A review of The Underling, by Ian McKercher
Reviewed by Ruth Latta
Some novels bring to life a little known part of history. Others are memorable for their engaging central characters. Others offer humour, intrigue and suspense. Occasionally, a novel like Ian McKercher's
The Underling, combines all of these features. (The Underling is published by General Store, Renfrew On, 2012, ISBN 978-926962-41-2).
McKercher, retired from Glebe Collegiate's English department, has written a novel that is conventional in form but full of surprises. One surprise is that his protagonist is a seventeen year old girl. As the novel opens in 1934, Frances McFadden, a secretarial student at Ottawa's High School of Commerce, has been asked by Prime Minister Bennett to establish a research bureau/archives of Canadian banking and business information in advance of the establishing of a central bank, so that the governor will have background resources on hand immediately upon his appointment. Legislation to charter a Bank of Canada is before Parliament. In setting up this preliminary office, Mr. Grace needs an assistant with good skills but no previous work experience to "unlearn."
McKercher, who grew up in London, Ontario, based Frances, to some extent, upon his mother. Her stories about her days as a young employee made it clear that those who head organizations are not always the ones really running the show. An underling, working behind the scenes, often has a great deal of influence and contributes to the success of the enterprise in creative ways.
"The Market crash took [Frances's] family under," writes McKercher, who captures his heroine's circumstances and social status with well-chosen detail. Interiewed by Mr. Grace over lunch at the Chateau Laurier Hotel, Frances encounters an avocado. She has never seen one before but she recognizes it from a picture in a Ladies' Home Journal. Later, to refurbish her wardrobe in advance of starting work, Frances buys knee socks to match her skirts. Soon Mr. Grace gently suggests some new outfits "to make her look older."
While her boss is away on Bank business, Frances sets up their office, with amusing adventures. Later, she accompanies Mr. Grace to Toronto to meet luminaries of the business and finance worlds, to convince them of the need for the Bank of Canada. In response to their fear that a central bank will interfere with a free market economy, Mr. Grace replies, "Who is happy with the way the market is functioning now?"
The Bank of Canada came into being in March 1935. Thanks to the secretarial grapevine, Frances hears before her boss does that its first governor will be Graham Towers. Mr. Towers and other real people mingle with fictional ones in this novel. Fictional Frances has close encounters with two very real prime ministers.
Much of the novel is about getting things accomplished in a system with many fiefdoms and hierarchies. George Orwell, who once said that too few authors write about work, would applaud McKercher for recreating a work environment of the past. One significant difference between the 1930s and the present is shown when a young woman asks if she can keep her job after she gets married. She is permitted to do so - but only for the time it takes to train her replacement.
As 1939 brings the Dirty Thirties to an end, war clouds gather. Can Polish gold reserves be saved from the Nazis? Yes, and Frances plays a pivotal role. She sums up the novel when she says, "This trip has been frightening and exhausting and exhilarating and intriguing, all rolled into one. Pretty heady stuff for a girl from Rochester Street."
A friend of mine, who died a few years ago in her nineties, started work as a secretary during the Great Depression and went on to a fascinating career with an international organization. The Underling implicitly pays tribute to the achievements of women like her.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Thursday, August 16, 2012
poem published
Last week I received a copy of an anthology with one of my poems in it. Getting published is always a good thing, if for no other reason than that you get to mention your latest novel in your bio note. My poem is a sonnet. While I don't necessarily agree with the illustrious Robert Frost, who said that writing poetry without rhyme and meter was like playing tennis without a net, I do take a certain pleasure in the technical achievement.
The only thing is, I don't think I can brag about this publication. If I tell people my most recent item in print is a poem titled "No" in the anthology, As One One Cradles Pain, I will undoubtedly get some odd reactions. Will anyone rush out and buy the anthology? I'm not counting on it.
