by Sandra BirdsellRandom House
~ Review in Halifax Herald, October 2010
Joe owns what has been a successful motor home business. He sells RV’s and generally makes a good living for himself and his wife, Laurie.
Laurie, on the other hand, spends money faster than Joe can make it. Their lines of communication are stretched tautly as credit cards get rejected and bank accounts depleted.
The day finally comes when it’s all gone. Their house, their possessions and their self worth are sold, at a yard sale, to the bank. Joe and Laurie find themselves living in a stolen RV in a Walmart parking lot.
One morning, Joe leaves for the day and Laurie’s “premonition she had in Clara’s boutique was real. Joe was gone.” Laurie finds herself alone, without money and very much without the continued support of the Walmart staff, whose initial kindness is stretched as they realize the RV squatters could become less than temporary.
Joe and Laurie both reach a pivotal moment in their separate lives, about the same time as the novel itself. Waiting for Joe takes time to ease into the story. It follows the parallel lives of Laurie, Joe and Alfred, Joe’s father who lives in a Winnipeg nursing home remembering the past and clinging to his elusive present. Waiting for Joe is as much about Joe’s crisis of confidence as it is about Laurie struggling to find the strength within herself to go on alone. Her successes are small, but cheer-worthy as she takes baby steps on a new path, finding strength and assistance in unlikely places. “The goodwill embodied in a prayer goes somewhere, and like a moth, finds a source of light.”
Sandra Birdsell grew up in a large family in Winnipeg. Her short stories and novels have garnered several awards, including the prestigious Marion Engel Award. She now gardens and writes in Saskatchewan.
