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The Wreckage
Having achieved considerable success with his first novel, River Thieves , Michael Crummey has written a book that is equally stunning and compelling. The Wreckage is a truly epic, yet twisted, romance that unfolds over decades and continents. It engages readers on the austere shores of Newfoundland’s fishing villages and drags them across to Japanese POW camps during some of the worst events of the Second World War. Haunting, lyrical, and deeply intimate, Crummey’s language fully exposes his characters’ vulnerabilities as they struggle to come to terms with their guilt and regret over decisions made during their impulsive youths.
In the fishing villages of Newfoundland we come across an itinerant Wish Furey. He’s a drifter and a projectionist, traveling from island to island bringing films to isolated communities. A Catholic in a staunchly Protestant community, working with an alcoholic, gambling partner, Wish is immediately labeled an outsider. On Little Fogo Island, he spots a desirable young woman in the audience and embarks on an unwavering mission to possess her. Mercedes Parsons – Sadie – is equally infatuated and yields to Wish's advances as much as her chaste upbringing will allow.
Crummey masterfully captures the ferocity of the young romance, the coiled up sexual tension exploding in instances of pure pleasure and ending often in frustration. The pair can steal only scattered moments alone as Sadie’s mother puts up a formidable defense against Wish, whom she believes will bring only trouble. However intent he seems on winning Sadie, Wish's character remains mysteriously closed. He is painfully silent around her family, which only strengthens their mistrust. Crummey seems to purposefully disclose only the barest of Wish's intimate thoughts and motivations.
While the romance intensifies, Crummey casts his lovers in a wider shadow. He brings to life the Newfoundland coastline, its unforgiving waters, the religious fervor and prejudice of its inhabitants, their ceaseless work, and the collective anxiety about the burgeoning war.
Unable to defeat Sadie’s mother, and unable to quell his conscience after Sadie's breathless pleading, "Don't make a whore of me," Wish flees to St. John’s and enlists in the British army. Sadie embarks on a frantic pursuit only to find him gone. Defying her family she stays in the capital, building a new life, the reality of Wish's disappearance – the acute, constant ache of it – gradually settling in.
Wish lands somewhere in southeast Asia and then, finally, in a Japanese POW camp. He suffers agonizing torture under a particularly cruel guard known initially as the Interpreter. We have met the Interpreter already. Crummey has woven this man's narrative through the novel, slowly revealing the origins of his unique hatred toward the Canadian prisoners. Born in British Columbia, Nishino has experienced a harsh brand of discrimination. It is through Nishino that Crummey provides a chilling example of how prejudice can breed exceptionally brutal cycles of violence.
Crummey unveils the depths of his characters’ personalities with slow deliberation. The layers of their pain, suffering, and love are peeled back with each recounted memory as the novel makes its transition into contemporary times. With each memory that is unleashed the reader comes closer to understanding the choices the protagonists made, the consequences they endured, and their subsequent feelings of frustration and guilt.
Fifty years after Sadie’s flight from St. John’s, she returns to Newfoundland to scatter the ashes of her dead husband and collides with Wish whom she believed dead. Sadie reflects, “It was like being handed a photograph from a stranger’s collection, one more unexpected glimpse of that face when she thought her memories of it were complete.” Memories can be taken out, tampered with, much like the film of the projectionist.
It is here that Crummey cracks open Wish's character. There is a flood of revelations; his sexual exploits as a teenager, the bet made that he could conquer Sadie, Nishino's murder, and his own troubling reaction to it. It's a narrative coup. The reader is left, as Sadie is, stunned and grappling with these revelations and how our perceptions of his character have been altered. Wish is angry, sullen, and paralyzed with guilt. Yet he is still capable of love and being loved and Sadie is the only one left to remind him.
It is a testament to Crummey’s gifts as a novelist that he can flow quite easily through time, across landscapes, and between vastly different characters. He vividly captures the mental and physical anguish Wish experienced in the prison camps, and with calm lucidity explores the motives of a Japanese soldier whose actions seem inhumanly cold and calculating. Crummey toys with the readers’ sympathies, suggesting there are few distinctions between the enemy and us. He incorporates heartbreaking tragedy – the dropping of the atom bomb, lynchings in America, murderous revenge – to underscore the darker side of humanity. Crummey shows that we are capable of violence, but in the end he proves we are also capable of redemption, forgiveness, and can be led, unashamed, back to the ones we love.
From the Hardcover edition.
In the fishing villages of Newfoundland we come across an itinerant Wish Furey. He’s a drifter and a projectionist, traveling from island to island bringing films to isolated communities. A Catholic in a staunchly Protestant community, working with an alcoholic, gambling partner, Wish is immediately labeled an outsider. On Little Fogo Island, he spots a desirable young woman in the audience and embarks on an unwavering mission to possess her. Mercedes Parsons – Sadie – is equally infatuated and yields to Wish's advances as much as her chaste upbringing will allow.
Crummey masterfully captures the ferocity of the young romance, the coiled up sexual tension exploding in instances of pure pleasure and ending often in frustration. The pair can steal only scattered moments alone as Sadie’s mother puts up a formidable defense against Wish, whom she believes will bring only trouble. However intent he seems on winning Sadie, Wish's character remains mysteriously closed. He is painfully silent around her family, which only strengthens their mistrust. Crummey seems to purposefully disclose only the barest of Wish's intimate thoughts and motivations.
While the romance intensifies, Crummey casts his lovers in a wider shadow. He brings to life the Newfoundland coastline, its unforgiving waters, the religious fervor and prejudice of its inhabitants, their ceaseless work, and the collective anxiety about the burgeoning war.
Unable to defeat Sadie’s mother, and unable to quell his conscience after Sadie's breathless pleading, "Don't make a whore of me," Wish flees to St. John’s and enlists in the British army. Sadie embarks on a frantic pursuit only to find him gone. Defying her family she stays in the capital, building a new life, the reality of Wish's disappearance – the acute, constant ache of it – gradually settling in.
