A book that came to my attention as a result of being on the Giller Prize shortlist and having a newfound interest for reading short stories, I also found myself close to this book as the author is from my home province and his father, Alistair MacLeod, is a legend of a Canadian author.
When I had the opportunity to hear Alexander MacLeod read in River John, Nova Scotia, I was very impressed by his dark telling of a portion of The Loop which told the tale of a young delivery man and his glimpses of life before death. I knew I was buying it before hearing this tale, I craved reading it after listening to such a brief portion of the book.
Each story weaved darkness and hope so wonderfully and simply for me that, as a writer, I appreciated, longed for and knew I could strive for. Although it captured the attention of Canadians like a rainy, mild day in winter, it was subtle enough to offer emerging authors hope of breaking into the short story readership.
Light Lifting concluded with heavy machinery which wasn’t extremely well received by Globe and Mail’s reviewer Jim Bartley, he too couldn’t forget that that The Number Three was heavy hitting.
Each story was left in a way that the reader remained thinking and I for one enjoyed this as I still care and wonder about each stories characters. Now I just want Alexander MacLeod to come out with a new collection or his first full length novel.
Thanks for reading,
Sarah Butland