Crabbe

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

A hospital certificate of admission reveals that a Franklin Crabbe had been admitted following emergency surgery to amputate two fingers from his left hand. Crabbe, also diagnosed as suffering from physical exhaustion, pneumonia, and general exposure, has apparently not volunteered details of his personal history such as home address or next of kin. The remainder of the book consists of 24 journal entries wherein Crabbe relates the sequence of events which ultimately led to his November 15 hospitalization.

The eighteen-year-old only child of wealthy parents and a genius-IQ honour student in his final year of high school, Crabbe had decided that his life could not continue in its present course, for everything, including the future, had been planned for him by adults without his ever being consulted. Only Silent Sam, vodka, seemed to offer Crabbe any solace. Critical, as well, of adult hypocrisy as evidenced by both his parents’ materialistic lifestyle and an uncaring school system, Crabbe resolves to opt out by running away to a wilderness area which he believes is the last place anyone would look for him because of his non-outdoorsy reputation. Though Crabbe’s pre-trip planning was relatively thorough, his ignorance of camping and canoeing skills results in his campsite’s being ravaged by a bear and later his being swept over a waterfall. Saved from drowning by a beautiful woman, Crabbe gradually learns that Mary Pallas, who had wintered in this desolate location, is also running away, though she won’t say from what. Bush-wise Mary allows Crabbe to stay for the summer, and during this period she teaches him how to survive in the wilds. Through these new-found capacities and several “heart-to-hearts,” Crabbe comes to reassess himself and those around him. At the point of Crabbe’s re-entry into civilization, Mary is accidentally killed as the result of a credibility-stretching incident, and from her possessions, Crabbe finally learns her secret. While trekking out, Crabbe gets caught in a blizzard and suffers his injuries. When Crabbe is eventually reunited with his parents, both parties appear to be wiser, and the final journal entry shows Crabbe’s life going in a much different direction than itwould have prior to his May departure.

A Holden Caulfield type of character, Crabbe will appeal to older adolescents of both sexes.