Cracked Wheat and Other Stories

Bruce K. Filson was a freelance writer and critic residing in Chesterville, Ontario.

Here are ten stories about the Dutch immigrant experience and the second generation Dutch-Canadian experience. Told from a variety of perspectives, the narrator always the principal character, the stories are conventional and competent. I quite enjoyed them until about half way through the book, at which point they seemed repetitive and unambitious.

The author confines himself to the Dutch-Canadian experience even when it seems irrelevant to the story (which occurs more often in the later stories, since the stories progress chronologically from post-World War II immigrants to their potential children). There is a self or ethnic awareness and a keen sense of observation as the story narrators face some crises in their lives, although sometimes the crisis is more like a wrinkle. But we’re never sure if they really address the crisis and are changed in some way. This lends an irony to each story in that the author behind the narrator seems to want always to come out superior. It is that attitude that becomes tiring if the book is read straight through.

Hugh Cook is a good writer who evidently works hard at his writing. I hope he continues beyond this good first effort, but I also hope he diversifies thematically.