The only thing is, I don't think I can brag about this publication. If I tell people my most recent item in print is a poem titled "No" in the anthology, As One One Cradles Pain, I will undoubtedly get some odd reactions. Will anyone rush out and buy the anthology? I'm not counting on it.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
An excellent article by Valerie Knowles
Ottawa biographer/historian Valerie Knowles has written an excellent article on the effects upon writers and researches of the recent government cutbacks to institutions like Library and Archives Canada. "Doors Close on Nation's Memory" appeared in the Toronto Star on June 23, 2012, and may be read on Valerie's website, www.valerieknowles.com
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
I'll Miss Them
Last night on the news I learned of the death of Maeve Binchy. In one of my scrapbooks I have a postcard I received from her in response to a fan letter I sent her. In my view, her two best books are Light a Penny Candle and Circle of Friends. I read somewhere that when she was working as a journalist she used to get up very early in the morning to write fiction before going to the newspaper office. She kept her work in progress, her typewriter and any other materials she might need on a tea trolley tucked away under the stairs. When she wheeled it out before dawn she had everything she needed close at hand and didn't have to waste time getting organized. I also read that she wrote fiction for years without getting published, and got to the point where she could hardly bring herself to lick the stamp to put on the manuscript she was sending out, because it all seemed so futile. Then she got published, and her career blossomed.
She was Irish and universal. In all of her novels one got a sense of her warm humanitarian outlook.
On the news last night she was compared to Jane Austen, and indeed, although her style was quite different from Austen's, they both explored the hearts and minds of women. Both had a sense of what constitutes fairness and decency. Both wrote positive endings.
Then this morning on TV I saw that American novelist Gore Vidal died at 84. Upstairs in my bookcase are Burr; 1876 and Washington D.C., his well-known trilogy of American history novels, and also, Lincoln. I admired him for his wit and his use of social history along with political "official" history.
These two novelists were very different in their themes and styles, but both were good at their craft. In my view, an aspiring writer shouldn't just like one genre, or one author, or "literary" fiction as opposed to "popular" fiction, but should read and see the merits in a lot of different things. I urge budding writers to sample both Binchy and Vidal. I will miss both of them. Although I never met either, they were friends, inspirations, and part of my life. Never ask for whom the bell tolls.
She was Irish and universal. In all of her novels one got a sense of her warm humanitarian outlook.
On the news last night she was compared to Jane Austen, and indeed, although her style was quite different from Austen's, they both explored the hearts and minds of women. Both had a sense of what constitutes fairness and decency. Both wrote positive endings.
Then this morning on TV I saw that American novelist Gore Vidal died at 84. Upstairs in my bookcase are Burr; 1876 and Washington D.C., his well-known trilogy of American history novels, and also, Lincoln. I admired him for his wit and his use of social history along with political "official" history.
These two novelists were very different in their themes and styles, but both were good at their craft. In my view, an aspiring writer shouldn't just like one genre, or one author, or "literary" fiction as opposed to "popular" fiction, but should read and see the merits in a lot of different things. I urge budding writers to sample both Binchy and Vidal. I will miss both of them. Although I never met either, they were friends, inspirations, and part of my life. Never ask for whom the bell tolls.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
On Vacation - at work!
Ottawa has been hot and muggy for weeks now, with no end in sight. The daily chores of life seem Herculean labours when the humidex is high. Nevertheless, my husband and I manage to keep on top of things, getting the bills paid on time, fulfilling our commitments and obligations (in my case, getting certain writing assignments in on time) and trying to be good citizens by doing our laundry during the off peak periods of electricity use. We don't want to cause a brown-out.
A lot of people don't seem to be trying as hard as we are. I'm thinking about people who owe us money and show no signs of paying up. I'm pondering my course of action. But I'm also fed up with people spending their days in air-conditioned environments where they are supposed to be serving the public, and failing to do so - like a library employee at the information desk who was rude when I asked about a program that used to be offered. Turned out I knew more about it than he did.
Then, in another workplace, there's an administrator who supports an instructor who is encroaching upon a certain seniors' program. Who cares about seniors being crowded out?
In another work environment, a program head needed me to write an item a.s.a.p. to meet her deadline. She said she'd get back to me with the revised item and more details. That was six weeks ago. Maybe she's on holidays.
