Book Club Reviews for May 2007

The Time in Between
Bergen, David.
Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, c2005.

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Summary: In this novel by award-winning Canadian author Bergen (A Year of Lesser), a Canadian vet returns to Vietnam 30 years after the war and then goes missing. Two of his children travel to find him. The story shifts between father and daughter, the past and the present.

Review submitted by Terry
The Vietnam War and its effects on the soldiers involved is the focus of this story. The author, however, does not adequately provide the reader with the full consequences felt by those involved. We are left with an emptiness as to what the point of this story was, although it is possible that the author himself was wondering what the point of the Vietnam War was too. Rating: So-So

Review submitted by Barry
Big expectations created with Giller award plus some very good reviews in the US. For me though the book fell flat. Bergen attemps to create an ambiguous dreamlike experience but his sparse monotone style doesn't result in a story or characters that come to life. Not a terrible book but not a great book either.

For commuters, we have the book on cd and book on tape.