BUT WE ARE EXILES

by Robert Kroetsch ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 1966

A Canadian novel about a crew of semi-derelicts on a barge going up the MacKenzie River in a winter storm, this is hypertense with pretentions of parable. The characters, with a sense of sealed-in doom, assume a mock-Faulknerian stance. The central plot is hardly worth telling, although the author repeats the motivating incident over and over, sometimes in italics. A young guy, named Guy, is picked up by a roarer with dough in a Rolls Royce. They beat about Canada and the Western states, taking turns with a redhead who was originally Guy's girl. Guy disappears and works on barges. Roarer marries the girl, finds Guy, buys the barge, and is then killed. Guy puts his body on another barge and then re-takes his lost girlfriend-widow.... Storm! And all of it passed through a Mixmaster.

Pub Date: March 21, 1966

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1966

Categories: FICTION