Crossing the Line

Gina Conte is a Toronto-based account executive.

In this, his first collection, David Elias relates the passage of the
main character, Steven, from boyhood into adulthood through a series of
connected short stories. The lines crossed are both real and imaginary,
visible and invisible. In the stories, which are set in a small Manitoba
farming community next to the U.S. border, Elias uses extremely
detailed, powerful images to create a desolate, stark environment.

Steven’s relationships are short-lived. His friend mysteriously dies
and then revisits him in a mirage. A girl he falls in love with is
unfaithful. A sympathetic uncle, his mother, and his sister all leave
him. Other unsympathetic portraits include Steven’s abusive father, a
cruel boy who nearly plucks out a dog’s eyes, and the disconnected
people in the “lock up” he ends up in when he passes over into
insanity.

While the secondary characters in this collection could have been more
fully rounded, Elias writes clearly and succeeds in arousing interest in
and sympathy for his main character.