I started Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje over the weekend. I didn’t get much reading time in, though, because I was either playing with the family or sleeping.
Despite the limited time I gave to it, Divisadero pulled me in right away. The prose is so different and yet easy to read. The story begins on a farm in Northern California. There is an old farmer, who is a widower, the farm hand, Coop, and the farmer’s two daughters, Anna and Claire. The farmer’s wife died in child birth while having Anna. Another mother died in child birth the same day, orphaning a little girl, so the old farmer adopted Claire. About the same time, Coop’s family was brutally murdered by a hired hand. Coop, who was four, hid for days before coming out and identifying the murderer. The old farmer took Coop in and is teaching him how to run the farm.
With such a cast of characters, I’m excited to see where this goes. It feels almost steinbeckian so far.
Newspaper Update: Over the weekend, I did manage to keep up my commitment to absorb more news. I watched the primary returns on Saturday on CNN, I read most of the Saturday USA Today, and I read most of the Sunday New York Times. Today, I’m going to try to read at least the first section of the Deseret News.
Buy Divisadero
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I feel ‘Steinbeck-esque’ would be a more appropriate term than ‘Steinbeckian…’
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