There is a Season by Patrick Lane
Then, at the beginning of this month, John over at The Book Mine Set, who hosts The
Canadian Book Challenge, gave us an extra challenge. He presented us with a list of Canadian
authors who no one has read for the challenge so far this year. Patrick Lane is one of the authors on the
list. Thanks John, for the extra push I needed to finally read There is a Season.
There is a season is the memoir of Victoria, British
Columbia author, Patrick Lane. It is not
only a tell all memoir of his life but a garden meditation as well. Mr. Lane has been writing since 1961 and has
published 20 books of poetry. He has
been an alcoholic pretty much all of his adult life but finally became clean
and sober and decided to write this book.
He is famous for his garden at his home in Victoria,
in fact it was on a television show about the greatest gardens. Lane wrote of his garden in such a way that I
thought of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. He went through the seasons of his garden
while include stories of his childhood, adulthood and his addiction. Sometimes he found bottles of alcohol hidden
in various hiding places in his garden after he became sober. They were so well hidden that he didn't
remember where they were.
He grew up in more rural areas in British
Columbia. His father left the family to
go off and fight in WWII.
The family didn't have much money and at times
Patrick would beg for some money from soldiers passing through but he also let
them fondle his privates for more. Like
the man who gave him a couple of quarters and bought him an ice cream sundae. Patrick also saw much that a boy shouldn't
have to witness such as murders and rapes.
He lived in a town where such things weren't talked about and he never
told he parents for fear of getting whipped for sneaking off at night.
His mother had been sexually abused several times as
a child and Lane wrote that she carried on the tradition but did not elaborate
on how or to whom, except for one scene in the book where she saw him
pleasuring himself.
As a teenager he had gotten a girl pregnant and he
went to his father for help. The reply
was the standard reply back in those days, "you made your own
bed." There was a shot gun
wedding. Him and his young wife and
child lived in cramped conditions in a mining village, where he worked but at
night he wrote poetry. He wasn't
educated beyond high school but he read all of the greats, including Dante.
His two brother both had the same shot gun weddings
before him and they didn't fare much better.
Lane got divorced after a few years and went to another remote mining
town where he worked and wrote. He
remarried but later, divorced again.
4.5/5
Did you review this book? Please leave your link in the comments.
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I do love a good memoir, but I'm not so sure about the garden meditation. My mother would probably love this book.
bermudaonion said... January 26, 2012 5:27 AM
I can see where this would make a good community read. I don't read memoirs very often and when I do, they tend to be by women...maybe I should try to branch out.
holdenj said... January 26, 2012 6:24 AM
Kathy, I wasn't sure of it either but it worked, for me.
Julia, I think I liked this book more than I would have because I have been to a lot of the places here in British Columbia.
Teddy Rose said... January 26, 2012 1:41 PM
This just doesn't sound like my cup of tea, but I loved his novel "Red Dog Red Dog". I hope he writes another novel; I'd be there for that!
Nicola said... January 28, 2012 5:59 AM
Nicola, I have to agree, I don't think you would care for it much. I also have Red Dog on my TBR.
Teddy Rose said... January 28, 2012 6:18 PM
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