Wish lands somewhere in southeast Asia and then, finally, in a Japanese POW camp. He suffers agonizing torture under a particularly cruel guard known initially as the Interpreter. We have met the Interpreter already. Crummey has woven this man's narrative through the novel, slowly revealing the origins of his unique hatred toward the Canadian prisoners. Born in British Columbia, Nishino has experienced a harsh brand of discrimination. It is through Nishino that Crummey provides a chilling example of how prejudice can breed exceptionally brutal cycles of violence.
Crummey unveils the depths of his characters’ personalities with slow deliberation. The layers of their pain, suffering, and love are peeled back with each recounted memory as the novel makes its transition into contemporary times. With each memory that is unleashed the reader comes closer to understanding the choices the protagonists made, the consequences they endured, and their subsequent feelings of frustration and guilt.
Fifty years after Sadie’s flight from St. John’s, she returns to Newfoundland to scatter the ashes of her dead husband and collides with Wish whom she believed dead. Sadie reflects, “It was like being handed a photograph from a stranger’s collection, one more unexpected glimpse of that face when she thought her memories of it were complete.” Memories can be taken out, tampered with, much like the film of the projectionist.
It is here that Crummey cracks open Wish's character. There is a flood of revelations; his sexual exploits as a teenager, the bet made that he could conquer Sadie, Nishino's murder, and his own troubling reaction to it. It's a narrative coup. The reader is left, as Sadie is, stunned and grappling with these revelations and how our perceptions of his character have been altered. Wish is angry, sullen, and paralyzed with guilt. Yet he is still capable of love and being loved and Sadie is the only one left to remind him.
It is a testament to Crummey’s gifts as a novelist that he can flow quite easily through time, across landscapes, and between vastly different characters. He vividly captures the mental and physical anguish Wish experienced in the prison camps, and with calm lucidity explores the motives of a Japanese soldier whose actions seem inhumanly cold and calculating. Crummey toys with the readers’ sympathies, suggesting there are few distinctions between the enemy and us. He incorporates heartbreaking tragedy – the dropping of the atom bomb, lynchings in America, murderous revenge – to underscore the darker side of humanity. Crummey shows that we are capable of violence, but in the end he proves we are also capable of redemption, forgiveness, and can be led, unashamed, back to the ones we love.
From the Hardcover edition.
368 pages, Paperback
First published August 16, 2005
About the author
Michael Crummey
24 books909 followersBorn in Buchans, Newfoundland, Crummey grew up there and in Wabush, Labrador, where he moved with his family in the late 1970s. He went to university with no idea what to do with his life and, to make matters worse, started writing poems in his first year. Just before graduating with a BA in English he won the Gregory Power Poetry Award. First prize was three hundred dollars (big bucks back in 1987) and it gave him the mistaken impression there was money to be made in poetry.
He published a slender collection of poems called Arguments with Gravity in 1996, followed two years later by Hard Light. 1998 also saw the publication of a collection of short stories, Flesh and Blood, and Crummey's nomination for the Journey Prize.
Crummey's debut novel, River Thieves (2001) was a Canadian bestseller, winning the Thomas Head Raddall Award and the Winterset Award for Excellence in Newfoundland Writing. It was also shortlisted for the Giller Prize, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the Books in Canada First Novel Award, and the IMPAC Award. His second novel, The Wreckage (2005), was nominated for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and longlisted for the 2007 IMPAC Award.
Galore was published in Canada in 2009. A national bestseller, it was the winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book (Canada & Caribbean), the Canadian Authors' Association Fiction Prize and was shortlisted for the Governor-General's Award for fiction.
He lives in St. John's, Newfoundland with his wife and three step-kids.
He published a slender collection of poems called Arguments with Gravity in 1996, followed two years later by Hard Light. 1998 also saw the publication of a collection of short stories, Flesh and Blood, and Crummey's nomination for the Journey Prize.
Crummey's debut novel, River Thieves (2001) was a Canadian bestseller, winning the Thomas Head Raddall Award and the Winterset Award for Excellence in Newfoundland Writing. It was also shortlisted for the Giller Prize, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the Books in Canada First Novel Award, and the IMPAC Award. His second novel, The Wreckage (2005), was nominated for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and longlisted for the 2007 IMPAC Award.
Galore was published in Canada in 2009. A national bestseller, it was the winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book (Canada & Caribbean), the Canadian Authors' Association Fiction Prize and was shortlisted for the Governor-General's Award for fiction.
He lives in St. John's, Newfoundland with his wife and three step-kids.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 116 reviews
June 26, 2017
The Wreckage is one of the most complicated, yet compelling, books I've ever read. What appears to be a straight-forward love story set in WWII, what seems to be familiar territory, turns out to be a masterful exploration of humanity and identity and the limits of how well we can ever know one another. With a native son's eye and a poet's facility with words, Michael Crummey paints the landscape and ethos of pre-Confederation Newfoundland, capturing a people right before modernity changes their generations-old prejudices and way of life. With the misdirection of a practised conjurer, the author makes us believe we are reading one story until, with little flourish, he makes revelations at the end that throw everything we think we know into doubt.
Told from the shifting POV of three characters and spanning fifty years and two continents, Crummey cast his net wide and deep to create a complex and emotional narrative. Any discussion of the plot would be ruinous to those who haven't read The Wreckage, so spoilers beyond:
And as if the plot isn't complex and satisfying enough, Crummey layers the book with mythology and allegory and coincidences that question the roles of fate and predestination in the characters' lives.
Runaway horses and dead mothers and Catholic iconography and the nearly biblical wrath of the punishing ocean make recurring appearances (as does contemptuous peeing). Also explored are ideas of responsibility, personal and communal, and the shifting parameters of right and wrong:
There is so much to The Wreckage, beautifully constructed and written, that it gets my highest recommendation. Why do these writers from Newfoundland keep capturing and then breaking my heart?
