Home Fires

Description

160 pages
$16.95
ISBN 1-55017-159-3
DDC C813'.54

Publisher

Year

1997

Contributor

Reviewed by Beverly Rasporich

Beverly Rasporich is an associate professor in the Faculty of General
Studies at the University of Calgary and the author of Dance of the
Sexes: Art and Gender in the Fiction of Alice Munro.

Review

This collection of 13 short stories evokes the world of fishermen,
boats, and sea, but does so largely from a female perspective, conveying
the anxieties, obligations, and emotions of mother, wife, lover, and
daughter.

Most of the stories lack tension. In “Say the Word,” for example,
the 12-year-old son of a worried mother goes out to the fishing grounds.
“Mean,” written from a child’s point of view, describes the
age-old phenomenon of playground bullying. More sophisticated is “On
the Road,” the story of an irresponsible musician and his family.

Mostly light reading, Home Fires could be easily consumed in a single
evening.

Citation

Rysstad, Jean., “Home Fires,” Canadian Book Review Annual Online, accessed October 8, 2024, https://cbra.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/4066.