Traplines
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- ¥2,200
発行者による作品情報
From a writer whom the New York Times dubbed Canada’s “Generation X laureate” comes a quartet of haunting, unforgettable tales of young people stuck in the inescapable prison of family
A New York Times Notable Book and winner of Britain’s prestigious Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize, Traplines is the book that introduced the world to Canadian author Eden Robinson. In three stories and a novella, Robinson explodes the idea of family as a nurturing safe haven through a progression of domestic horrors experienced by her young, often helpless protagonists. With her mesmerizing, dark skill, the author ushers us into these worlds of violence and abuse, where family loyalty sometimes means turning a blind eye to murder, and survival itself can be viewed as an act of betrayal.
In the title story, for a teenager named Will growing up on a Native reserve in northwestern Canada, guilt, race, and blind fidelity are the shackles chaining him to the everyday cruelty and abuse he is forced to endure. In “Dogs in Winter,” a girl recalls life with her serial-killer mother and fears for her own future. A young teen and the sadistic, psychopathic cousin who comes to live with him engage in a cat-and-mouse game that soon escalates out of control in “Contact Sports,” while in the final story, “Queen of the North,” a young Native girl deals in her own way with sexual molestation at the hands of a pedophile uncle.
Each of these tales is vivid, intense, and disturbing, and Robinson renders them unforgettable with her deft flair for storytelling and a surprising touch of humor.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Consisting of three short stories and one novella-length piece, Canadian writer Robinson's uninspired debut focuses on teenage angst and violently dysfunctional families. In the title story, a young man must avoid the brutal attentions of his older brother, who is in turn abused by their father. "Seven and Counting," about a young girl whose mother is a serial killer, fails to provide much depth to its tabloid scenario. The long story, "Contact Sports," in which a wealthy older cousin simultaneously terrorizes and financially supports a teenage boy, does build to some genuine menace but fails to give its sadistic villain adequate motivation. The more fragmentary "Queen of the North," about a girl who's been sexually abused by her uncle, shows a touch of stylistic flair, though it too offers no new insights. While her work has a certain raw energy, Robinson's material is both familiar and sensationalistic, lacking the gifts of characterization and voice that allowed books like Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out of Carolina or Jayne Anne Phillips's Black Tickets to mine similar material so effectively. 25,000 first printing; author tour.
