Baltimore's Mansion - Hardcover
Any book that can make a reader who hales from the land of pleasant living (i.e., the mid-Atlantic region of the United States) seriously consider spending a winter in Newfoundland is clearly worth reading. Wayne Johnston once again manages to turn what most of us would consider a very dull subject (growing up in Newfoundland) into a minor masterpiece. If you enjoyed "Colony of Unrequited Dreams," you will be equally charmed, intrigued and entranced by "Baltimore's Mansion" but in a more personal -- and, perhaps, more meaningful -- way. I expect that if Mr. Johnston were from the USA, his books would stay at the top of the best seller lists. As it is, he remains a bit of a hidden treasure. Perhaps "Baltimore's Mansion" will help change the situation.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review:
In this forceful, complex memoir, Wayne Johnston returns to the setting of his 1999 novel, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams. Johnston doesn't just come from Newfoundland, remotest of Canada's provinces; he comes from the Avalon Peninsula, the most isolated portion of Newfoundland (and confused in young Wayne's boyish imaginings with the mythical Avalon, where King Arthur sailed to be healed of mortal wounds). It's an apt metaphor for a land that "was the edge of the known world, and looked it." Avalon's natives fiercely resented the 1948 referendum that joined Newfoundland to the Canadian Confederation--especially Johnston's father, the memoir's central character, who keens for lost independence in a manner highly reminiscent of Stephen Dedalus's father in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Indeed, parallels with Ireland are evident throughout, not just because the Johnstons are descended from Irish immigrants but because the Newfoundlanders exhibit a similar passionate insularity and zest for feuding among themselves. Johnston's muscular, plainspoken prose bears little resemblance to that of James Joyce, but his themes of exile and loss, loyalty and betrayal, and an ancient culture's ambivalent relationship with modernity resonate with the great writer's most urgent concerns. --Wendy Smith
From the Back Cover:
Praise for The Colony of Unrequited Dreams:
"The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is an indispensable masterpiece. It reshapes and animates history with luminous verisimilitude. Every page of Wayne Johnston's stunning novel displays the highest regard for his reader's intelligence and for the art of writing itself...Mr. Johnston has genius in him, and I think haunting, unmitigated, uncanny vision and grace."
--Howard Norman
"This splendid, entertaining novel is both a version of David Copperfield transposed to twentieth-century Newfoundland and an evocation of vanished ways of life in a place caught in tumultuous political changes. Rich and complex, it offers Dickensian pleasures."
--Andrea Barrett
"A novel of cavernous complexity that nevertheless does not overwhelm the reader, who can repose in pure narrative."
--Luc Sante, New York Times Book Review
"As absorbing as fiction can be-and a marvelous introduction to the work of one of our continent's best writers."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Wayne Johnston is a brilliant and accomplished writer, and his Newfoundland--boots and boats, rough politics and rough country, history and journalism--during the wild Smallwood years is vivid and sharp."
--Annie Proulx
"Grand and operatic...this brilliantly clever evocation of a slice of Canadian history establishes Johnston as a writer of vast abilities and appeal."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A mighty accomplishment: Here's a novel that is as much a tale of two people as it is a history of the harsh, odd, and ultimately fascinating land from which they hail. There is indeed more to Newfoundland than salt cod and tundra, and Johnston brings it all to life."
--Chris Bohjalian, San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
"A long, impassioned, absorbing novel...bravura storytelling."
--Dennis Drabelle, Washington Post Book World
"A capacious, old-fashioned summer hammock of a book--the kind you fall into, enchanted, and hate to leave...I wouldn't have missed the trip for anything."
--Dan Cryer, Newsday
"The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is an indispensable masterpiece. It reshapes and animates history with luminous verisimilitude. Every page of Wayne Johnston's stunning novel displays the highest regard for his reader's intelligence and for the art of writing itself...Mr. Johnston has genius in him, and I think haunting, unmitigated, uncanny vision and grace."
--Howard Norman
"This splendid, entertaining novel is both a version of David Copperfield transposed to twentieth-century Newfoundland and an evocation of vanished ways of life in a place caught in tumultuous political changes. Rich and complex, it offers Dickensian pleasures."
--Andrea Barrett
"A novel of cavernous complexity that nevertheless does not overwhelm the reader, who can repose in pure narrative."
--Luc Sante, New York Times Book Review
"As absorbing as fiction can be-and a marvelous introduction to the work of one of our continent's best writers."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Wayne Johnston is a brilliant and accomplished writer, and his Newfoundland--boots and boats, rough politics and rough country, history and journalism--during the wild Smallwood years is vivid and sharp."
--Annie Proulx
"Grand and operatic...this brilliantly clever evocation of a slice of Canadian history establishes Johnston as a writer of vast abilities and appeal."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A mighty accomplishment: Here's a novel that is as much a tale of two people as it is a history of the harsh, odd, and ultimately fascinating land from which they hail. There is indeed more to Newfoundland than salt cod and tundra, and Johnston brings it all to life."
--Chris Bohjalian, San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
"A long, impassioned, absorbing novel...bravura storytelling."
--Dennis Drabelle, Washington Post Book World
"A capacious, old-fashioned summer hammock of a book--the kind you fall into, enchanted, and hate to leave...I wouldn't have missed the trip for anything."
--Dan Cryer, Newsday
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherKnopf
- Publication date1999
- ISBN 10 0676971466
- ISBN 13 9780676971460
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages272
- Rating
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Baltimore's Mansion
Published by
Knopf, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
(1999)
ISBN 10: 0676971466
ISBN 13: 9780676971460
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. New, An Unread Copy. May Have Minor Shelf Wear To Dust Jacket. - For More Information On Condition. Please See All Photos This Intimate Story Of Family And Place - The Perfect Book To Follow The Success Of The Colony Of Unrequited Dreams - Will Join The Danger Tree And Angela's Ashes On The Shelf Reserved For Most Valued Memoirs. Baltimore's Mansion - A Story Of The Vivid, Moving, Hilarious Machinations Of Three Generations Of Fathers And Sons - Will Speak To Readers Everywhere About The Hardships, Blessings And Power Of Family Relationships. Charlie Johnston Is The Famed Blacksmith Of Ferryland, A Catholic Colony Founded By Lord Baltimore In The 1620S On The Avalon Peninsula Of Newfoundland. But He Must Spend The First Cold Hours Of Every Working Day Fishing At Sea With His Sons, One Of Whom, Wayne's Father Arthur, Vows That As An Adult He Will Never Look To The Sea For His Livelihood. In The Heady Months Leading To The Referendum That Results In Newfoundland Being " Inducted" Into Canada, Art Leaves The Island, Parting On Mysterious Terms With Charlie Who Dies While He's Away, And Is Plunged Into A Lifelong Battle With The Personal Demons That Haunted The End Of Their Relationship. Years Later, Wayne Prepares To Leave At The Same Age His Father Was When He Said Good-Bye, And Old Patterns Threaten To Repeat Themselves. In This Year That Commemorates The 50Th Anniversary Of Newfoundland As A Province, There Will Be No Book That Captures, For All Time, Both The Seductive Spirit Of The Rock And The Universal Spirit Of Family (No Matter How Delightfully Eccentric) Like Baltimore's Mansion. Seller Inventory # 007378
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