IN BOOKS LIKE SPIT DELANEY'S Island and The Invention of the World, Jack Hodgins has claimed Vancouver Island as his literary territory. Populated with larger-than-life characters -- colourful loggers, rustic prophets, and powerful women -Hodgins' fictional universe is as distinct as Laurence's Manawaka or Richer's Montreal. So it's a pleasure -- like revisiting an old neighbourhood -- to stand on familiar ground again in his new novel, The Macken Charm.
Hodgins has dealt with the wacky Mackens before. In the present book, it's the summer of 1956 and Rusty Macken, the young narrator, is set to leaveVancouver Island for university. But first he must attend the funeral of Glory, the glamorous wife of Toby, his uncle and the unpredictable black sheep of the rustic Macken family. The novel uses this funeral and the resulting mourning, stretched out over almost 24 hours, to explore the comforts and restriction of living in a small rural community.
Hodgins' unnamed logging town is simultaneously nurturing and narrow-minded. The Macken family provides a safe retreat from the world, but it's also suspicious and resentful of outside success. When Rusty's relatives hear he's going to university (a first for their family), they affectionately attempt to mock his ambition. As one of his aunts says, "Next time we see this kid he won't talk to us, he'll be one of them goddamn city bohemians."
Although Hodgins clearly feels affection for his characters, contradictory family messages are the heart of the book. The central question is whether Rusty will pursue his dream of becoming a film director or simply become -- as almost everyone expects -just another Macken logger.
Almost as a warning to Rusty, the book is littered with stories of failed dreamers. We're told about Mackens who try to escape, lose their nerve, then come running back to the family fold. The deceased Glory provided Rusty with access to the outside world -she's beautiful, educated and urbane. But she's considered an outsider by the Mackens, almost cruelly ignored and forced to find emotional companionship with near-strangers, her dreams shattered. Only one character escapes from the island: a misfit cousin who mysteriously disappears in his youth, and his absence (is he dead or alive?) haunts Rusty, and the reader, like a ghost.
Through the central conceit of Glory's funeral, it soon becomes clear that the Mackens find it difficult to express grief -- or indeed, any emotion. We're meant to feel their pain through their actions. For instance, Toby, the grieving widower, tries to bum a church, lands himself in jail, nearly kills a relative, and ends up nearly frozen on top of a mountain. The other Mackens attempt to resurrect Glory through anecdotes, but find this insufficient so they end up creating a sort of shrine to her, a physical acknowledgment that they may not have appreciated her enough while she was among them.
Although written in flawless prose -- word for word, Hodgins is one of the country's best writers -- The Macken Charm is not without shortcomings. Characters are often caricatures, the narrative is interrupted by a confusing jumble of dialogue, and at times the symbolism lacks subtlety. Yes, the reader can accept that Rusty wants to be a filmmaker (and many of the scenes are imagined as film sequences), but do we have to be told he wants to be a polevaulter as well?
Though slightly flawed, the novel's effects are cumulative and lasting. Piece by piece, through snatches of conversations and bits of anecdotes, we begin to form a true picture of Glory, the most mysterious and tragic character. Although the book is told in a gentle, almost lyrical fashion, it's also something of a cautionary tale. Slowly, we begin to see the limitations, and subtle dangers, of the Macken charm.
