| World Enough Contributor(s): Choyce, Lesley (Author) |
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ISBN: 0864922469 ISBN-13: 9780864922465 Publisher: Goose Lane Editions OUR PRICE: $17.06 Product Type: Paperback Published: October 1998 Annotation: Driven coast by power plant from the nuclear expropriations, Alex McNab grows up a lonely, insecure failure. At the age of 30, he's had enough and decides to make a clean break, He lands a job at New Dawn, a rehabilitation workshop in an industrial park, and, within a matter of months, his life begins to change as the distinction between the helper and the helped blurs. Jeff, seventeen and blind, knows all about cars, so Alex teaches him to drive. In turn, Alex gets his fuzzy thinking firmly adjusted by a Jamaican plagued by encroaching Alzheimer's disease. Although Alex soon realizes that the shelter offer by New Dawn is flimsy -- especially when he gets slugged by a politician on network television -- he begins to exert more control over his own life, and his safe, depressing existence becomes a full, exhilarating and at times frightening adventure. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Literary |
| Dewey: FIC |
| LCCN: 98231547 |
| Physical Information: 0.89" H x 6.34" W x 8.56" (0.88 lbs) 293 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Canadian - Geographic Orientation - Nova Scotia |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: When their farm gets expropriated to make way for the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant, Alexander McNab and his family move to Saint John. Without the magic of the Bay of Fundy, without the bright companionship of his little sister, Alex grows up a lonely, insecure failure. At 30, he's had enough; to make a clean break, he moves to Halifax. There, he is hired as a counsellor at New Dawn, a rehabilitation workshop, even though he has no professional qualifications. Alex soon becomes part of the New Dawn family, and the distinction between the helper and the helped blurs. The key may be that Alex takes for granted the wholeness in each of these damaged adults. Blind Jeff, 17, knows everything about cars, so Alex takes him out to the parking lot and teaches him to drive. In turn, Alex is adopted by Cornwallis Itwaru, a descendent of Jamaican Maroons plagued by encroaching Alzheimer's, who firmly adjusts Alex's fuzzy thinking. Alex sees right away that Gloria Vincent, who suffers from schizophrenia, has adopted a sloppy dress and ugly glasses as camouflage for her intelligence and beauty, and his discovery does not wholly displease her. Unfortunately, New Dawn goes broke, but by the time the landlord padlocks the doors, Alex has learned that living life fully doesn't depend on external circumstances. |
Contributor Bio(s): Choyce, Lesley: - No one has a clearer view of Atlantic Canada's literary endeavours over the past twenty years than Lesley Choyce. He is the founder of the literary journal Pottersfield Portfolio, and the publisher of Pottersfield Press. He has edited several fiction anthologies and has been the in-house editor of many books from Pottersfield Press including Making Waves, a collection of stories by emerging authors from Atlantic Canada. He is the author of more than fifty books in genres ranging from poetry and essays to autobiography, history and fiction for adults, young adults, and children. Among his recent books are the novels The Republic of Nothing, World Enough, and Cold Clear Morning, and the story collection Dance the Rocks Ashore. Choyce is the writer, host, and co-producer of the popular literary show television program, Off the Page with Lesley Choyce, which is broadcast across the country on Vision TV. He also teaches in the English department of Dalhousie University in Halifax and is leader of the rock band The Surf Poets. |