Books and Cooks: Fall On Your Knees

WE'RE READING:

I'M SERVING: SCOTCH EGGS

This one was a wild ride. Basically, take nearly every dysfunction you can think of, pack it into a dreary gray setting, stir, and allow to fester. I can totally understand why it was an Oprah pick--it's pretty dark. At the same time, there are some laugh-out-loud moments.

Fall On Your Knees is the story of the Piper family of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. James, a young Gaelic piano tuner, falls immediately for the underaged daughter of a prominent Lebanese businessman. Forced to marry when Materia is disowned by her father, they give birth to Kathleen, a vocal prodigy, serious and devout Mercedes, and Frances, a wild child. Clashing cultures and buried secrets propel the action, set during the early years of the 20th century.

Ann-Marie MacDonald has a lyrical style. Some passages are just gorgeous, and you can spot her theatrical origins in her dialogue and stage management. The narrative doesn't follow a specific time sequence, and since you're viewing the same events from multiple points of view, it's easy to get confused at the partial pictures you're being presented.

It's a thick read, complex throughout. I don't know that I'd attempt it again. Kind of like Canadian winter weather--grey. Unrelentingly grey, with flashes of sunshine. Just not enough of them to leaven what is, at the end, a heavy chew.