Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 6, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press sunday August 6, 2006 editor Morley Walker / 697-7307 email books b7 greatest Story never told in authors opinion it is the expected one by Kathleen Mcgowan Touchstone 449 pages $30 reviewed by Paul Pihi Chyn it would be harsh to Call Kathleen Mcgowan a literary opportunist. After All she is ? if you believe her premise ? a descendant of Mary Magdalene and by implication ? again if you believe her ? a daughter of the sacred Bloodline of Jesus Christ. Actually there is a great Deal in the expected one that requires considerable suspension of disbelief on the part of the Reader. This is not to say the Book did to make for an interesting summer read. It is a thriller of sorts laced with historical fact and flights of fancy. But it is Safe to say this authors first novel would never have made it to print had it not been for the astounding Suc Cess of Dan Browns the a Vinci code. The expected one the first volume in a promised trilogy joins a growing list of titles that owe their existence to Brown and his take on the development and growth of christianity in the years immediately following the crucifixion. Too much has already been written on whether Brown borrowed literally from Michael Baigent Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln and their controversial holy blood holy grail. Or indeed whether Baigent Leigh and Lincoln were inspired by Pierre plan tards 1956 priory of Sion which is now widely regarded a hoax by an author who believed himself an heir to the French throne. But it is important to be aware of this background in order to judge Mcgowan a own claim to the lineage of Christ. If you believe her then her Story becomes somewhat believable too if you Don to it becomes an aimless ramble through history without the plot twists that made the code such a Page Turner. Through Mcgowan a protagonist journalist Maureen Paschal the author spins the tale of an ancient mystery ? based on that Well trodden thread of whimsy that Mary Magdalene with the love child of Jesus either in her womb or in her arms fled to Gaul after Christ died. Sound familiar there is a secret gospel ? a series of scrolls allegedly written by Mary her self ? and a search that leads Paschal from the Dusty streets of Jerusalem to the cathedrals of Paris and out into the French hinterland. Its do Vul All Over again. The biographical notes on the author claim she spent 20 years researching the legends surrounding the so called gospel of Mary Magdalene which Mcgowan Calls the greatest Story never those same notes also reveal she spent five years working on marketing and promotional campaigns for the Walt Dis company which May explain Why so much of this Book reads like some thing out of fantasy land. Paul Pihi Chyn is the managing editor of Wop live ? . Tune in turn on with Leary biographer takes unbiased look at ?60s counterculture gurus life Timothy Leary a biography by Robert Greenfield Harcourt books 689 pages $38 reviewed by Julie Kentner t Timothy Leary a life was one Long trip. The american architect of the Over the counter counterculture and the Man who encouraged an entire Genera Tion to tune in turn on and drop out Leary was one of the most influential people of the 1960s. But he was an opportunist who craved status As Well As a Chameleon of the highest order adept at giving people any message he thought they wanted to hear. Robert Greenfield a former journalist and award winning biographer of pop culture icons Jerry Garcia and Bill Graham uses extensive research and interviews to offer an unbiased look into Leary a complicated life. His new biography is an Overly detailed but readable account of one of the 20th Century a most compelling and Complex personalities. Born into a family of eccentrics in 1920, Leary grew up during prohibition in Massachusetts. His father turned to alcohol As an escape and eventually left the family when things got difficult a pattern Leary would Fol Low throughout his own life. Influential family connections ensured his admission to West Point but whenever he was confronted by a system he had not devised Green Field writes Tim not Only began rebelling against it but also tried to persuade others to do the Leary eventually resigned. After West Point he attended sever Al universities and in 1945 headed to the University of California at Berke Ley to enter the psychology doctoral program. Despite his professional and personal tribulations his career eventually took him to Harvard a psychology department. In 1960, a vacationing Leary took magic mushrooms for the first time and with several research partners developed the Harvard psychedelic project to delve into the mysteries of the mind. One of his first research subjects was noted beat poet Allen gins Berg who provided Leary with an entre to the literati and prominent social circles of the Day. Greenfield conducted hundreds of interviews