Killing Time

R. Gordon Moyles is professor emeritus of English at the University of
Alberta. He is co-author of Imperial Dreams and Colonial Realities:
British Views of Canada, 1880–1914, author of The Salvation Army and
the Public, and editor of “Improved by Cult

“There is no life without time. There is no time without memory. There
is no life without memory.” This syllogism provides the metaphorical
framework for an intriguing story about the traumatic impact the loss of
memory has on the lives of two brothers and their female partner. For
Richard, who suffers the loss as a result of an automobile accident, the
immediate past has no meaning or emotional basis; for his brother, Paul,
whose carelessness caused the accident, memories of the past sear his
conscience with guilt. And for Cindy, the girl caught between them,
living with the altered psyches is itself a traumatic emotional
experience. Schachte carries it off convincingly and (though a more
professional view of altered mind-states might differ), from a
layperson’s point of view, we are brought face-to-face with an
unpleasant reality. Schachte writes with precision, even eloquence, and,
in terms of both plot and style, leaves his readers completely
satisfied.