Mister Sandman

by Barbara Gowdy

Book Overview

Gowdy's "delightfully quirky novel"(New York Times Book Review) about an oddball Toronto family is "so brilliantly crafted and flat-out fun to read that she makes sinners of us all" (Washington Post... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1883642337
• ISBN13: 9781883642334
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Steerforth Press
• Length: 268 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

"'The truth is only aversion.'" - Sonja Canary

In this beautifully written novel, the reader is introduced to each member of the Canary family. Early on it becomes clear that a great deal of how this unconventional family functions is through deceit. At first, it seems like this is a family doomed to destruction and angst. Afterall, the truth can only be buried so long. And, don't most contemporary novels featuring highly dysfunctional families end sadly? Happily, in "Mister Sandman", what ultimately shines through each character's obvious flaws is a genuine love, protection and devotion to each other that is endearing and comical. Joan, the family's ethereal and mute youngest member, becomes the sounding board to whom the rest of the family divulges their secrets. She is a silent observer, a gravitational force that pulls the family inward and keeps it together. Later, she is also the catalyst for moving everyone together towards greater honesty with themselves and each other. In Nancy Pearl's "BookLust", "Mister Sandman" is recommended as a "Coming Out" novel. Gowdy's story is indeed frankly sexual. But whatever a reader's comfort level with honest sexuality, I have seldom read a book with stronger characterizations, whose every sentence - nee, every word - is purposeful, thoughtful, and necessary to the story. Though this is a family inherently averse to truth, it is their duplicity that gives them authentic dimensionality. While their dishonesty is never overtly approved of, neither is it the means to the Canary's destruction. "Mister Sandman" reminds me of John Irving's early books minus the angst. I definitely want to read more of Gowdy's books. I recently purchased "The White Bone", a story told from the perspective of an elephant. With such far-reaching literary abilities, Gowdy deserves to become better-known in the United States. "Mister Sandman" was an absolute pleasure to read. Despite such a vastly odd cast of characters and strange family mix, this is an uplifting story of a family whose devotion to each other rises above everything else. "They could be a family spending a day at the beach together. If they were on a beach. If it was day."

Mister Sandman

This is an amazing book! I have read it at least six times. The characters are so strange and bizare but yet so real and human. I could not put this book down. The most facinating chapter is the one that describes how Joan, a mute savant, sees the world. Prepare yourself, it's a strange tale but well worth the read!

Desert Island Pick

This is an amazing book! It's well-crafted, funny, sad, sensitive, mystical- all of the elements of the story come together for an ending that is perfection! This is a novel EVERYONE should read because it will change the way you look at "ordinary people". I cannot rave about it enough!

This is a dreamy yet very real book

I picked up Mister Sandman at the library around three years ago (paperback version)I was through in about a day.All I can say is that this is one of the most bueatiful books I have ever read (let's keep in mind that my family calls me bookworm-so I must have read quite a few!)It stays with you after reading it -kind of like a freindly ghost...little incidences will crop up at random and I'm left racking my brains ,wondreing where that came from....

Blackly humorous - an extraordinarily dysfunctional family

I first came upon this book when I had the pleasure of hearing Ms. Gowdy speak. Two paragraphs in to her reading, I knew this was a novel of extraordinary humour ... and delicious weirdness. The Canary family is odd - Mom's an actress, Dad can't bear to come out of the closet, the eldest daughter bobby pins her way to emotional strength and independence, the younger daughter is too smart to survive her family with her sanity entirely intact and Joan (the baby) is, well, unusual. Joan however becomes the lynchpin to keeping this family together and, at the same time, giving all of her family members a chance at independence. Barbara Gowdy is a master of the weird. This is a book that I handed to 15 people and they either swallowed it whole - often finishing it in one orgy of late night reading - or gave up sometime after Mom's escapade with "Queen for a Day". (You'll have to read it.) Give it a shot - it'll be painless. Trust me. Mary Henricksen (threescr@istar.ca) Vancouver, Canada