The Purest of Human Pleasures

Ronald Charles Epstein is a Toronto-based freelance writer and published poet.

Kenneth Radu documented his mother’s rural Saskatchewan childhood in
his 2004 biography The Devil Is Clever. In The Purest of Human
Pleasures, he presents a fictionalized version of his own Montreal
Island milieu.

In this novel, Morris Bunter, a widowed gardener, has to cope with his
independent-minded daughter Kate, who has been sexually harassed by her
controversial art professor. Bunter’s life is further complicated by
several murders of wealthy women in their gardens. Fear pervades the
community and unhinges the concerned father.

Radu is acutely aware of Quebec’s current realities. The “Westmount
Rhodesians” of the 1970s are today’s West Island Zimbabweans. The
City Hall is now the “Hфtel de Ville” that commemorates tragedy by
lowering “[t]he town’s flag and Quebec’s fleur-de-lys ... to
half-mast.” Characters from various backgrounds speak both official
languages. The author knows his province, enabling him to write credible
fiction.

Radu’s insight enables him to observe his society with understated
wit. Kate is saved from a nasty confrontation with her art professor by
the sudden appearance of Annick, his spiky-haired “Goth” girlfriend.
She thinks, “Thank God for a vampire when you need one.” The correct
word would have been “cop,” but since the police are unable to stop
the murders, it is better to rely on the undead.

In this novel, Morris Bunter gardens with professionalism and craft.
Kenneth Radu writes in the same manner, proving that he can both
chronicle the prairie and re-create the suburbs.