by Michael CrummeyDoubleDay Canada
~ Review in Halifax Herald, November 2009
With a new twist on the story of Jonah and the whale, Michael Crummey embarks on an extravagant history of the fictitious community of Paradise Deep, Newfoundland. Two families are feuding, fractious differences which have lasted many generations and involve careful maneuvering and politicking. Galore follows the intrinsically linked lives of the inhabitants of Paradise Deep, moving effortlessly back and forth through time, an epic tale that is at times magical , and sometimes unimaginably hard.
When Judah arrives unceremoniously in Paradise Deep, literally spewed from the belly of a beached whale, the community gathers to watch and wonder, never for a moment believing such a person could survive. But he does, and the people of Paradise Deep open their arms, if not their hearts, to the pale, mute stranger. His arrival alters the community of Paradise Deep forever.
While Galore is an epic story of love and family, it also places the ever struggling Newfoundland fishery in an historical context which traces the rise to power of the FPU, the fisherman’s union which faced fierce opposition by the Catholic Church. When fish prices “collapsed with the glut of high-grade fish dumped on the European market,” the ramifications are harsh and immediate. “The same fool’s-gold story played out across the country, the same crushing disappointment.... it was a bleak lesson, to be blessed with plenty only to learn that abundance could be a tool of destitution, and all through that fall people abandoned the shore.”
Crummey conjures a vision of Newfoundland that is ancient and steeped in traditions, visions of mummers, and ghosts that will not be denied. Galore moves effortlessly back and forth through generations. There are many players, all central to the story and seldom does one take centre stage for long. This ability to tell a story through history and through the community itself is no small feat. That Crummey allows the story to unfold organicallywithin this ever changing context is in itself remarkable. That he is able to “navigate the complications of one generation and the next” and hook his readers from the opening pages is the mark of a truly talented writer. Crummey’s new book shines.
Michael Crummey is the author of three books of poetry, a collection of short stories and three novels. He lives in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
