Barnacle Love

By Anthony De Sa

Shortlisted for the 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize

Like Wayson Choy and David Bezmozgis before him, Anthony De Sa captures, in stories brimming with life, the innocent dreams and bitter disappointments of the immigrant experience.

At the heart of this collection of intimately linked stories is the relationship between a father and his son. A young fisherman washes up nearly dead on the shores of Newfoundland. It is Manuel Rebelo who has tried to escape the suffocating smallness of his Portuguese village and the crushing weight of his mother’s expectations to build a future for himself in a terra nova. Manuel struggles to shed the traditions of a village frozen in time and to silence the brutal voice of Maria Theresa da Conceicao Rebelo, but embracing the promise of his adopted land is not as simple as he had hoped.

Manuel’s son, Antonio, is born into Toronto’s little Portugal, a world of colourful houses and labyrinthine back alleys. In the Rebelo home the Church looms large, men and women inhabit sharply divided space, pigs are slaughtered in the garage, and a family lives in the shadow cast by a father’s failures. Most days Antonio and his friends take to their bikes, pushing the boundaries of their neighbourhood street by street, but when they finally break through to the city beyond they confront dangers of a new sort.

With fantastic detail, larger-than-life characters and passionate empathy, Anthony De Sa invites readers into the lives of the Rebelos and finds there both the promise and the disappointment inherent in the choices made by the father and the expectations placed on the son.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Feb 24, 2009
• ISBN: 9780307371911

Reviews for Barnacle Love

[ldvoorberg · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The story of Manuel, a Portuagese man who comes to Canada. The second half is narrated by his son. The story is told in short story/vignette form.

Rather a sad tale of a dream gone terribly wrong. Interesting that it has a similar concept as [book:The Boys in the Trees] another Giller finalist which was also told in vignettes. However, I like Boys in Trees better. Both start off going one way and then unexpected take a bad turn -- by which, I mean that things go badly for the central characters. Barnacle Love starts warm enough, possibly warmer than Boys in Trees, but grows colder, whereas Boys in Trees grows warmer and more personable.

Both books make immigration to Canada (Toronto, specifically, 60 or 70 yrs ago) seem like an awful ordeal.

[vivienner_3 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I gave up about 2/3 of the way through. It seemed like the story on each page was disconnected from any other page, going from a dreamlike state to bitter realism without describing the journey. The characters were not developed well, to the point where they seemed to have multiple personalities.

[lucybrown_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Highly recommended. Especially recommended with fado playing in the background, a tumbler of vinho verde and a dish of olives. This book granted me something my own experience and my Grandmother's reticeince denied me, how it was to be Portuguese in a Portuguese neighborhood stateside. Like many immigrants of the first half of the 20th century my grandparent embraced America, and wanted their children to be All-American. Da Sa allowed me to tap into my grandparents' experience. Baranacle Love also made me miss my grandmother. One question after another came to me as I read.

[bostonbibliophile · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very middle-of-the-road immigrant story about a family's move from Portugal to Canada. The first part is told from the point of view of the father; then the son takes over. A nominee for Canada's Giller Prize, it's not terrible but not particularly compelling, either. Recommended for die-hard fans of immigration stories or novels about Canada.

[loosha_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Poignant stories of a Portugese family, immigrants to Canada. The collection reads much like a novel, giving the reader an insight into the relationships and saga of Manuel, his siblings, mother, wife, and children . In the first story, Manuel, a favoured child, leaves his Portugese home on a fishing ship bound for Canada. He is lost at sea, nearly drowned, and ultimately saved, then betrayed, by a fisherman and his hopeful daughter. In subsequent stories, Manuel takes a wife, has children, returns to his home country to bury his mother. She is a real work...some say a saint, but her children are glad to see the end of her. The second part of the book is written from the pov of Manuel’s son, dealing with his father’s disappointments and shameful alcoholism. “I love him for the man that he can be” is the son’s final summation. A book of complex emotions, crystal clear scenes, familiar uncomfortable themes.

[polutropos_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Barnacle Love is totally telly, as in this wonderful piece of prose from the beginning. "Manuel vowed that somehow he would make it all better. Freedom would provide opportunities for his siblings. But first he would have to save himself." None of the characters are believable. The plotline is not only predictable but laughable. No suspense anywhere. Zero redeeming features. I began skimming after about three pages and still the hour or so spent with it would have been better spent petting the cat. A total disaster. Shortlisted for the Giller Prize. Zero stars from me.

[boomda181 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I enjoyed looking into a family who is chasing a dream and the stress that falls on family members when the dream fails.