Told from the shifting POV of three characters and spanning fifty years and two continents, Crummey cast his net wide and deep to create a complex and emotional narrative. Any discussion of the plot would be ruinous to those who haven't read The Wreckage, so spoilers beyond:
And as if the plot isn't complex and satisfying enough, Crummey layers the book with mythology and allegory and coincidences that question the roles of fate and predestination in the characters' lives.
He shouldn't have hooked up with Harris and Anstey in that bar, the two of them drunk and no real idea what England was or the army or where they'd end up. If one useless bastard in Halifax had given him sensible directions to the enlistment office. He shouldn't have listened to Hiram and run off to Halifax in the first place. If he hadn't hauled Hardy down the stairs, none of this. If he hadn't knelt to say the rosary over poor drowned Aubrey Parsons. Hadn't chased after a Protestant girl whose mother would never have him. He shouldn't have hooked up with Hiram at all, was the truth of it, shouldn't have left Renfrews.
He lay awake through hours of this kind of suffering at night while the camp was quiet and Harris and Anstley slept or lay silently running over their own lists. There was a sickening sense of inevitability to the rain of incidence and circumstance when Wish looked back on it. He started to feel even the subtlest shift -- if he'd woken earlier on the day he first saw Mercedes, if he'd drunk one beer more or less in the Halifax bar -- even the most inconsequential change would have been enough to alter the chain of events and his life now would be completely different. God's hand was there in the details, Lilly always said, turning you left or right. And there was some vague comfort in thinking God was to blame.
Runaway horses and dead mothers and Catholic iconography and the nearly biblical wrath of the punishing ocean make recurring appearances (as does contemptuous peeing). Also explored are ideas of responsibility, personal and communal, and the shifting parameters of right and wrong:
"I'll tell you what I thought at the time. I thought the Americans were the only ones in the world had the guts to drop those bombs and God bless them. I prayed for more, is the truth of it. Even after I saw what it did…
"I'll tell you what I think now, Isabella," he said. He spoke without raising his voice. "There isn’t another country in the world could have dropped those bombs and then carried on claiming love is the cure for all that ails the world. What a feat that is. Hallmark and Disneyland and Hollywood and whatever else makes you believe such bullshit. What a feat," he said again.
There is so much to The Wreckage, beautifully constructed and written, that it gets my highest recommendation. Why do these writers from Newfoundland keep capturing and then breaking my heart?
August 26, 2017
so freaking good. michael crummey's brain is the most awesome place and if i could take writing courses from anyone in the world, it would be him! man, oh man! crummey has this genius ability to create characters and scenes that just stun with their vividness. i love the way he uses place as a near-character too. everything i have ever read from him is evocative and gets right under my skin. his prose is fluid, beautiful and haunting. the stories he creates seem so real and knowable. and he has a crazy understanding of people that he brings into his writing - all of the big things and little things, the nuances and secrets, dreams and realities that make people who they are...he will expose them, in the process having you confront more about yourself than usually happens in reading a novel. and maybe more than you will be comfortable with.
November 12, 2019
I don't know what to make of this novel. I felt like the writing quality was high, but there was a lot I didn't enjoy at all. 1) none of the characters were very likable to me, so it was hard to care what happened to them. As other reviewers have noted, in the Japanese interpreter's first introduction he is presented as a kind man who helps out a mentally handicapped fellow soldier, then the next time we seem him he is a sadistic monster, and this is never reconciled. 2) there were so many graphic descriptions of bodily functions! There must have been about 20 detailed descriptions of bowel movements, another 30 of urination, added to the graphic descriptions of sort of skanky sex (like where it keeps going on about how he can "taste her in his mouth" the next day so he doesn't drink tea that morning), added to the many graphic descriptions of torture in the POW camp, it was just a lot. Especially when in the midst of the graphic description of torture, the character then flashes back on his gross sexual encounter, while having a bowel movement, lol!
November 29, 2020
My second MC book and I could find no fault with anything!
I enjoyed learning more about Newfoundland, the locales, lingo, hardships and religious beliefs.
The story-line about the war and it's aftermath was well written and the parts about being held captive were disturbing, but am sure were very true.
The love story of Mercedes and Wish at the start of the book was wonderful and when Wish came back (because it seemed he had died) at the end and married Mercedes was a great ending. I imagine the struggles Wish had when he came back was heart-wrenching and am sure many returning soldiers went through this.
Mercedes and Johnny story was short, but an important part of the story and there was just enough to be interested in both characters for the portion of the story.
Loved the story of Mercedes following her heart to find Wish and meeting that group of people who opened their hearts to her and help track down Wish.
Highly recommend to MC fans if they've not read the book, those that like WW2 era books, those that just like a good story.
I enjoyed learning more about Newfoundland, the locales, lingo, hardships and religious beliefs.
The story-line about the war and it's aftermath was well written and the parts about being held captive were disturbing, but am sure were very true.
The love story of Mercedes and Wish at the start of the book was wonderful and when Wish came back (because it seemed he had died) at the end and married Mercedes was a great ending. I imagine the struggles Wish had when he came back was heart-wrenching and am sure many returning soldiers went through this.
Mercedes and Johnny story was short, but an important part of the story and there was just enough to be interested in both characters for the portion of the story.
Loved the story of Mercedes following her heart to find Wish and meeting that group of people who opened their hearts to her and help track down Wish.
Highly recommend to MC fans if they've not read the book, those that like WW2 era books, those that just like a good story.
March 15, 2017
Wish Furey is a young Catholic man making his way in Newfoundland, off the coast of Canada, at the outset of World War II. His world is turned upside down when he meets Mercedes (Sadie) Parsons. Deeply in love, the fact that she is Protestant becomes a barrier to their future and her family does everything they can to put a stop to it. He is chased back to the mainland after an altercation with Sadie's brother, and is encouraged to join the military to escape a probable murder charge.
Meanwhile, Sadie leaves home in search of Wish, and learning of his enlistment, decides to wait for him. At the same time, Wish (still in love with Sadie, but having no knowledge that she is waiting for him) is captured by the Japanese and interned near Nagasaki.
