Baltimore's Mansion

Rating:
Summary: The Real Newfoundland
Review: An elegy for a country, a place, and a family - which can describe much of Maritime Canadian writing, but Johnston is such a gifted writer this one really stands out. Read it for the description of the horse leading the way home in blinding snow, read it for story of blacksmithing, just read it. And if you like this, you'll love "the Danger Tree" by David MacFalane - a different part of Newfoundland, a different family, another incredible writer.

Rating:
Summary: The Real Newfoundland
Review: An elegy for a country, a place, and a family - which can describe much of Maritime Canadian writing, but Johnston is such a gifted writer this one really stands out. Read it for the description of the horse leading the way home in blinding snow, read it for story of blacksmithing, just read it. And if you like this, you'll love "the Danger Tree" by David MacFalane - a different part of Newfoundland, a different family, another incredible writer.

Rating:
Summary: Smashing
Review: Any book that can make a reader who hales from the land of pleasant living (i.e., the mid-Atlantic region of the United States) seriously consider spending a winter in Newfoundland is clearly worth reading. Wayne Johnston once again manages to turn what most of us would consider a very dull subject (growing up in Newfoundland) into a minor masterpiece. If you enjoyed "Colony of Unrequited Dreams," you will be equally charmed, intrigued and entranced by "Baltimore's Mansion" but in a more personal -- and, perhaps, more meaningful -- way. I expect that if Mr. Johnston were from the USA, his books would stay at the top of the best seller lists. As it is, he remains a bit of a hidden treasure. Perhaps "Baltimore's Mansion" will help change the situation.

Rating:
Summary: From blacksmith to wordsmith.
Review: Being from the other side of the confederation with Canada event (my family was pro-confederation), I found Johnson's memoir a real eyeopener to the sense of defeat and angst found in the loss of Newfoundland's precarious nationhood. The political subtext amplifies the family melodrama of loss and defeat. Although a bit too `Irish' for my taste in Newfoundland set stories, the writing is profound and the best in the english language currently being turned out these days. Johnson's family were smiths with iron and his writing is the same; that is, he turns the raw iron of language into something minimal, economical and heavy that carries the weight and experience of generations. Like the anchors, nails, and iron shoes, Johnson's writing will stand the test of time's weathering I'm sure.

Rating:
Summary: Nationalism from Newfoundland
Review: I don't know why I expected to read about the way of life in small Newfoundland communities, but I certainly didn't expect to read about the nationalist dreams of the people of the Avalon peninsula. This may be a good topic for a book, actually, but it would have to be better organized and more clear in its purpose than this aimless memoir. The main problem is that the author constantly laments Newfoundland's loss of independance, but never explains how or why Newfoundlanders would be better off as an independant country, or, failing that, why we should care.

Rating:
Summary: NOT FOR POSTING
Review: Just wanted you to know that your review of this book has a factual inaccuracy.

The Avalon Peninsula ISN'T the most remote part of Newfoundland.Quite the opposite - its by far the most developed, densely populated part of the entire province. St. John's is on Avalon, as are most of the province's towns. Your reviewer was thinking of the Great Northern Peninsula (where Shipping News takes place) - although the most remote part of the province is certainly Northern Labrador.

Rating:
Summary: Words left unspoken
Review: This is a book about loss.

About the loss of communication between generations.

About the loss of a proud nation when its citizens, by the slimmest of margins, voted to be assimilated into Canada.

And about the loss of opportunity to lay to rest family ghosts and unresolved questions.

Unlike his novel "The Colony of Unrequited Dreams", Johnston's memoir is episodic and compartmentalized. The underlying theme is the anguish felt by so many Newfoundlanders when they were forced to choose in a referendum between remaining an independent country or casting in their lot with Canada.

We experience that anguish through the relationships between generations.

There is Johnston's grandfather, an outport blacksmith who carries a secret about the referendum to his grave.

There is Johnston's father, a reluctant federal civil servant who rarely misses an opportunity to bemoan Newfoundland's merger with Canada and berate those who voted for it.

And there is Johnston himself, who is so conflicted about his relationship with his father and grandfather, and with his native Newfoundland, that he can only write about it by leaving.

"Baltimore's Mansion" is most successful in its marvelous vignettes: a nearly disastrous trip into the country to cut ice from a pond, a ride across the island on a much-loved but hopelessly inefficient passenger train about to be taken out of service by the Canadian government, the last enigmatic meeting on the beach between Johnston's father and grandfather, and Johnston's own confrontation with a howling winter storm on a remote island where he has retreated to come to terms with what he wants to write.

Each is a short story unto itself and full of vividly descriptive writing.

"Baltimore's Mansion" also has moments of humour, but the lasting sense is one of regret. Regret for the lost intimacy of small harbours and houses, regret for questions unasked and words left unspoken, regret for a time that was that will never be again.

While this must have been a difficult book to write, it is a pleasure to read: full of character, atmosphere and a sharp sense of what was lost when Newfoundland surrendered its nationhood.

Rating:
Summary: "You could go only so long remaining righteous in defeat..."
Review: While true the period of time of "remaining righteous" may be finite, it needn't be necessarily short. In the case of the Johnston Family the third of that generation deals with the consequences to this day. "Baltimore's Mansion" is both true Family History together with the autobiographical experience of the Author. He may not have witnessed all he memorializes, but the feeling you get while reading is that if there is a line between the two it is seamless. And that this is true is due to the Author's insight into the memories of others he experiences as opposed to the memories that are his own.

The prose of this book is rich it is thick and dense. I intend that comment in only the most positive manner. There is nothing extraneous as you read, every sentence is important; this book is as long as it needs to be, no more or no less. I always had the impression the Author chose each word or phrase he wrote carefully and with purpose. The writing needs no embellishment it is precise and honest.

The book is about change, about change that is often not wanted, about progress that is anything but, rather it is a series of events that strips away a people's identity, the ground their homes are built upon, the jobs they have known for generations, and ultimately the Families themselves.

The damage and dislocation that is suffered that is external is magnified by secrets and thought kept hidden for decades that if shared would have changed the lives of these Families. The book is about regret, missed opportunities, and an unwillingness to accept change that goes beyond simply sad to truly painful and destructive.

I recently read "No Great Mischief" and while no 2 Authors are alike, I believe if you have read and enjoyed either you will enjoy them both.

Whether describing an event that will change the course of a people, or of a young man sweeping away the imprints of horseshoes that do not bear his Father's mark (a Rose), the Author shows with great clarity the similarities and the futility of going against the tide.

As to those who were on the "Winning" side as always the Author states it best, "We won, we won and nothing you can say can change that fact, and nothing makes victory sweeter than the enduring bitterness of men like you." The man being referred to here is the Author's Father.

Wonderful book.