Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Ebook231 pages3 hours
Barnacle Love
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
3/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
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.
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.
Unavailable
Related to Barnacle Love
Related ebooks
The Demon of Dakar: A Mystery Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Mermaid Quilt & Other Tales Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Peppino: A Nineteenth Century Medici Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Singer from the Sea Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gentleman Devil: The Ingenious Mechanical Devices, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOf Saints and Miracles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Map Waits Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHiding in Plain Sight Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPuerto Bagdad: Shipwrecked Dreams Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Turquoise: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crimson sails Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCrashBoomLove: A Novel in Verse Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Fulcrum (Nexus 1) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mighty Atom Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Smuggler Returns Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPopisho: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ticket to Paradise Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfter Battersea Park Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWater Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOver Her Head: Pine Cove Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummer in the Spotlight (Prince Edward Island Shores Book #3) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCross Over Water Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChanging Tides Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTides Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Water Children: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Divine Justice: A Rae Valentine Thriller Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReconciled People Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Boy with a Bird in His Chest: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Marquez Thing: A Memoir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCold Case, Hot Bodies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Short Stories For You
Sex and Erotic: Hard, hot and sexy Short-Stories for Adults Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Explicit Content: Red Hot Stories of Hardcore Erotica Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Selected Short Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hot Blooded Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little Birds: Erotica Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Finn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hans Christian Andersen's Complete Fairy Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBefore You Sleep: Three Horrors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Things They Carried Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Good Man Is Hard To Find And Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5100 Years of the Best American Short Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas: A Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don Quixote Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Lovecraft Country: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ficciones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Four Past Midnight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Skeleton Crew Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sour Candy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Memory Wall: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Barnacle Love
Rating: 3.2380952809523813 out of 5 stars
3/5
42 ratings7 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The 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. - Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I 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.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Highly 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.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Very 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.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Poignant 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.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Barnacle 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.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I 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.