Author Michael Crummey writes a beautiful and heartfelt narrative about the hope that keeps us going through the most difficult of times. Both Sadie and Wish endure terrible hardships that have a long lasting effect on both their lives. Crummey's writing is a poignant reminder that life is not always neat, and the events that shape us often take us in unexpected directions.
I loved the way the author develops his characters. Each event presents another layer of depth - the pain and suffering both Sadie and Wish endure deepens their personalities and draws the reader in. I was very impressed with this novel and look forward to reading more by this author in the future.
Meanwhile, Sadie leaves home in search of Wish, and learning of his enlistment, decides to wait for him. At the same time, Wish (still in love with Sadie, but having no knowledge that she is waiting for him) is captured by the Japanese and interned near Nagasaki.
Author Michael Crummey writes a beautiful and heartfelt narrative about the hope that keeps us going through the most difficult of times. Both Sadie and Wish endure terrible hardships that have a long lasting effect on both their lives. Crummey's writing is a poignant reminder that life is not always neat, and the events that shape us often take us in unexpected directions.
I loved the way the author develops his characters. Each event presents another layer of depth - the pain and suffering both Sadie and Wish endure deepens their personalities and draws the reader in. I was very impressed with this novel and look forward to reading more by this author in the future.
December 28, 2022
A very solid, melancholic story about peoples’ lives being changed by war in large and small ways. A possible great love disappears amidst a doomed companionship due to their being different religious denominations. Decades later the fallout of many decisions are felt. It��s not a wildly novel plot, but it is done very well. Examining PTSD and philosophy and the things that bring people together and rip them apart. The character work is the shining star here, as the pacing is pretty slow. It was very enjoyable for me though. But I like very sad novels, typically.
December 16, 2020
Comic, tragic, beautiful. Didn't want it to end. I recommend checking out what a riddle fence looks like.
July 10, 2017
Had a really hard time getting into this book. The first bit about the Japanese during the war was confusing; it was hard to figure out who was who because sometimes characters were referred to by their first name and sometimes last. Had to read it about 3x before I figured it out. The characters don't come back into the story until much later and it didn't make sense that the guy who became the interpreter seemed to start out as a nice, compassionate guy, taking care of a fellow soldier who was mentally handicapped, but later he was portrayed as a sadistic asshole. Why? All in all it was an ok story, but just ok.
July 8, 2020
4.5 stars... it would have been five but I found the final section of the book a bit hard to follow. I love Michael Crummy’s writing. He writes beautifully about rural Newfoundland. His books make the place into a central character but he also draws his characters, especially the male ones, with such detail and reality you expect them to walk in the door for a cup of tea. This book is far reaching in time and geography but the reader wants to stay with it long after the last page.
May 18, 2020
I called in sick to finish this.
January 31, 2021
“The Wreckage” opens in remote Newfoundland outport setting – a time and place that Michael Crummey has explored many times and always with elegance. But this particular novel encompasses a much broader palette that spans Europe during WW2, St Johns Newfoundland and Vancouver Canada.
Wish Furey meets passionate and independent Sadie Parsons on Little Fogo Island. They fall in love and meet in secret for a short time. But the religions they were born into – Wish is Catholic and Sadie is Protestant – denies them the ability to be together.
After an unfortunate turn of events, Wish enlists in the British Army and enters the war while Sadie leaves her family behind to wait for Wish in St Johns. But a long interment in a Japanese prisoner of war camp, and the carnage he witnesses after the atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, leaves him emotionally bereft and broken. Led to believe that Wish is dead, Sadie establishes a new life. But 50 years later their paths cross again.
“The Wreckage” explores the limits of human hatred in contrast with the resilience of love and how deep both can run. Another moving and engrossing novel from one of Canada’s most gifted novelists.
Wish Furey meets passionate and independent Sadie Parsons on Little Fogo Island. They fall in love and meet in secret for a short time. But the religions they were born into – Wish is Catholic and Sadie is Protestant – denies them the ability to be together.
After an unfortunate turn of events, Wish enlists in the British Army and enters the war while Sadie leaves her family behind to wait for Wish in St Johns. But a long interment in a Japanese prisoner of war camp, and the carnage he witnesses after the atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, leaves him emotionally bereft and broken. Led to believe that Wish is dead, Sadie establishes a new life. But 50 years later their paths cross again.
“The Wreckage” explores the limits of human hatred in contrast with the resilience of love and how deep both can run. Another moving and engrossing novel from one of Canada’s most gifted novelists.
July 2, 2017
The first book I've read by this author and was pleased to have discovered another whose books cast a spell on me. Perhaps it was the fact that it was set it Newfoundland in a small outport very similar to Stones Cove where I was born. It could have been the fact that I have traveled to many of the villages, towns and cities mentioned in the book, or it could be that Michael Crummey is a darn good writer and I would have liked the book regardless of the setting. He knows how to flesh out his characters so that I was drawn into their lives and felt that they might be people I have met or could met.
I am eager to start his next novel or perhaps look into one of his several books of poetry.
I am eager to start his next novel or perhaps look into one of his several books of poetry.
August 15, 2017
Set in Newfoundland and Japan, this is a compellingly good story of love, war and loss over several decades. It's about how circumstances intervene and change you. It's about the life you end up living instead of the one you thought you were destined for.
Michael Crummey has a gift for writing, story-telling, dialogue and character. I finished this book a week or so ago, and there are a couple of scenes that continue to reverberate in my mind, like a song that keeps playing in the background.
Michael Crummey has a gift for writing, story-telling, dialogue and character. I finished this book a week or so ago, and there are a couple of scenes that continue to reverberate in my mind, like a song that keeps playing in the background.
October 24, 2021
Crummey has written a masterpiece. True to its name, this book has all of the deep, aching, desolate beauty of the scene of an ancient wreck or an abandoned outport - full of the human stories that make up life, warts and all. This book commands an urgency to be read and unravelled and put back together. A command that I have no choice but to echo: read this book.
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September 19, 2018A hard story about hard people in hard times. Well done but hard to really like.