In the late spring I snail mailed and emailed five friendly and reasonable queries/proposals/requests to five different people in authority positions. None has been acknowledged. Even if the answer is "No", it would be nice to get an email saying so. If I'd dropped them down a well instead of mailing them, at least I would have heard a splash.
Let's not forget the doctor who didn't feel like taking her turn serving drop-in patients on a Sunday, and who took out her displeasure on a patient who felt so in need of medical attention that he stood outside the clinic on a sore foot for half an hour in the heat so as to be there when the clinic opened. .
And there are a home supply store staff who sit at a desk to be consulted about home improvement matters - but turn out to be unable to measure accurately or to add fractions.
None of these people were working outdoors, risking dehydration and lightheadedness from the heat and humidity. All were comfortable cool indoor environments. All seemed to be on vacation - at work.
Yes, we're all only human and we all have personal problems and concerns which get exacerbated by heat and humidity. I'm probably foolish to try to accomplish anything this summer. After physiotherapy this morning (with a wonderful, kind, capable physiotherapist) I plan to lie low and work on the novel I'm writing.
But when things cool down, I may write a couple of complaining letters. Some years ago, I encountered a rude a postal outlet employee who didn't undertand that I needed postage for a "stamped, self-addressed envelope" to go inside the main envelope. I went home and phoned Canada Post. Within a week, someone from Canada Post was there retraining the staff at that outlet. Soon after that, the rude postal worker disappeared.
A lot of people don't seem to be trying as hard as we are. I'm thinking about people who owe us money and show no signs of paying up. I'm pondering my course of action. But I'm also fed up with people spending their days in air-conditioned environments where they are supposed to be serving the public, and failing to do so - like a library employee at the information desk who was rude when I asked about a program that used to be offered. Turned out I knew more about it than he did.
Then, in another workplace, there's an administrator who supports an instructor who is encroaching upon a certain seniors' program. Who cares about seniors being crowded out?
In another work environment, a program head needed me to write an item a.s.a.p. to meet her deadline. She said she'd get back to me with the revised item and more details. That was six weeks ago. Maybe she's on holidays.
In the late spring I snail mailed and emailed five friendly and reasonable queries/proposals/requests to five different people in authority positions. None has been acknowledged. Even if the answer is "No", it would be nice to get an email saying so. If I'd dropped them down a well instead of mailing them, at least I would have heard a splash.
Let's not forget the doctor who didn't feel like taking her turn serving drop-in patients on a Sunday, and who took out her displeasure on a patient who felt so in need of medical attention that he stood outside the clinic on a sore foot for half an hour in the heat so as to be there when the clinic opened. .
And there are a home supply store staff who sit at a desk to be consulted about home improvement matters - but turn out to be unable to measure accurately or to add fractions.
None of these people were working outdoors, risking dehydration and lightheadedness from the heat and humidity. All were comfortable cool indoor environments. All seemed to be on vacation - at work.
Yes, we're all only human and we all have personal problems and concerns which get exacerbated by heat and humidity. I'm probably foolish to try to accomplish anything this summer. After physiotherapy this morning (with a wonderful, kind, capable physiotherapist) I plan to lie low and work on the novel I'm writing.
But when things cool down, I may write a couple of complaining letters. Some years ago, I encountered a rude a postal outlet employee who didn't undertand that I needed postage for a "stamped, self-addressed envelope" to go inside the main envelope. I went home and phoned Canada Post. Within a week, someone from Canada Post was there retraining the staff at that outlet. Soon after that, the rude postal worker disappeared.
Monday, July 23, 2012
my review of Elisabeth Badinter's The Conflict
My review of Elisabeth Badinter's latest book, The Conflict, published in May in the CCPA Monitor, may be read at www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/monitors/bringing.baby
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
review of Augusten Burroughs' new book: This is How
Augusten Burroughs' latest book, This is How, (NY, St. Martin's Press, 2012, $28.99 Can) is a blend of self-help and autobiography. The latter genre has made him famous. In Running with Scissors, he told of his early years with two unstable, violent parents. In his early teens his mother gave him away to be raised in her psychiatrist's bizarre family. A Wolf at the Table, another of his books that I have read, is about his father, an angry alcoholic with a personality disorder. Burroughs has also written about getting sober and seeing his partner through a terminal illness.
