Going Through the Motions

Helen Stec was a writer, editor, and publisher in Regina.

Going Through the Motions is Katherine Govier’s second novel. It is the story of Joan Sincere, a Toronto stripper, who faces an assault charge for kicking a drunk in the teeth during one of her acts.

Around this back-drop of events we see Joan starting over again. The assault charge brings her life into focus and she sets out to change it. She has reached that golden age of 30, when the dreams of her youth have not been realized and the present reality is unsatisfactory. She is afraid of growing old, fat, unloved, and unhappy.

It’s a theme that many who have reached 30 and beyond can identify with — that looking inward, that microscopic evaluation of what we’ve done, who we are, and who we will be in the future. Joan eventually learns that the choices in life are hers to make, that things don’t just happen to her. If they do, it’s because she has allowed them to happen. She also learns that she doesn’t have to “take it anymore” and that she should stand up for herself. She eventually does, in court.

Through all these soul searchings and reminiscences, Joan falls in love with David. For the first time in her life she allows someone to get close to her. They have the usual ups and downs but their relationship eventually solidifies and they “live happily ever after.” It’s a little too much of a fairy-tale ending.

Despite this disappointment and the questions that remain unanswered surrounding Joe’s vicious assault on Joan, Katherine Govier maintains a strong, steady pace throughout the book. Her writing is fluid, yet well-controlled. The words flow into paragraphs and the paragraphs into chapters. Her extensive and excellent use of flash-backs adds depth to the novel and provides a clear understanding of Joan’s life. She has the capacity to capture that sense of “being there,” both physically and mentally, as in the opening bar scene: it is smoky, smelly, and sweaty and ripples with undercurrents of feelings. Katherine Govier has taken the time to microscopically inspect these feelings and to make sense of them for the reader.