Rare Birds

R.G. Moyles is a professor of English at the University of Alberta and
the co-author of Imperial Dreams and Colonial Realities: British Views
of Canada, 1880–1914.

Edward Riche is a very fine writer, whose rich imagination, rare
inventiveness, attention to concrete detail, and control of language
mark him as a writer with a future. Moreover, for a first novel, Rare
Birds is a rare accomplishment. But that said, the story itself is
rather flimsy, and boring, and, as far as situational humor is
concerned, rather timid.

Dave Purcell, a struggling restaurateur who owns The Auk, an eatery on
the outskirts of St. John’s, sees his business brought back to life by
the concocted news, broadcast on a popular radio show, that a very rare
bird—Tasker’s sulphureous duck—has been spotted nearby. The news
brings out bird-fanciers, in addition to some other unlikely characters,
all of whom are regular gourmets. They revive his flagging business and
his flagging spirits.

The whole affair, involving Purcell and his collaborator, Phonse, in a
plot worthy of John Le Carre, is all highly amusing, but tedious.
Although it is extremely well written and stylistically impeccable, it
lacks real drama. Readers who live away from the island, and are out of
touch with the inside jokes and local personalities, may find it a
little too parochial. It does, however, give promise of a great future
for this Newfoundland writer.