Driving Off the Map

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

Sharon MacFarlane is a rural Saskatchewan resident who writes short
stories that reflect prairie dreams and realities. Driving Off the Map
is a collection of tales that have either appeared in various regional,
national, and feminist publications or been broadcast on CBC radio.

“Winter Dance,” the first story, demonstrates the author’s
ability to combine fantasy and realism. Doug, an ex-alcoholic bartender,
has to cope with the bar’s raffish clientele and with the pain caused
by his estrangement from his wife and daughter. One night on his drive
home, he sees some dancing rabbits. This vision does not change his
life, but he triumphs when he subsequently passes a Mountie’s
breathalyzer test.

“A Short Course in Fitness, Politics and Interpersonal
Relationships” reflects the book’s strengths and weaknesses. This
fantasy about an overweight runner, Sylvie, who takes a limousine ride
with John Diefenbaker’s ghost shows the author’s social awareness.
Both Sylvie and MacFarlane remember the real prime minister’s vanity.
Sylvie informs Dief that the centre named after him was closed during
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservative
administration. Such perceptiveness does not overcome the tale’s weak
conclusion. Sylvie’s decision to cease dieting and exercise raises the
question of how Diefenbaker could cause anyone to give up a health
program.

The author displays an awareness of western problems. The theme of
rural depopulation is a consistent thread, as characters cope with its
consequences. In “Ice Road,” a bank teller must cross an ice road
because “[t]here is no doctor in her town now and no hospital.”
Abuse, unemployment, and aging are other problems that challenge
MacFarlane’s westerners.

Sharon MacFarlane is a formidable observer of, and advocate for, the
Canadian West. Given the correct medium, she could become W.O.
Mitchell’s successor.