April 20, 2021
I have become mesmerized by Michael Crummey's considerable writing skill. His prose is precise yet lush. His characters are real, understandable, compelling, even though their particular experience may be utterly foreign to the reader -- such is Crummey's ability to create from only words living, breathing, knowable individuals. And his ability to create a plot, hang a story from it, replete with sensory surround, is nothing short of formidable.
His ability to do all that once again in his novel, The Wreckage proves true.
In this tale, Crummey weaves the complexities of religious prejudice, clan ideology, and PTSD into a horrifically mesmerizing story about two young, would-be lovers who are separated not only by their families' demands, but WWII, and their own inability to speak the truth they cage within themselves.
Within that seemingly simple story, Crummey examines the concept of wreckage: that of the tsunami which transformed the lives of many Newfoundlanders in 1929, of the people isolated by prejudice, of Japanese-Canadians who found themselves wrecked politically, culturally and socially, and of veterans who daily have to deal with the trauma of torture and trauma they endured.
This is not a beautiful story. And yet it is. It is a remarkable and unforgettable journey Crummey chains you to. It is also a novel worthy of your time.
His ability to do all that once again in his novel, The Wreckage proves true.
In this tale, Crummey weaves the complexities of religious prejudice, clan ideology, and PTSD into a horrifically mesmerizing story about two young, would-be lovers who are separated not only by their families' demands, but WWII, and their own inability to speak the truth they cage within themselves.
Within that seemingly simple story, Crummey examines the concept of wreckage: that of the tsunami which transformed the lives of many Newfoundlanders in 1929, of the people isolated by prejudice, of Japanese-Canadians who found themselves wrecked politically, culturally and socially, and of veterans who daily have to deal with the trauma of torture and trauma they endured.
This is not a beautiful story. And yet it is. It is a remarkable and unforgettable journey Crummey chains you to. It is also a novel worthy of your time.
February 27, 2010
This novel is about the romance between Sadie Parsons (a Protestant) and Wish Furey (a Catholic). The book starts by telling the story of how they fall in love as teenagers and are separated by her family and WWII. Wish leaves Newfoundland to fight with the British troups overseas and Sadie promises to wait for him. In 1945, she receives a letter from someone in the army telling her that Wish died in a Japanese POW camp. She eventually goes on to marry an American soldier and moves to Boston. The book then cuts to 50 years later when Sadie returns to Newfoundland to spread her American husband's ashes. While she is back in Newfoundland, she learns the truth of what really happened to Wish. I won't say whether he lives or dies, but the truth is not as easy to understand as Sadie thought it would be and she has to face it whether she wants to or not.
I thought this was a very sad book, especially after reading through to the end. What Sadie finds out about Wish 50 years later is especially heartbreaking. Wish's scenes in the POW camp are brutal and some were very hard to read. However, despite all the sadness and heartbreak, the book was well-written and it was interesting. I give it two thumbs up and if you like Canadian literature, you will be sure to love this book.
I thought this was a very sad book, especially after reading through to the end. What Sadie finds out about Wish 50 years later is especially heartbreaking. Wish's scenes in the POW camp are brutal and some were very hard to read. However, despite all the sadness and heartbreak, the book was well-written and it was interesting. I give it two thumbs up and if you like Canadian literature, you will be sure to love this book.
May 12, 2010
an interesting story that takes place during WW2 in Newfoundland before Newfoundland was a part of Canada. Wish and Sadie (Alouicious and Mercedes) are on the verge of becoming sweethearts but there is a problem– he is Catholic and she is Protestant and the families don’t approve. a misunderstanding causes Wish to flee and before it can be resolved he joins the army and goes to war. Sadie waits for him throughout the war only to find out at the end that he is killed in a Japanese concentration camp. she gets on with her life, marries and moves to the States wanting to leave Newfoundland and all it’s memories behind her. 50 years later, after her husband dies, she returns to Newfoundland to scatter his ashes. she makes a strange discovery! although i thought the ending lacked i really enjoyed the story– it was a fast and interesting read.
October 7, 2014
A soft 4/5. Crummey squanders a great start. The book is brilliant up until the nuke is dropped on Nagasaki. After that, it meanders towards its conclusion.
My biggest issue was the Nishino character. Crummey devotes a few small chapters to him initially but then abandons him. It seems like he was apprehensive of letting an undeveloped sadist further the plot and needed to give him some motivation but then just gave up.
I really liked the depiction of Catholicism and Protestantism in pre-confederation Newfoundland. And Crummey is always at home when depicting life in the outports. These are both well-trodden territory but Crummey makes it new.
My biggest issue was the Nishino character. Crummey devotes a few small chapters to him initially but then abandons him. It seems like he was apprehensive of letting an undeveloped sadist further the plot and needed to give him some motivation but then just gave up.
I really liked the depiction of Catholicism and Protestantism in pre-confederation Newfoundland. And Crummey is always at home when depicting life in the outports. These are both well-trodden territory but Crummey makes it new.
March 21, 2019
I seem to remember reading an article somewhere that suggested Michael Crummey was one, if not the most underrated writer in Canada. I totally agree. This is the third novel I have read of his, and as per ushe it is an astonishing and riveting work. I feel pretty thrilled whenever I bury myself in one of his books and The Wreckage does not disappoint. Crummey is a wonderful, wonderful writer with great insight into human nature. Read him. He totally deserves a Booker Prize.
October 30, 2016
I enjoyed this book - want to go back to Newfoundland and Fogo island!
January 15, 2022
Po biblijnej historii Jonasza Michael Crummey znów sięga po uniwersalny klasyk i przerabia go całkowicie po swojemu. Na motywie Romeo i Julii buduje opowieść o wojnie, dobru i złu tkwiącym w człowieku, przede wszystkim jednak o miłości zdolnej rzucić na szale wszystko. - Pobojowisko.
