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Author: Gil Adamson

Publisher: House of Anansi Press

ASIN: B000RW4C1V 

I’ll freely admit that I’m usually a bit skeptical of Canadians and not just the French speaking ones either. This cynicism first emerged a few years ago while I was backpacking through Europe. During that trip, I noticed them parading around everywhere with little, red maple leaf patches stitched to their backpacks. They did this, of course, so people didn’t confuse them for Americans. This is fair enough because Canadians are generally better received other places than Americans are; but, it never seemed entirely just that the world treats Canada like the queen of the international prom. After all, you’re probably wondering what’s so great about Canada. Well, without, probing too deeply into the intricacies of international affairs, Canada is essentially loved, the world over, because they’re seen as being just like The United States, only without our foreign policy which we might euphemistically term ‘unpopular.’ However, what is often overlooked, including by me, is that Canada offers a unique creativity and sensibility that is distinct from its neighbor to the South and worthy of international attention of its own. Toronto based publisher, House of Anansi Press understands this well and has scored a literary success with their new release, Gil Adamson’s debut novel, The Outlander.

            Set at the dawn of the twentieth century in the lonely expanses of Western Canada the novel begins, in medias res with a mesmeric dog hunt of nineteen year old Mary Boulton, anti-heroine of the story, who has just widowed herself with the squeeze of a trigger. Narrowly escaping this initial chase, Mary flees westward in a desperate attempt to evade justice and its agents, the twin brothers of her murdered husband. As she flees, Mary manages several times to find temporary asylum; but, self-preservation constantly propels her onward in an odyssey of misadventure and mental anguish that nearly kills her. Mary’s flight ultimately leads her to a remote mining village where she begins to find security and normalcy once more, until calamity strikes the town in a poignant symbolic manifestation of the emotional burden of her past and the weigh of her cardinal misdeed.

Throughout Mary’s journey, Adamson painstakingly reveals to the reader a haunting exposition feed to them as through the slow drip of an IV. This exposition is doled out in masterful proportions that continually pique the reader’s interest as it forms the characterization of a protagonist so doomed and anathematized the reader is mesmerized by her despair.

            One of the most alluring aspects of this book is the unique setting. Adamson has created a Western background that avoids the usual trap of over romanticizing the West. Instead, she creates a true sense of Western vastness that is authentically raw, harsh and desolate.

            Adamson has also done a nice job with her characters. Not only is her protagonist remarkably well developed and easy to sympathize with, her secondary characters are memorably quirky and have been adeptly utilized to propel the plot forward as well as to illustrate some of her thematic propositions about spirituality and the unremitting presence of the past.

Adamson’s dialog, however, is less impressive, making it the only disappointing aspect of the novel. Regrettably, it comes off as forced, unnatural and seemingly fashioned from the kitschiest of Western stereotypes.

Still, Adamson has crafted a thematically wonderful story that serves both as an entertaining read and a serious affirmation of the distinctiveness of the Canadian experience. Indeed, The Outlander is a wonderful contribution to international literature that should leave those cynical of Canadians much less so. I’m sure it would have done this to me had my friend, Mikko not just contracted Chlamydia from one.

The above review was contributed by:  Anthony Squiers. Anthony  is a writer and professor of English and Creative Writing at Southwestern Michigan College. His writing has been featured in a number of print and online publications including Southwest Michigan Magazine and Recoil Magazine. CLICK  HERE to read Anthony's Reviews.