The Tablecloth Trick

By Rick Crilly

An unrequited love story? Possibly. (Probably?) A suicide note? Perhaps.

The Tablecloth Trick's unnamed narrator recalls a childhood spent with Caroline -- always Caroline -- the centre of his universe, delving into books (hundreds of them) at a Winnipeg library and sharing an extraordinary friendship and a recondite sense of wonderment in scientific and ontological inquiry. Until one day Caroline opens her school locker and finds a MASH note from an astronaut -- that is, she discovers other boys.

When she leaves for university, memories of Caroline are put in a closet; he starts working at Estella's Pie in the Sky Bakery. His search for illumination continues in a lonely, insular world of reading and acutely imagined juxtaposition -- of disease and art; of Catholic mythology and the female body.

Now, years later, after rediscovering Caroline at St. Boniface Hospital, the narrator is compelled by old emotions to return to the phantasmagorical thoughts of his childhood -- to imagine two of them together, the life he was never meant to live.

Collecting linguistic oddities, scraps of images, bits of text, and hybridized references, Rick Crilly cuts-up and collages, disassembles and recreates an anatomical mystery where a blank page becomes a meditation on grief, and a crossed out word is a librarian's scalpel. The Tablecloth Trick whips away the artifice between Fiction and fact (that's Fiction with a capital F -- because Plato loved capital letters, after all) to see what, if anything, is left standing.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 155022770X
• ISBN13: 9781550227703
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: Misfit Book
• Length: 90 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Captivating and Creative

One of the most engaging and unique books I have ever read. Very creative and effective use of symbolism. The author's distinctive style of writing kept me riveted from start to finish. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to deviate from the beaten path.

Great Book to read for book club

We read this book in our book club and its excellent. Very smart, well written and a quick read. It brought many discussions to the table. If you are looking for something different and want a book that makes you think you should buy this book.

Favorite Experimental Fiction Book

If you are looking for a book written in an interesting way you must read this book. It is like no other book I have ever read. It might be the strangest book I have ever read, but definitely one of my favorites. The author writes with a sense of humor, lots of ancedotal details, and poetically. The book also has many layers of symbolism and a sense of mystery. It is a book you might read several times to uncover the layers of symbolism. Each time a new enjoyable experience. WE read this book in my bookclub. It raised many interesting topics for discussion. I liked the main character and identified with them. The author writes so you feel connected and really know the main character. This book is a must read in the experimental fiction genre. I look forward to the authors next books.