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A review by vivalibrarian
The Cartographer of No Man's Land by P.S. Duffy
5.0
*Excited! My review made it onto Library Reads November 2013 list. http://libraryreads.org/november-2013-libraryreads-list/
"Angus walked down to the end of the wharf and felt a release that filled the sky. Beauty had not abandoned him. He'd abandoned it. On the battlefield he'd risked life in the midst of death. And he had not risked it since. He closed his eyes and let the stars fall around him."
Angus MacGrath is caught between the artist he longs to be and the sailor his father believes is more fitting for a man supporting a family on the coast of Nova Scotia. When Angus’ brother-in-law Ebbin disappears during World War I and his wife mentally begins to disappear he enlists with the promise of a safe cartographer’s job in London. Away from any actual fighting, he will be able to search for Ebbin. Instead, Angus is thrust into the front lines of battle in France. He finds himself an officer and changing in ways he never imagined in a world where death is expected and surviving is a surprise.
On the home front, Angus’ son Simon Peter also struggles to find who he will become as he tries to understand his pacifist grandfather, emotionally vacant mother and a country caught in the patriotic fever that only something as unknown and distant as a war across the sea could create. The cost of loyalty, the ugly face of prejudice and the hell war brings to both the soldiers on the front line and those who wait anxiously back home weaves a never sentimental but very soulful story.
I have been struggling to write this annotation not trusting how to put the experience of this book into words. The research done is incredible. To say the words are beautiful seems wrong to say in a book that gives you vivid descriptions of war, the life in the trenches experienced and also the juxtaposition of the beauty of Nova Scotia. The emotional havoc is palpable but the story line rarely goes where you expect it. The characters are well-drawn and so flawed that they linger in your head after finishing. Life changes in the blink of an eye and Duffy does a masterful job of letting the reader watch everyone desperately trying to catch up.
All these words to say, I did not want this book to end.
"Angus walked down to the end of the wharf and felt a release that filled the sky. Beauty had not abandoned him. He'd abandoned it. On the battlefield he'd risked life in the midst of death. And he had not risked it since. He closed his eyes and let the stars fall around him."
Angus MacGrath is caught between the artist he longs to be and the sailor his father believes is more fitting for a man supporting a family on the coast of Nova Scotia. When Angus’ brother-in-law Ebbin disappears during World War I and his wife mentally begins to disappear he enlists with the promise of a safe cartographer’s job in London. Away from any actual fighting, he will be able to search for Ebbin. Instead, Angus is thrust into the front lines of battle in France. He finds himself an officer and changing in ways he never imagined in a world where death is expected and surviving is a surprise.
On the home front, Angus’ son Simon Peter also struggles to find who he will become as he tries to understand his pacifist grandfather, emotionally vacant mother and a country caught in the patriotic fever that only something as unknown and distant as a war across the sea could create. The cost of loyalty, the ugly face of prejudice and the hell war brings to both the soldiers on the front line and those who wait anxiously back home weaves a never sentimental but very soulful story.
I have been struggling to write this annotation not trusting how to put the experience of this book into words. The research done is incredible. To say the words are beautiful seems wrong to say in a book that gives you vivid descriptions of war, the life in the trenches experienced and also the juxtaposition of the beauty of Nova Scotia. The emotional havoc is palpable but the story line rarely goes where you expect it. The characters are well-drawn and so flawed that they linger in your head after finishing. Life changes in the blink of an eye and Duffy does a masterful job of letting the reader watch everyone desperately trying to catch up.
All these words to say, I did not want this book to end.