a sensation in Canada for a reason: it's brilliant, utterly original and a brave braid of two completely different voices within a complicated, sophisticated story structure. At the center is Jerry - big hearted, powerful and ambitious. At his side is Cathleen - boozy, tragic and crazy (a gritty Daisy Buchanan). Their rise and fall - all told in dizzying prose - is the stuff of great literature. Colin McAdam is without a doubt one of the most talented writers on the planet today. After the prizes inevitably reign down on this book, McAdam will be a household name. I can't wait to see what he does next.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
"Dirt's the future, not the past. Change, move, use it."
11 April 2004
Format:Hardcover
The bull-dozing, digging, grading, and construction in Ottawa in the 1970s serve as metaphors for the ambitions and dreams of two men, whose parallel lives exist on completely different planes until they briefly intersect at the height of their careers. Jerry McGuinty, an up-by-the-bootstraps contractor comes from a family of plasterers, a man dedicated to giving good product for a good day's work. Simon Struthers, the wealthy son of one of the "Mandarins" of Ontario, on the other hand, is a powerful administrator in the National Capital Division, an independent division of government formed in 1899 to plan the land use within Canada's capital. While Jerry sees land as offering unlimited possibilities of houses, malls, and golf courses, Simon sees land as a resource to be conserved, not for the sake of conservation so much as to keep the demand high, his own power intact, and his importance enhanced.
Jerry's unpretentious and ungrammatical story alternates with that of Simon, and their paths cross when Jerry sets out to build a subdivision that will surround a golf course. As Jerry's business becomes almost totally hamstrung by the red tape at the Capital Division, his home problems intensify with his wife's alcoholism and infidelity, along with his son's alienation and resentment. Simon, unable to make any sort of commitment in his private life, also delays action on Jerry's permits.
McAdam has tried to make the construction industry an exciting subject for a novel by focusing on the emotionally limited characters in the story, rather than on the industry itself. Unfortunately, Simon Struthers, one of the main characters, is a cipher with whom the reader will develop little, if any, genuine connection, while Jerry McGuinty commands our full attention and emotional involvement. With the point of view alternating between Jerry and Simon, the author creates scenes reminiscent of one-act plays, often filled with humor and irony, and inspiring the reader's empathy with Jerry. Several scenes consist entirely of dialogue and are easy to imagine on stage, but these dialogues also remind the reader of the inanities with which we pepper our everyday conversations, and some readers may become impatient with this conversational "filler." Ultimately, the novel focuses on the idea of land as potential, a parallel for the goals and dreams of the characters, which for Jerry is "something big you can walk right past...your modest contribution to the bigness of the world." Mary Whipple
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