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Nathan Whitlock has definitely found his voice
Novel charts the desperate inner landscape of an ordinary group of Ontarians
The marketing material for Nathan Whitlock's A Week of This describes the novel as "bleak." That's true but more than that, it's ordinary. That's not a bad thing because it's actually what makes the novel unique.
Whitlock, now living in Toronto where he's the review editor for the book trade bible Quill and Quire, grew up in Pembroke, a fact that surely informs his story's small-town atmosphere. A Week of This follows an ensemble of characters living in a fictional Ontario town called Dunbridge. Outwardly, it's a novel about nothing. Inwardly, Manda, her brother Ken, stepbrother Marcus and husband Patrick are fighting their own and the town's inertia and teetering on boredom-induced madness.
The story is told over the course of seven days; a form that works to build the drama that is absent in the lives of the characters. We see the inner landscape of those lives as the week unfolds. We see how bitterness, resentment, familiarity and just plain fear of change plays out in a brief period of time, creating, by the end of the week, a crescendo of misery, self-doubt, recrimination and, in a strange way, hope, if only of the can't-get-any-worse-than-this variety. There's no false happy ending, no resolution of any kind. Like watching reality TV, or overhearing the plainest conversation on a bus, this is real life at its bare minimum.
Maybe a little too real. At first the mundane details are annoying. In a more action-packed story there wouldn't be time to listen in on the brain of a character waking up and wondering if he has the time or inclination to masturbate; or to hear play-by-play of a fishing show that someone is watching to kill time. Or to deal with the exhaustive struggles of a character to read Michael Ondaatje's In the Skin of a Lion (author and title never named), only to decide it's "condescending." After awhile, though, this writing style grows on you. You get caught up in the dreariness, and actually start to care about the real or perceived vicissitudes of both the characters and the group at large.
Why does Manda, a sarcastic bully, feel inadequate in the face of Ondaatje, why is Marcus, a devoted hockey coach, living in near squalour, what makes Ken, the story's most unfortunate character, the strongest of all? What has Patrick, a small business owner, living in a thick, immoveable stupor? Caring about such basically unredeemable people (at least based on the glimpse we're getting of them), is counter-intuitive -- we read to escape the minutia of our own brains at their most stagnant, don't we? That you become enmeshed in the midst of nothing is part of the charm of Whitlock's writing. Unusual metaphors and unexpected word usage engage you, and counteract the torpor. Thankfully!
Through the petty details, the back story of how and why the characters are so stuck slowly unfolds. Manda's mother, whose mental illness was gradual and dangerous, has emotionally damaged her and physically harmed her brother. Ken, already suffering from some kind of mental disadvantage, is also disfigured by a facial burn. Whitlock never fully reveals what the mother did to cause this, and the lack of explanation against the intricate telling of completely unimportant detail gives you something to mull over.
Their father took them from Toronto, and their mother, to Dunbridge to live with Margaret, Marcus's mother. Marcus has never really grown up, barely supports himself by relying on family members for work, and seeks out the company of women who can give him refuge and reason for his stunted maturity.
Patrick, owner of a small sporting goods store, is just plain depressed, dreaming of riches and a home full of children, but with no impetus to get there. He and Manda live in a house inherited by his ornery late father, with half-hearted starts at renovations as indications of their lazy ambitions. Manda's basic good-heartedness and concern for her people is deeply masked by gloom and an overall nasty attitude. Is it any wonder nothing really gets accomplished here?
Or does it? By the end of the week, lives are changed, if only by increments. Nothing overly dramatic, and barely discernable. Just like in real life.
It can be hard to sit down and write in a unique way after years of reading and critiquing the work of others, but with his first novel Nathan Whitlock has definitely found his voice.
Whether or not this type of writing is to your taste, it definitely suits this story of ordinary people. If it grates on us, it's only because any of the characters could be any one of us on any day of the week.
Nathan Whitlock is holding his Ottawa launch for his novel, A Week of This, today at 2 p.m. at Collected Works, 1242 Wellington St. West.