Nowa Fundlandia rok 1940. Kiedy Stany Zjednoczone przystępują do wojny z Japonią i Hitlerem, dwójka młodych ludzi pochodzących z wrogich w stosunku do siebie miast, zakochują się wbrew wszystkiemu i wszystkim. Jak tylko Wisch ujrzał Mercedes, wiedział, że chce z nią spędzić resztę życia. On katolik, ona protestantka a jej rodzina nawet nie ukrywa pogardy do katolicyzmu i samego chłopaka. Zmusza Wischa do wyjazdu z Cove w opinii złodzieja i mordercy, Mercedes rusza w ślad za nim. Nie wie tylko, że dopiero po kilkudziesięciu latach dane będzie im, ponownie się spotkać.
Jeśli ktoś myślał, że Dostatek był jednorazowym wybrykiem, to Pobojowisko od razu udowadnia, że był w błędzie. Crummey osadza akcję zarówno na Nowej Fundlandii - na początku i końcu przez co może stanowić pewną klamrę, środek zaś poza jej obszarami. O ile poprzednio hipnotyzował surowym krajobrazem, to teraz postawił na emocje. Wraca jednocześnie do motywu morza, które daje ale i odbiera. Niczym dla mitologicznego Odyseusza staje się obszarem wędrówki bohaterów za utraconym szczęściem, my zaś czekamy, kiedy będzie im dane wrócić do domu. Michael Crummey snuje przejmującą opowieść opierając się na dwóch wątkach. Pierwszy to miłość i tęsknota jako coś delikatnego, niewinnego i kruchego, szybko przemija ale nie pozwala o sobie zapomnieć, a w sercu pozostaje wspomnienie wspólnie spędzonych dni i tęsknota za tym, co może bezpowrotnie utracone. Tu też znajduje się pierwsze pobojowisko, tkwi ono w myślach głównie Wisha często powracającego w nich do przeszłości. W kontrze stoi zło, które jest w człowieku i to ono popycha go do okrucieństwa i dążenia do totalnego zmiażdżenienia przeciwnika. Jak miłość, tak również nienawiść staje się motorem popychającym do działania.
Temat zakazanego uczucia staje się tylko pretekstem do pokazania niszczycielskiej siły wojny. Przemoc i pogarda dla przedstawiciela innej narodowości jest po obu stronach. Stajemy się świadkami zrzucenia na Nagasaki bomby atomowej. Obserwujemy, jakie pociągnęła skutki i oczywiście można patrzeć na to, jako swoisty sposób rozprawienia się autora z zakończeniem II wojny światowej, jaki zastosowały USA. Pada mocne stwierdzenie, że tylko Ameryka zrzucając bombę atomową niosącą śmierć w promieniu setek kilometrów, potrafi dalej opiewać miłość. Wcześniej jednak obserwujemy sposób traktowania jeńców wojennych przez Japończyków. Trzymanie w klatkach, bicie bambusowym kijem i warunki uwłaczające godności człowieka, może nie tłumaczą zemsty Ameryki, ale na pewno patrzy się na nią z innej perspektywy i uświadamia, że jest ona też inauguracją zupełnie nowej epoki.
Całość poznajemy z kilku punktów patrzenia tak, jakby Michael Crummey chciał dać głos trójce swoich bohaterów. Przyczyn tragedii Wisha i Mercedes można szukać w religii, tradycji, uprzedzeniach, wojnie czy prawach historii. Jeszcze nie mogli dobrze się poznać i pozwolić zakorzenić uczuciu, kiedy zostają brutalnie rozdzieleni. Paradoksalnie to wyklęta miłość staje się punktem zwrotnym w życiu tych dwojga ludzi. Oboje wiele doświadczają i wciąż rozbrzmiewa się w ich uszach i w uszach czytelnika wołanie o miłosierdzie.
Pobojowisko hipnotyzuje stylem i językiem. Rzeczywiście mamy wrażenie, jakbyśmy sami słyszeli szum morza, huk bomb, czuli strach wobec tego, co widzimy. A w sercu czytelnika rozbrzmiewa pytanie o szczęśliwe zakończenie. Crummey nie ma litości rzuca na kolana i kopie z różnych stron, na koniec jest jedynie pobojowisko. Tak to teryteriolne, ale też w sercu i umyśle człowieka. Zetknięcie z złem sprawia, że z walki tej nie można wyjść nie poobijanym. Nie ma wątpliwości, że wszystko zostało dokładnie przemyślane i każda postać, każda scena ma swoje uzasadnienie, stanowiąc nierozerwalny i spójny związek z całością. Crummey udowadnia, że ma wszelkie szanse zapisania się na stałe w kanonie literatury.
Nowa Fundlandia rok 1940. Kiedy Stany Zjednoczone przystępują do wojny z Japonią i Hitlerem, dwójka młodych ludzi pochodzących z wrogich w stosunku do siebie miast, zakochują się wbrew wszystkiemu i wszystkim. Jak tylko Wisch ujrzał Mercedes, wiedział, że chce z nią spędzić resztę życia. On katolik, ona protestantka a jej rodzina nawet nie ukrywa pogardy do katolicyzmu i samego chłopaka. Zmusza Wischa do wyjazdu z Cove w opinii złodzieja i mordercy, Mercedes rusza w ślad za nim. Nie wie tylko, że dopiero po kilkudziesięciu latach dane będzie im, ponownie się spotkać.
Jeśli ktoś myślał, że Dostatek był jednorazowym wybrykiem, to Pobojowisko od razu udowadnia, że był w błędzie. Crummey osadza akcję zarówno na Nowej Fundlandii - na początku i końcu przez co może stanowić pewną klamrę, środek zaś poza jej obszarami. O ile poprzednio hipnotyzował surowym krajobrazem, to teraz postawił na emocje. Wraca jednocześnie do motywu morza, które daje ale i odbiera. Niczym dla mitologicznego Odyseusza staje się obszarem wędrówki bohaterów za utraconym szczęściem, my zaś czekamy, kiedy będzie im dane wrócić do domu. Michael Crummey snuje przejmującą opowieść opierając się na dwóch wątkach. Pierwszy to miłość i tęsknota jako coś delikatnego, niewinnego i kruchego, szybko przemija ale nie pozwala o sobie zapomnieć, a w sercu pozostaje wspomnienie wspólnie spędzonych dni i tęsknota za tym, co może bezpowrotnie utracone. Tu też znajduje się pierwsze pobojowisko, tkwi ono w myślach głównie Wisha często powracającego w nich do przeszłości. W kontrze stoi zło, które jest w człowieku i to ono popycha go do okrucieństwa i dążenia do totalnego zmiażdżenienia przeciwnika. Jak miłość, tak również nienawiść staje się motorem popychającym do działania.
