cart
Whitlock takes four simple lives and puts a brilliant, page turning twist on each of them.
Ottawa Valley author Nathan Whitlock evokes familiarity from the mundane
It's hard to find the underlying details and everyday lives of the small town citizen relevant, but Nathan Whitlock manages to describe one family in A Week of This in a prolific and witty manner. Whitlock takes four simple lives and puts a brilliant, page turning twist on each of them.
A Week of This follows four people during seven days of their everyday lives. The characters are so real and true, Whitlock turns them into interesting people, even during the regular moments of their lives - drinking coffee, getting ready for work, sitting in a diner - all are turned into relevant and extraordinary incidents.
"They are not the most engaging people, I wanted the most full characters. It's harder to write about boring people. These are the people I know. I don't want to force them to do something they wouldn't normally do," said Whitlock.
We first meet Patrick as he is awoken by his morning alarm and immediately Whitlock brings us into the book. You become part of the novel and, due to his description, you sense the dread of waking to the dull, irritating morning alarm.
Patrick owns a failing sporting goods store and invests most his time and energy into trying to keep his business alive. He is truly a sympathetic character because you can relate to anyone who is working at their dream and finding it a struggle to keep it alive or let it go. Realistically and financially, Patrick should walk away from his business or change it, but, when he considers the fact, he always ignores it and just continues working there day to day.
Whitlock says that Patrick's dream to have his own store is not an impossible one, but it's just not working.
"These are the people I am interested in, who do not have these huge dreams but want to do these small things and never seeing beyond that, nothing too grandeur," Whitlock said.
Patrick is married to Manda, a sarcastic yet realistic woman who works at a call centre.
"Manda is deeply stubborn and really resists people telling her where to go and what to do," said Whitlock.
This is one of the reasons that Manda disagrees about having a baby with Patrick, which is one of the underlying tensions and revisited problems throughout the novel. Manda slightly considers having a child but, when Patrick asks for one, she will not consider it.
This is the genius of Whitlock's writing ability. He visits these small tensions that exist in everyday relationships, these incidents that could change people's lives, which he barely discusses but yet have so much meaning.
Rather than build up to a gigantic dramatic climax, Whitlock has the reader relate to the characters with everyday discussions and incidents that are so full (and could be possibly life changing) even though, at the time, they seem irrelevant.
"With other novels, moments are big dramatic moments and you see it coming. I didn't want to do that. It's not built up, it could be overlooked, which happens in real life."
Marcus is Manda's stepbrother who coaches a high school team, dates Kelly, who has a child named Mark, and lives in a filthy apartment, riddled with old articles from the last tenant.
Ken, who is the fourth relevant character, is Manda's brother. He works at Giant Tiger and was in a serious accident when he was a child, leavin him damaged and burned.
All four characters are left for interpretation. Whitlock gives much detail but leaves other aspects open to the reader, inviting us to be part of their lives, determining their destinies as we see fit. You have to fill in the blanks with the subtle clues that Whitlock conveys through conversations between characters. There is a week before this week and a week after it - it is up to the reader to decide how those weeks are played through.
The final cusp of the novel happens when the four characters try to meet at a restaurant and end up meeting in different places. Manda and Marcus have some drinks at The Flamingo, while Patrick, Ken and Steve (Ken's co-worker) pound pitchers at Chaps. All the local dives, stores, bars and businesses are pieces of the novel. They make up Dunbridge, they create an atmosphere that allows these characters to exist and live in the manner that they do.
The scenes that take place at Chaps and The Flamingo, give us insight to how much each character knows one another. Their pasts are mentioned, each of them knows how much they should discuss and they all know one another's tolerances.
Throughout these conversations, we see the potential for life changing alterations to the four but they are never really aware of it. That is what is so familiar and realistic about all of them. Whitlock reminds us of the true human element, of how moments pass us by; because we are not on the outside looking in, they may not even be noticed.
"There are moments that could be life changing, if they grabbed them. There are always moments circling around," said Whitlock.
The novel ends on Wednesday just as it had begun and it continues in the reader's mind forever. A Week Of This is the life of each of us: it's the person we went to high school with; the neighbour we shared driveways with; the co-worker we carpooled with; we are his characters and we live each day. We struggle with minor finances, punching into irrelevant jobs that we fail to leave and Whitlock reminds us that we are all uniquely different but universally connected.
A Week Of This
By Nathan Whitlock
(ECW Press, April 2008)
264 pgs
