First sentence:"On November 8, 1977, in the Halifax train station a few minutes before boarding a train for Montreal, Helen Tanizaki handed me a letter from the afterlife."
Description:
"In the fall of 1977, Howard Norman went to Churchill, Manitoba to translate Inuit folktales, and there he met Helen Tanizaki, an extraordinary linguist translating the same tales into Japanese. In Fond Remembrance of Me recaptures their intimacy, and the remarkable influence that she, and the tales themselves, would have on the future novelist. Through a series of overlapping panels of reality and memory, Norman evokes with vivid immediacy their brief but life-shifting encounter, and the earthy, robust Inuit folklore that occasioned it." -- from the back cover
My thoughts:
This was an interesting look at an Inuit culture and their retelling of the Noah story set in the Arctic. I liked how Norman reflected on his conversations with Helen and her maintaining a sense of dignity in spite of adversity.
Date read: 2/14/2009
Book #: 14
Challenges: 999 Challenge, Winter Reading Challenge 2008, In Their Shoes Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Memoir
ISBN-10: 0312425228
ISBN-13: 9780312425227
Publisher: Picador
Year: 2005
# of Pages: 166
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing Page
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