Temat zakazanego uczucia staje się tylko pretekstem do pokazania niszczycielskiej siły wojny. Przemoc i pogarda dla przedstawiciela innej narodowości jest po obu stronach. Stajemy się świadkami zrzucenia na Nagasaki bomby atomowej. Obserwujemy, jakie pociągnęła skutki i oczywiście można patrzeć na to, jako swoisty sposób rozprawienia się autora z zakończeniem II wojny światowej, jaki zastosowały USA. Pada mocne stwierdzenie, że tylko Ameryka zrzucając bombę atomową niosącą śmierć w promieniu setek kilometrów, potrafi dalej opiewać miłość. Wcześniej jednak obserwujemy sposób traktowania jeńców wojennych przez Japończyków. Trzymanie w klatkach, bicie bambusowym kijem i warunki uwłaczające godności człowieka, może nie tłumaczą zemsty Ameryki, ale na pewno patrzy się na nią z innej perspektywy i uświadamia, że jest ona też inauguracją zupełnie nowej epoki.
Całość poznajemy z kilku punktów patrzenia tak, jakby Michael Crummey chciał dać głos trójce swoich bohaterów. Przyczyn tragedii Wisha i Mercedes można szukać w religii, tradycji, uprzedzeniach, wojnie czy prawach historii. Jeszcze nie mogli dobrze się poznać i pozwolić zakorzenić uczuciu, kiedy zostają brutalnie rozdzieleni. Paradoksalnie to wyklęta miłość staje się punktem zwrotnym w życiu tych dwojga ludzi. Oboje wiele doświadczają i wciąż rozbrzmiewa się w ich uszach i w uszach czytelnika wołanie o miłosierdzie.
Pobojowisko hipnotyzuje stylem i językiem. Rzeczywiście mamy wrażenie, jakbyśmy sami słyszeli szum morza, huk bomb, czuli strach wobec tego, co widzimy. A w sercu czytelnika rozbrzmiewa pytanie o szczęśliwe zakończenie. Crummey nie ma litości rzuca na kolana i kopie z różnych stron, na koniec jest jedynie pobojowisko. Tak to teryteriolne, ale też w sercu i umyśle człowieka. Zetknięcie z złem sprawia, że z walki tej nie można wyjść nie poobijanym. Nie ma wątpliwości, że wszystko zostało dokładnie przemyślane i każda postać, każda scena ma swoje uzasadnienie, stanowiąc nierozerwalny i spójny związek z całością. Crummey udowadnia, że ma wszelkie szanse zapisania się na stałe w kanonie literatury.
January 24, 2021
This came to hand just after a trip to the Maritimes which did not include Newfoundland. That omission is something which obviously needs to be rectified because each time I get exposure to that culture through reading it makes me want to go there. Newfoundland may be the “cult” of the first part of the 21st century.
The book focuses on the years from late youth to death and old age for three central characters. Nishino, a bitter Japanese Canadian who joins the imperial army and becomes a brutal prison camp interpreter; Aloysius Furey, an eighteen year old Catholic boy whose youth has been rough and who has already been “drifting” for a couple of years, and Mercedes Parsons, the sixteen year old daughter of a Protestant fishing family with whom he falls in love.
The initial complications arise from the religious prejudice which results in Wish joining the army and ultimately coming under control of Nishino.
Wreckage
Mercedes- plate in her head
Unable to love her second daughter
Continues to go to gallery every year to look at
blank wall where dead daugher’s favorite picture
had been hung
Married Johnny even though she knew she didn’t love him
Wish- memories of tidal wave and burning horse
Had to run away from Mercedes at the time that he may
have been discovering himself
alcohol took much of his energy
-unable to maintain relationships
-memories of prison camp and what he ultimately did
made him believe himself not worthy of Mercedes
Nishino- embittered by treatment of “Japs” in BC
Attempts to get even made him brutal and sadistic
in his treatment of prisoners
-ended physically broken and pissed on
The reunion (?) of Mercedes and Aloysius is ultimately brought about by Johnny who wanted his ashes spread in Newfoundland and Lilly, who was likely the most broken of all the characters in the novel. Actually, most were broken in some way.
I was never quite sure whether Wish returned to Nfld. before Sadie went to Johnny but from my reading I believe that is the case.
The book focuses on the years from late youth to death and old age for three central characters. Nishino, a bitter Japanese Canadian who joins the imperial army and becomes a brutal prison camp interpreter; Aloysius Furey, an eighteen year old Catholic boy whose youth has been rough and who has already been “drifting” for a couple of years, and Mercedes Parsons, the sixteen year old daughter of a Protestant fishing family with whom he falls in love.
The initial complications arise from the religious prejudice which results in Wish joining the army and ultimately coming under control of Nishino.
Wreckage
Mercedes- plate in her head
Unable to love her second daughter
Continues to go to gallery every year to look at
blank wall where dead daugher’s favorite picture
had been hung
Married Johnny even though she knew she didn’t love him
Wish- memories of tidal wave and burning horse
Had to run away from Mercedes at the time that he may
have been discovering himself
alcohol took much of his energy
-unable to maintain relationships
-memories of prison camp and what he ultimately did
made him believe himself not worthy of Mercedes
Nishino- embittered by treatment of “Japs” in BC
Attempts to get even made him brutal and sadistic
in his treatment of prisoners
-ended physically broken and pissed on
The reunion (?) of Mercedes and Aloysius is ultimately brought about by Johnny who wanted his ashes spread in Newfoundland and Lilly, who was likely the most broken of all the characters in the novel. Actually, most were broken in some way.
