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Paul Unger's son Stephen is dead, found face down in a farmer's sodden field after a drunken teenage party'and a terrible fight with his father. Paul, estranged from his wife, Lise, ambivalent about his daughter Sue's recent marriage, and drowning slowly in his own grief and guilt, finds the solitude he craves in a rundown bee-keeping farm on the edge of the prairie town. Now he is confronted by the sudden appearance of Nicole, Stephen's former girlfriend, and Sky, the little boy she introduces as Paul's grandson. In a spare, subtle and moving portrait of grief and salvation, Paul must come to terms with the most devastating loss any of us can experience.Set in Manitoba and then Montana, See the Child is a novel alive with western small town life. A wedding reception for a young couple hums with powerful undercurrents of unfulfilled desire and past hurts, fueled by drink and the sultry summer mood. A meeting between Paul and Wyatt, Nicole's new boyfriend, in the gun room/shrine of Wyatt's Montana home, glows with menace and dark humor, as Wyatt reveals his philosophy on life and love.
Following the death of his son, a grieving father must navigate the sudden arrival of a woman claiming to be his son's former girlfriend and a young boy who may be his grandson. Paul Unger retreats to a solitary life on a bee-keeping farm, attempting to isolate himself from the wreckage of his family dynamics and his own internal guilt. His fragile equilibrium is disrupted by the appearance of Nicole and the child, Sky, forcing him to confront the reality of his son's past and his own capacity for connection. The narrative unfolds through a spare, observational lens, tracking Paul's slow movement toward potential reconciliation or further alienation as he interacts with the figures from his son's life.
This novel is characterized by its restrained, atmospheric approach to the themes of loss and familial duty. The prose style suggests a deliberate focus on the quiet, often unspoken tensions that define domestic life in small-town settings. Readers likely find the narrative's strength in its refusal to offer easy resolutions to the protagonist's profound sense of guilt. The work functions as a study of how individuals attempt to reconstruct their identities in the wake of a devastating personal tragedy. The narrative's focus on the interplay between the characters' pasts and their present circumstances creates a persistent sense of unease and longing.
Page Count:
234
Publication Date:
1999-12-27
Publisher:
Phyllis Bruce Books Perennial
ISBN-10:
0006485103
ISBN-13:
9780006485100
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