Sick Pigeon

Susan Patrick is a librarian at the Ryerson Polytechnical Institute.

The stories in this, Farrant’s first published collection, deal with
people on the fringe—characters who, like the sick pigeon of the title
story, are looked down on and cast off by mainstream middle-class
society. There’s Sybilla, the teenage single mother on welfare who
maintains her zest for life (featured in the first three stories); the
lone western drifter who becomes one of the homeless; the psychiatric
patient who must cut out his parents’ hearts; the leftover drug freak
from the 1960s who dances to reach nirvana. The writing style ranges
from Sybilla’s irreverent vernacular voice conversationally recounting
her adventures to the stream of consciousness of the “nouveau
pauvre” middle-class wife who panics at serving her family Kraft
Dinner. Farrant writes with a sense of humor, a touch for satire, and
what seems to be a good understanding.