I was never quite sure whether Wish returned to Nfld. before Sadie went to Johnny but from my reading I believe that is the case.
June 27, 2017
This book is a fantastic read....opens up every emotion a reader has.... a book I couldn't put down. Sometimes, the story line got a little confusing with the time frame....flashbacks are common and I had to reread in a few spots to orient myself with the place and time this new passage is expressing.
Wish and Mercedes were both very likable and I felt so sorry about their situation regarding their Christian faith....he, a Catholic; she a Protestant. Then the war years when letters were few and far between and non-existent when Wish is interned in a POW camp and treated so inhumanely ...such cruelty especially by the Canadian/Japanese man known as 'the interpreter'.
The ending is not clear cut but I am assuming the best for both Wish and Mercedes....
Wish and Mercedes were both very likable and I felt so sorry about their situation regarding their Christian faith....he, a Catholic; she a Protestant. Then the war years when letters were few and far between and non-existent when Wish is interned in a POW camp and treated so inhumanely ...such cruelty especially by the Canadian/Japanese man known as 'the interpreter'.
The ending is not clear cut but I am assuming the best for both Wish and Mercedes....
June 27, 2024
The Wreckage
Michael Crummey, Mary Lewis (Narrator)
With his bowl hair cut Crummey is the rare Newfoundland writer to return to Newfoundland. Having won a $300 prize for the poetry he wrote while at Memorial for a BA he got the idea that he could make a living writing poetry. After getting an MA at Queens he abandoned PHD studies to take up writing.
What the brutal prelude in Vietnam has to do with anything will become apparent later it would seem. Life on a fishing boat is equally perilous.
The characters offer flashbacks to Vietnam, the Korean War, the dropping of the bombs on Japan. Not a feel good read.
Crummey uses profanity and Newfie turns of phrase. We get a vignette of outport life.
Michael Crummey, Mary Lewis (Narrator)
With his bowl hair cut Crummey is the rare Newfoundland writer to return to Newfoundland. Having won a $300 prize for the poetry he wrote while at Memorial for a BA he got the idea that he could make a living writing poetry. After getting an MA at Queens he abandoned PHD studies to take up writing.
What the brutal prelude in Vietnam has to do with anything will become apparent later it would seem. Life on a fishing boat is equally perilous.
The characters offer flashbacks to Vietnam, the Korean War, the dropping of the bombs on Japan. Not a feel good read.
Crummey uses profanity and Newfie turns of phrase. We get a vignette of outport life.
April 15, 2019
Without being too taken with by the characters, I found myself engrossed in the atmosphere described by the author in widly different settings, going back and forth between past and present : Newfoundland in the 1930s when it still wasn't part of Canada, surrounded by a harsh and beautiful nature and filled with a bitter hostility between Protestants and Catholics; a PoW in Japan during WW2; Halifax in the mid-21st century...
It has love but it's not cheesy (at all), it has war but without gratuitous violence and pathos. Most of all, it has change, in an era and in its people. A nice read.
It has love but it's not cheesy (at all), it has war but without gratuitous violence and pathos. Most of all, it has change, in an era and in its people. A nice read.
January 21, 2020
This is a very nicely written book about some damaged people. There is a bit of a twist to the story (revealed on the inside flap of the dust jacket on the copy I own) but really, it does not play out exactly as you might expect.
One curious point: One of the protagonists is captured in 1940 by the Japanese, yet there is a reference to Saigon in the text and on the dust jacket. Is this just a boo-boo, or is there a part of Singapore that was known as Saigon? This did not affect my enjoyment of the book, it is just a question that came to mind. Me, I'm thinking it was a boo-boo.
One curious point: One of the protagonists is captured in 1940 by the Japanese, yet there is a reference to Saigon in the text and on the dust jacket. Is this just a boo-boo, or is there a part of Singapore that was known as Saigon? This did not affect my enjoyment of the book, it is just a question that came to mind. Me, I'm thinking it was a boo-boo.
September 3, 2023
Good. Not his best. This reminded me of a relationship I was in at 18… I wore him down and eventually, despite his reluctance, we were together and he loved me. Or did he, really? Meh. What a depressing notion. The ending was lukewarm. As the heroine is pining for bachelor #1, away in the Great War, bachelor #2 falls for her. She marries him with no love, just angry resignation. Sixty years later, bachelor #1 reappears. They are both scarred and battered from their lives. But she doggedly pursues him despite many obvious reasons not to, not the least of which is he admits he never really loved her while they were together. It was only their separation, through the war where he became in love with the IDEA of her, as he pined for her picture. Yet she persists. He was no prize. Meh.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 23, 2024
I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot about WWII which I hadn't known before. The characters were interesting and complex- complex in the sense that I had never read about the experience of people living in Newfoundland during that time period (late 1930s). The geography was remote and different types of people were trying to salvage their cultures while recognizing the need for more outsiders to join their small communities. Young adults entering puberty had few opportunities to meet potential mates in their closed communities yet there was anxiety about leaving and joining other groups. WWII had abruptly started and many young men were quickly leaving to join allied forces overseas. Fast forward to some of the characters that the reader initially met in Newfoundland, who are now confined in a Japanese POW camp and dealing with a cruel sociopath guard who takes particular dislike for several of their men. The incidents that play out in this setting and on the different side of the world after the war are a critical part of the novel.
March 20, 2020
I absolutely loved this book. Some of it was tough to read - I'm cringy about war scenes as they tend to stay with me for an inordinate amount of time. There were so many amazing aspects of this book - the diverse settings, rich characters and compelling plot lines to start, but also the reflections on religion, war and love. Not to mention visiting Newfoundland and being introduced to some fascinating Newfoundlanders, all of whom Crummey has likely met at some point in his life. Brilliant!
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