with relatives friends and colleagues Many of whom refuted Leary a own recollections from his archives and autobiographies. He shows us Leary a arrogance bravado and undeniable Charm As Well As his astonishing ability to persuade others to follow him and accept his the ories and ideas. Greenfield is not afraid to take on Leary a legend. He provides a fair and balanced look at the details of his life. The Book is Jam packed with titbits from letters to family and friends court documents and Media inter views. Although Greenfield a writing is Clear and Crisp the excessive detail is sometimes too much. He presents Leary As an inadequate father an unreliable husband and self centred Man always craving Fame and recognition. While still a Young Man Greenfield reveals Leary wrote to his Mother about his future telling her that what i really Long for is Fame and More than that the futile Hope of leaving some thing behind me to identify me from the millions and millions of nameless ciphers that have come and at the beginning of the psychedelic revolution Leary a Charisma and magnetism helped him befriend Many celebrities and Public figures. In 1963, he abandoned his teaching contract with Harvard and landed in Small town Millbrook n.y., where he opened a House to anyone who wanted to take up the psychedelic lifestyle. His free Wheeling Radical lifestyle titillated mainstream America and also opened up floodgates of criticism. Leary a excessive drug use and behaviour became More outrageous As time went on. He was arrested numer Ous times and although he mounted Many appeals he was jailed in 1970 on drug charges. He escaped after just a few months and began life on the run ? first in Algeria then Switzerland Europe and finally Afghanistan where he was arrested and returned to the . To continue his sentence. After his release from prison in 1976, Leary reinvented himself yet again and took to a career As a Public speaker and celebrity. People went to see him in droves and he was a major player in the Holly Wood scene in the 1980s and 1990s. After he died in 1996 of prostate can cer Leary a friends arranged for his ashes to be sent into space a fitting end to his unpredictable and almost unbelievable life. Julie Kentner is a Winnipeg writer. Compelling profound and full of tragic Beauty the Book of fathers by Mikl so mos translated from the hungarian by Peter Sherwood Abacus 512 pages $28 reviewed by Lawrie Cherniack this epic novel is full of a terrible Beauty. It is a wonderful and profound read. In 12 Brief chapters the respected hungarian author Mikl so mos tells the stories of 12 Succes Sive first born hungarian sons. He spans three centuries of Hun Garian history. And because the third son becomes a jew he also tells the tragic Story of Hun Garian jewry in the 19th and 20th Cen Turies ? not unlike the 1999 Canadian co produced movie Sunshine. A Moss novel a huge bestseller in Hungary and newly translated for the North american Market is a meditation on Faith history Fate and survival. It is also a terrific Story ? or rather 12 terrific stories. The variety of personalities the details of each Era the particular moments of a sons life that a mos chooses to describe All of these Are quite compelling. His translator Peter Sherwood appears to have done an excellent Job. A mos uses two techniques to link the generations. The first consists of two heirlooms an intricate Gold watch and a bound Book into which they write their histories both of which they try to pass on to the next generation. This does not become a cloying tech Nique As a ring does in John Buchan a the path of the King. It is precisely in How each son treats the objects that the brilliance of the novel becomes apparent. The second technique is a kind of magic realism. Each son is also linked to All of his forefathers by his ability varying in strength throughout the generations to experience their memories and learn from them their various talents. Some of the sons can also foretell the future and the intensity with which they act upon their knowledge teaches them and the Reader great a mos lessons. At first this super describes natural aspect of the the novel As novel seems inconsistent with the objective his attempt realism of the writing. To create his gradually Howe own past or it does become magical and the Book a past denied takes on greater him by his meaning As a result. How each son reacts father who to his great gift refused defines his reaction to talk about to his Fate. The great Burden of the collect the past Tive past begins to weigh upon successive generations and the holocaust changes everything in a powerful and telling Way. A mos has an Eye for minute details. A Young boy looks at the lights of Budapest he counted the lights twin Kling on the opposite Side of the Danube several times but by the time he reached the end some had gone out while a few new ones had come on he lost count generally somewhere Between 60 and 80.? that Small detail