Onyx John

B.J. Busch is Associate Librarian (Access and Information Services) at
the University of Alberta.

One rarely encounters a novel filled with such odd characters. The hero is Onyx John Cameron, of the title. The name seems less peculiar when one learns that his sisters have been named Opal and Olivine by his mother, Diamond. Actually, these names begin to appear downright normal next to some of the others — Oreo, Parrot, Berri Framboise. The names, however, have nothing on the characters themselves. Oreo, otherwise known as The Dish, is a Boston girl, an honors graduate from Radcliffe, who spends her summers sailing. She is also a prostitute, procured for the hero by Zoltan Tinodi, who first comes on the scene as a Hungarian freedom fighter, and then as a capo of the Hungarian mafia. Berri Framboise is a cerebral palsy victim who initiates Onyx John first into the art of love, of sorts, and later into the art of smuggling. Hugh, Onyx John’s father, is a minister turned alchemist, who spends his time in the basement trying to create gold. Diamond, the former cowgirl, has time to look after the world’s refugees, but not her own children. If one rates novels on their ability to transport readers away from the mundane to where they have never been and are never likely to be, this book ranks high on the scale. It is an uproarious back-and-forth trip through three decades of Onyx John’s extraordinary life, filled with humor and irony. There is much here that is unbelievable, but the author’s narrative magic manages to produce a first-rate piece of entertainment.