Having survived all that, and having become an advertising executive and a successful author with no more formal education than elementary school, Burroughs is a remarkable human being with interesting insights.
This is How goes against the relentless emphasis on being positive that pervades not only pop psychology books but also our daily lives. He advises us to ignore society's obsession with being upbeat and to examine and name our feelings. "Real optimism is not the pep talk you give yourself," he writes. "It comes through the labor involved in emotional housekeeping."
Burroughs begins with an incident involving an aggressive positivity-monger on an elevator, He goes on to address some of life's challenges, beginning with the ordinary and ending with the heartbreaking. In his chapter, "How to Find Love", he points out that on a planet with seven billion people, it's likely there is more than just one soul mate for you. He urges those searching for mates to get out and meet more people, to increase their odds of finding someone compatible. When you meet someone who might be "the one", instead of putting your best foot forward, be yourself and never try to impress anyone. "You cannot make a mistake with the right person for you," says Burroughs.
In "How to be Fat", he points out that, in order to lose weight you have to decide whether the unpleasantness of self-denial is worth it. He notes that people who are a little bit larger are statistically likely to live longer and are insulated against certain diseases. "There's absolutely no shame whatsoever in deciding you'd rather spend your life paying attention to something other than the weight of your physical body," he writes. Instead, you can figure out how to style and present yourself so as to be "magnificently beautiful" and "sexy as hell".
With regard to smoking and alcoholism, Burrough's advice is, again, to decide whether the unpleasantness of going without the substance is worth the freedom from addiction. I have no personal experience of smoking or alcholism, but I suspect that supporters of Alcoholics Anonymous will disagree with Burrough's claim that some of AA's concepts "undermine sobriety." For him, the way to stop drinking was to want sobriety more than alcholol. He never felt powerless over alcohol; for him it was always a choice, so he believes that the "powerlessness" step gives people permission to relapse. Also, he thinks that talking about alchohol every day when you can't drink it is counter-productive for some people.
For Burroughs, the way to stop drinking was to fill the space that alcohol had once occupied with something more interesting and rewarding. In his case it was writing. He thinks that those who benefit from AA fiill the gap with particpation in the AA community.
Writing was Burrough's way of getting over his traumatic past. It wasn't so much exorcising his demons that helped, as it was having an absorbing project. If he'd been writing cookbooks, he says, the effect of freeing himself would have been the same. Too many people, he believes, get addicted to therapy and to the story of their past, rather than focusing on projects in the present.
Burroughs' words are worth our attention because he has triumphed over some terrible things. But what of people who are busily engaged in absorbing and worthwhile projects in the present, and then, out of the blue, are felled by some incident that brings to the surface all the terrible memories? I suppose his answer comes in his chapter, "How to Remain Unhealed." He calls "Heal" a "television word", and said that there are some things in life from which you do not heal. Yet the hole in the centre of your life can "narrow" enough for you to rejoice at new good things that come your way.
Tackling the subject of suicide, Burroughs says that if you want to end your life, you don't have to die. You can exchange the life you have for a better one. At one point, he decided that all he needed to change his life was "a door and a highway."
Although lacking direct experience of most of the big issues Burroughs addresses, long ago I cared for a spouse who was terminally ill. Burroughs is right in saying that: "The worst thing you can imagine is not so bad if viewed from inside." In other words, when you're caught up in the situation, coping with the present, you can bear things that you would never have imagined." Burrough cautions us not to imagine the worst-case scenario in advance, as it may never happen. When skittish friends ask if there is anything they can do, he suggests that you ask them to cook something and drop it off, because "no one at your house has the energy to say hi." And finally, the best way to prepare for a friend's death is by "being alive in the same room" with them.