of Between 60 and 80? is masterful. He summarizes human emotions succinctly and without trying to become emotional himself. Two close friends meet after a Long absence they embraced but could not speak they wept with the sound less sobs that lie deep in men a and the writing is elegant but quite matter of fact. Here he describes the death of one sons wife the two guards bashed her brains out with the stocks of their rifles oblivious to the fact that Ilse was reciting a Heine poem studied in the fourth form of German primary schools describing the glories of the autumn landscape. While it is True that the particular textbook had been together with Heine and Many other poets withdrawn by 1936, the two soldiers must certainly have attended school before that Date ? that parenthetical sentence with All its irony creates a powerful moment. The Reader becomes quite attached to the sons who exhibit Many different traits but All of whom continue to strive for connections with the past and to Lay a groundwork for the future. Many of them suffer sad sometimes bizarre and sometimes tragic deaths. Yet the Book ultimately provides a sense of optimism that is difficult to describe. In an enlightening afterword a mos describes the novel As his attempt to Cre ate his own past a past denied him by his father who refused to talk about the past. In creating that compelling past for himself he has created a moving pow Erful and enlightening Panorama of life for the grateful Reader. Lawrie Cherniack is a Winnipeg lawyer sentimental Western entertains educates the whistling season by Ivan Doig Harcourt 345 pages $33 reviewed by Al Rae can to Cook and does to bite is the original classified and that brings Rose Llewellyn from the perdition of turn of the Century Minneapolis to Mirias Coulee mont., in this excellent literary Western from one of americas overlooked writers. As imagined by Seattle based Ivan Doig Rose establishes herself As a housekeeper on the farm of the male heavy Milliron family. Rose might not bite but her Minneapolis past nips at her heels. And when she alights from the train she has her reduced but Dandi fied brother Morris in Tow. Homesteader Oliver Milliron is a recent widower so the chances of Rose sinking the Teeth of Matrimony into him Are As certain As the Lack of rainfall in the drought plagued Region. Before the inevitable nuptials take place three seasons pass in which the Milliron Brothers fight and grow and the Dandy Morris proves himself an inspiring and fortuitous addition to the local one room schoolhouse. The whistling season looks Back on that innocent year of 1909 from the Van Tage Point of the late 1950s. A now grown Paul Milliron the novels narrator is responsible for running All the Rural school houses in the state. Sputnik the russians have just launched sput Nik and the space race will create a legislative momentum. A new Era has been launched. The one room school has survived two world wars a flu epidemic and a great Depres Sion. But the portent from above this russian Kettle of gadgetry is the death Knell of an entire species of schooling the Small Prairie arks of education that made Paul Milliron the Man he is. The sputnik a appearance is the second celestial event of the Story the first is the appearance of Halley a Comet in 1910, which the town celebrates in great style. As Paul looks Back from his modern Perch we look Back at him As a relic of the past. We Are a Long Way from either world. The schoolhouse is the heart of the novel and the lesson is we have lost More than we know. And not just human Community. The environmental damage Cre ated by swapping Rural sustenance for global Hegemony has not been fully reckoned. Doig a former ranch hand with a pad in history has been quietly scribbling for years. He has seven Western novels and three non fiction works that reanimate the ghosts of old Montana. Craftsmanship what distinguishes Doig a writing is that like Dickens he creates his senti mental worlds not just to entertain but to educate. Painstaking craftsmanship is also evident on each Page raising his books above the paperback westerns of texan Larry Mcmurtry. Doig a sentimentality is tempered by the originality of the writing which although Clever never stalls the plots journey in the metaphoric mud that sinks the Post modern westerns of Cor Mac Mccarthy and Annie Proulx. The Milliron clan is decent without a hint of irony. Oliver Milliron is not a fluff filled Man and neither is his son Paul. There is no frigate like a Book to take us lands away Emily Dickinson said. Montana in to that far from us Geo graphically but Doig a journey takes us across a band of time. And while the escape is a summery mental vacation we return from the trip More sad than Wistful. For All our gains we have lost More than we know and we Are Lucky to have writers of Doig a Talent to remind us of that Homespun truth. Al Rae was reared in Toronto and now herds comedians for the Csc Winnipeg comedy festival ;