All the Men Are Sleeping

Christina Pike is a member of the Evaluation Division, Department of
Education, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

This collection of well-crafted short stories offers powerful imagery
and sophisticated explorations of complex emotions and existential
crises. Perhaps the most striking story is the evocative title piece,
“All the Men Are Sleeping.” Dr. MacKenna is a maritime physician
whose journeys through dangerous winter trails leads his companion
Isobel to ask: “Do you want to be a legend or something? The heroic
physician?” One night Isobel accompanies MacKenna on a perilous
journey across thin ice, and they find the farmhouse where they are
needed. The narrative does not depend on the illness, but rather on the
relationship between MacKenna and Isobel, their respective approaches to
medicine and a healthy life, and the existential journey they take.

The author’s use of setting and landscape to reflect his
characters’ experiences and epiphanies can be excessive; the winds of
change blow too often. But this is a minor quibble about an otherwise
engaging collection.