Ditch

Ronald Charles Epstein is a Toronto-based freelance writer and published poet.

It would be inaccurate to state that Hal Niedzviecki rules Canadian
alt-culture, since its adherents neither seek nor honor leaders. This is
not to say that Niedzviecki is an insignificant contemporary figure. He
is, after all, editor of the alternative literary magazine Broken Pencil
and winner of “the Alexander Ross Award for best new magazine writer
at the 1999 National Magazine Awards.”

In this novel, Niedzviecki introduces readers to three postmodern
Torontonians: Ditch, a university dropout turned delivery driver; his
“social coordinator” mother, Barbara; and their upstairs boarder,
Knudtsen, an elderly European. When Knudtsen dies, Ditch finds a young
suburban Maryland runaway named Debs to replace him. Sexual attraction
and familial dysfunction unite them: Ditch’s drunken father abandoned
his family, while Debs copes with domestic murder. The couple travel to
her District of Columbia–area home to resolve her “issues.”

Debs has a cybersex Web site and an e-mail address; computer messages
advance her story. Knudsten’s story is advanced by the arrival of his
estranged brother, Aaron, who has a photo album from their “days in
the shtetl.” The deceased boarder’s apparently Gentile surname makes
this revelation a surprise. Unfortunately, the author does not
effectively develop this subplot by revealing the brothers’ complete
story.

Ditch deserves public library space because of Niedzviecki’s
position, but it may not be worth purchasing for the home.