Days by Moonlight

By Andre Alexis

Gulliver’s Travels meets The Underground Railroad: a road trip through the countryside – and the psyche – by the author of Fifteen Dogs.

Botanist Alfred Homer, ever hopeful and constantly surprised, is invited on a road trip by his parents’ friend, Professor Morgan Bruno, who wants company as he tries to unearth the story of the mysterious poet John Skennen. But this is no ordinary road trip. Alfred and the Professor encounter towns where Black residents speak only in sign language and towns that hold Indigenous Parades; it is a land of house burnings, werewolves, and witches.

Complete with Alfred’s drawings of plants both real and implausible, Days by Moonlight is a Dantesque journey taken during the “hour of the wolf,” that time of day when the sun is setting and the traveller can’t tell the difference between dog and wolf. And it asks that perpetual question: how do we know the things we know are real, and what is real anyway?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Coach House Books
• Release date: Feb 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9781770565807

Andre Alexis

Andre Alexis was born in Trinidad and grew up in Canada. His most recent novel, Fifteen Dogs, won the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His debut novel, Childhood, won the Books in Canada First Novel Award, the Trillium Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His other books include Pastoral (nominated for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize), Asylum, Beauty and Sadness, Ingrid & the Wolf, Despair and Other Stories of Ottawa and Lambton, Kent and Other Vistas: A Play.

Reviews for Days by Moonlight

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I listened to this book which was read by the author himself. He didn't do a bad job but he wasn't the best narrator I've ever heard. I really liked Alexis' book Fifteen Dogs so I was looking forward to this book but it didn't grab me like Fifteen Dogs did. Maybe magical realism (which is not my favourite genre anyway) doesn't come across as well on audio as on a printed page.Alfie Homer is a botanist who recently broke up with his long time girlfriend. His parents died in a car crash a year ago so when his parents' friend Dr. Morgan Bruno asks him to drive him on a road trip around southern Ontario Alfie thinks it's the distraction he needs. Dr. Bruno is on the trail of a mysterious poet, John Skennen, who disappeared over 20 years ago. While they follow the trail Skennen laid down long ago through numerous small towns they encounter quirky festivals and museums such as the house raising and burning festival in Nobleton. Each year a house is built and a poor family is allowed to move in but the following year that house is set on fire; if the family that lives in it can put the fire out before it consumes the house they get to live in it for another year. In each town Dr. Bruno interviews people who knew Skennen; some people think he is dead but others insist he is alive and one man even says he sees him regularly. Eventually they end up in a town called Feversham where there are more religious leaders living than in the Vatican City. Alfie has a mystical experience there and emerges changed.This book won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize in 2019. Obviously other people liked it more than I did.

[vegetrendian_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An interesting book that defies expectations. Ostensibly the story of a road trip across Southern Ontario in path of a poet; but also so many other things. It’s frequently hilarious and ridiculous (in a good way), but also wise and touching and careful. It’s not always believable but not exactly magical realism either. It’s more about imagination and wonder, and it’s maybe at its best when it was wandering from the path of realism. A puzzling book in some ways but always an intriguing one. This is another piece of Andre Alexis’ quincunx that stands alone and also rises higher as a piece of the larger work. If you’ve liked any of Alexis’ other work this is certainly recommended.

[randymetcalfe · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Alfred Homer’s grief at the loss of his parents a year earlier has deadened him to the world. It also probably explains the breakdown in his relationship with Anne, who has also left him. An invitation from Professor Bruno, a friend of his parents, to accompany him on a meandering journey through southern Ontario tracing memories of the poet John Skennen could be just what Alfred needs to break out of his funk. But the small towns and villages they visit and the people they encounter will startle and amaze Alfred. And the peculiar practices of these “Canadians” will have him questioning his own identity, and everything else as well.Alexis creates a believably unbelievable reality here. With Professor Bruno’s academic distance and Alfred’s muffled emotions, the perfect tone is creating for piercing satire and subtle metaphysics. It’s a strange yet beguiling combination. And nothing I report here could prepare you for the odyssey of this journey (unless a character named “Homer” suggests something to you). As ever, Alexis’ writing is pitch perfect and full of mystery. A fitting conclusion to his cryptic Quincunx series.Recommended.

[glendalea_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Days By Moonlight is beautifully written, I have no argument with that. A wonderfully strange odyssey through Canada with a grieving narrator and a plethora of side characters. I understand the allegories, the metaphors, but for me I just could not connect with Alfred, the Professor, or any of the other characters, and I really don't know why, perhaps wrong timing on my end. I will more than likely reread this story in the future, and I have already sought out more of the author's works (in particular, Fifteen Dogs). Overall, I actually would recommend this, with a side note of "Be prepared for weirdly wonderful."

[sean191 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I don't know what I was expecting of Andre Alexis' book, but I can tell you I'm glad I received it to review. I believe the teaser mentioned it was something like a modern Gulliver's Travels and I don't think I can come up with a better description.The characters are very well-crafted, giving insight into each, but providing enough mystery for the reader to craft his or her own take on them. The settings are fantastical, but manage to be believable enough in many cases, that I found myself checking a couple of things to see if they were factual (they weren't - they were created by Alexis). Days by Moonlight is funny, captivating and well-written. It provides some moments for the reader to do some inward reflection.

[katybee_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

André Alexis writes this in a footnote to the book: “Days by Moonlight is not a work of realism. It’s not a work that uses the imagination to show the real, but one that uses the real to show the imagination.” The premise of the book seems fairly straightforward. A botanist is grieving - both the death of his parents who were lost in a car accident the previous year and also a recently lost relationship. He decides to take off with a professor who was a friend of his parents to do research on a poet. This journey turns out to be a strange road trip through a bizarre alternate-reality version of Canada. Perhaps this book would be better read in context with some of the author’s other works. This is his seventh novel, the fourth book in a five-part sequence – or “quincunx,” as defined by the author.

[erickas-3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A most unusual book!Two men, one younger and grieving, one older and passionate, are taking a road trip through small Canadian towns in search of information about the elusive poet, John Skennen.But this sojourn is really through the Underworld, a tangential re-telling of the Orpheus/Eurydice myth . . . perhaps. Along the way the men visit a town re-creating “Pioneer Days” with callous consequences, a town populated by the descendants of escaped slaves where everyone communicates in sign language, and a town where the religiously devout explore a magical field to talk to god. And there’s also a visit to the Canadian Sex Museum, with uncomfortable results for Alfie. The story gets stranger but more insightful as the men go on their journey. Throughout the trip the two men learn about how they feel about love, poetry, and their life’s purpose.I liked it, and it gave me food for thought. I was sometimes bewildered but often charmed by the experiences of Alfie and Dr. Bruno. I don’t believe this is a book for a wide audience, but will hit the mark for readers that like a dose of philosophy and introspection with their reading. Days by Moonlight explores racial inequalities, grief and mourning, and the agony of unrequited love with folktales, mythology, and magical realism. It’s a blend of harsh reality and stunning imagination and there are many surprises and observations that keep you turning the pages.Many thanks to LibraryThing and Coach House Books for the advance copy.