Monday, March 24, 2008

King Leary


Quickie recap: Percival Leary is crowned the King of hockey, but not without costs to his friends, his family, and ultimately himself. Luckily, he lives to be an old man, and if he doesn't quite atone for his sins, at least he comes to recognize them.
Quickie review: Canadians love a book about hockey. I, however, am not so easily impressed. But Paul Quarrington? He's the boss. Whale Music left an insane impression on me - and for a girl who has read more books in her short lifespan than most 20 people will read in their entire lives, I think that's saying a lot. He just has a way of making you think about things differently. He's a graphic writer, and I don't say this too often, even about the people I most admire, but I actually think I might like to meet Mr. Quarrington, see what interesting things I can absorb by osmosis.
Quickie recommendation: Can I resist the obvious hockey cliches - Quarrington has "scored" - or, god forbid, achieved the elusive literary "hat trick" ? Yes, I can resist. Quarrington has written a veritable slam dunk of a book. Haha. I'm such a pathetic cheeseball. But seriously, I felt like this was high-brow hockey at its finest.
p.s.: Go Leafs!

3 comments:

Lorna said...

I would have to read this for the name alone. Have you read, or would you review "Ahab's Wife"?

Anonymous said...

I'm in the minority again: this was the one book on this year's Canada Reads list that I didn't like.

Glad you enjoyed it, though. If you ever feel like reading another Canadian hockey novel, I'd heartily endorse The Good Body by Bill Gaston, Salvage King, Ya! by Mark Anthony Jarman, or Finnie Walsh by Steven Galloway.

Jesus, who knew I'd read so many hockey novels? And I don't even like hockey.

Anonymous said...

Oh, cool. I saw this on Canada Reads and was excited about it, and then promptly forgot. Leave Jay to pick up the ball - this time, instead of putting it on the list that will get lost, I'm just going to go straight out and buy it.

Now, I'm surprised: a book about hockeyis right up my alley, but yours?
Surprise, surprise.