The Only Son

Louise H. Girard was Head of Book Selection, University of St. Michael's College Library, Toronto.

This is a very powerful and disturbing novel. David Helwig, a poet as well as a novelist, is much more sensitive to the power of words than most novelists. In this novel he makes such good use of the potential of words that, soon after starting to read the novel, the reader finds himself drawn deeply into the world of the characters, almost in spite of himself. This shrinking of the distance between the reader and the characters results in the reader being very affected by this novel. The book stayed with me for days after I finished reading it.

I must admit that initially I resented the author for inflicting this particular experience on me. But this was unfair; not only did I choose to read the novel, but moreover I know that an author’s aim goes beyond pleasing the reader. Rather, a true artist seeks to express something about the world. Since in a novel the expression of the author’s particular view ideally requires the entire work, attempting a synthesis of a novel is always risky. Still, there is a real sense that in spite of the intensity of some of their experiences, all of Helwig’s characters simply drift through life — that is, they never deal, except superficially, with what their life is, has been, or could be. Also, their view of what life is seems to be based almost entirely on what their personal experience of life has been. As stated above, some of the situations in which the characters become involved are very intense and disturbing, yet these experiences are potentially more disturbing to the reader than they are to the characters. For example, as the novel ends, the main character deals with the problem of loneliness and loss in the following way:

... I turn back to the house, and there is a moment of loneliness and loss but if the love of wisdom means anything it means that such moments pass, and it is what continues that counts.

It is more than likely that, for the reader who has shared the characters’ experiences, at this point the problem of loneliness and loss may appear much more complex than it ever has and the reader is left in search of a personal solution. Therein, in a sense, lies the novel’s greatest strength, although it should be pointed out that some readers are likely to react adversely to the challenge.