Some reviewers have called Burroughs' observations and advice "cliched", but I enjoyed the humour of the opening chapters and the ring of authenticity in the latter ones. His conversational style and his reminders that he has "been there" make us feel that, whatever we are facing, we are not alone.
Having survived all that, and having become an advertising executive and a successful author with no more formal education than elementary school, Burroughs is a remarkable human being with interesting insights.
This is How goes against the relentless emphasis on being positive that pervades not only pop psychology books but also our daily lives. He advises us to ignore society's obsession with being upbeat and to examine and name our feelings. "Real optimism is not the pep talk you give yourself," he writes. "It comes through the labor involved in emotional housekeeping."
Burroughs begins with an incident involving an aggressive positivity-monger on an elevator, He goes on to address some of life's challenges, beginning with the ordinary and ending with the heartbreaking. In his chapter, "How to Find Love", he points out that on a planet with seven billion people, it's likely there is more than just one soul mate for you. He urges those searching for mates to get out and meet more people, to increase their odds of finding someone compatible. When you meet someone who might be "the one", instead of putting your best foot forward, be yourself and never try to impress anyone. "You cannot make a mistake with the right person for you," says Burroughs.
In "How to be Fat", he points out that, in order to lose weight you have to decide whether the unpleasantness of self-denial is worth it. He notes that people who are a little bit larger are statistically likely to live longer and are insulated against certain diseases. "There's absolutely no shame whatsoever in deciding you'd rather spend your life paying attention to something other than the weight of your physical body," he writes. Instead, you can figure out how to style and present yourself so as to be "magnificently beautiful" and "sexy as hell".
With regard to smoking and alcoholism, Burrough's advice is, again, to decide whether the unpleasantness of going without the substance is worth the freedom from addiction. I have no personal experience of smoking or alcholism, but I suspect that supporters of Alcoholics Anonymous will disagree with Burrough's claim that some of AA's concepts "undermine sobriety." For him, the way to stop drinking was to want sobriety more than alcholol. He never felt powerless over alcohol; for him it was always a choice, so he believes that the "powerlessness" step gives people permission to relapse. Also, he thinks that talking about alchohol every day when you can't drink it is counter-productive for some people.
For Burroughs, the way to stop drinking was to fill the space that alcohol had once occupied with something more interesting and rewarding. In his case it was writing. He thinks that those who benefit from AA fiill the gap with particpation in the AA community.
Writing was Burrough's way of getting over his traumatic past. It wasn't so much exorcising his demons that helped, as it was having an absorbing project. If he'd been writing cookbooks, he says, the effect of freeing himself would have been the same. Too many people, he believes, get addicted to therapy and to the story of their past, rather than focusing on projects in the present.
Burroughs' words are worth our attention because he has triumphed over some terrible things. But what of people who are busily engaged in absorbing and worthwhile projects in the present, and then, out of the blue, are felled by some incident that brings to the surface all the terrible memories? I suppose his answer comes in his chapter, "How to Remain Unhealed." He calls "Heal" a "television word", and said that there are some things in life from which you do not heal. Yet the hole in the centre of your life can "narrow" enough for you to rejoice at new good things that come your way.
Tackling the subject of suicide, Burroughs says that if you want to end your life, you don't have to die. You can exchange the life you have for a better one. At one point, he decided that all he needed to change his life was "a door and a highway."
Although lacking direct experience of most of the big issues Burroughs addresses, long ago I cared for a spouse who was terminally ill. Burroughs is right in saying that: "The worst thing you can imagine is not so bad if viewed from inside." In other words, when you're caught up in the situation, coping with the present, you can bear things that you would never have imagined." Burrough cautions us not to imagine the worst-case scenario in advance, as it may never happen. When skittish friends ask if there is anything they can do, he suggests that you ask them to cook something and drop it off, because "no one at your house has the energy to say hi." And finally, the best way to prepare for a friend's death is by "being alive in the same room" with them.
Some reviewers have called Burroughs' observations and advice "cliched", but I enjoyed the humour of the opening chapters and the ring of authenticity in the latter ones. His conversational style and his reminders that he has "been there" make us feel that, whatever we are facing, we are not alone.
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