Showing posts with label Hockey Players. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hockey Players. Show all posts

Monday, 27 September 2021

Isn't It Bromantic?

Finished September 23
Isn't It Bromantic? by Lyssa Kay Adams

This is the fourth book in this series and we're finally seeing more about a man who appeared in the first novel, Russian hockey player Vlad Konnikov. Then we knew him as a man with a bad gastrointestinal issue and a penchant for cheese. No one wanted to use a bathroom after him, but he was emotive and joined into book club activities with enthusiasm.  
In the third book we caught a glimpse of his beautiful wife Elena Konnikova, a journalism student at an American university and his childhood friend. 
Elena practically grew up with Vlad, after losing her mother at the age of nine and with her journalist father travelling all the time. As they came into adulthood they developed feelings for each other, but had difficulty expressing them.
When Vlad made it into the NHL, he proposed to Elena, partly to get her out of Russia, where she had recently lost her father when he disappeared working on a story about organized crime. She quickly agreed, but when she arrived in the U.S., she decided to take a degree in journalism, following in her family's footsteps, so they didn't spend much time together.
As this story begins, Elena is nearly done her degree and Vlad had just had a bad injury during a game. When his team representative contacts her to come, she goes immediately. She knows how much she owes Vlad, and wants to ensure that he has what he needs, even though the last time she saw him, six months ago, she told him she wanted to end the marriage.
As the two meet again, they are awkward with each other, working at cross purposes, neither of them communicating what is in their hearts.
Vlad, however, has the Bromance Book Club, and they pitch in to remind him of what he has learned in the club, and to help him in a surprise endeavour of his own.
Elena discovers a group of women in Vlad's neighbourhood who he has been using as a sounding board, as well as the group of wives and girlfriends of the Bromance book club, and is reminded of her own lack of close friends outside of her husband. Elena also has a secret project, one that has driven her for years and that she isn't about to let go. 
As both of their projects pull them toward and away from each other, they find themselves opening up to each other in new ways. 
This is another great read in the series, with depth as well as humour. We see familiar characters as well as some new additions and can see other relationships on the horizon. A fun read.

Thursday, 9 September 2021

On the Line

Finished September 6
On the Line by Kari-Lynn Winters, illustrated by Scot Ritchie

On the surface this is a tale of a young hockey player finding his place, but it is so much more than that. The central character is Jackson Moore, a boy that lives in a small town where hockey is an important part of the community. Several members of his family have been players that have been great assets to their team, described as hockey heroes. Everyone seems to be looking for Jackson to follow in their footsteps, but he has doubts. Mostly he keeps his doubts to himself while wondering what will happen if he doesn't live up to these expectations. 
As he joins his first hockey team, the coach and the players are excited to have him on the team, but his actual performance as a hockey player underwhelms them. There is an upcoming tournament called Winterfest that they are looking forward to playing in, but one requirement is regulation equipment. Of course, though it isn't stated explicitly here, hockey equipment and its costs are one of the major barriers to children joining the game. 
As Jackson tries to make traditional game plans to stay on his feet and impress his team members, he finds the need to rethink and make a different type of game plan entirely to ensure that his team gets to play at all. This part of the story is told in pictures, not words and isn't clear until the big reveal. 
The book ends with a page on team stewardship and its importance to the overall team spirit and cohesion. 
The illustrations add important elements to the story, showing diversity in the community and on the team, and the level of ingenuity the kids and their parents had used to come up with workarounds on equipment. Without the illustrations, this book wouldn't say as much as it does. 

Wednesday, 11 April 2018

Roughneck

Finished April 8
Roughneck by Jeff Lemire

This graphic novel is set in a small town in northern Ontario. Derek Ouelette was a major league hockey player, of the type commonly described as a goon. He is back in his home town after causing an injury in a move driven by anger in a game. Derek drinks too much, and lives a bit rough, and doesn't have a lot of friends. He still tends to erupt in violence when he gets angry.
But when his younger sister Beth also returns to town, he must change to accommodate her needs. Beth has left an abusive boyfriend, one who is also in the drug trade.
As Beth struggles to get past her addiction and move on to a new life, Derek must also change. We learn about their parents, and the influence that those parents had on them, both good and bad. As they now realize that they don't know much about their mother's family, they are interested in discovering more about her native background, particularly Beth.
This is a story of finding the support and strength to start again, to learn from mistakes and become a better person.
Lemire's books are always drawn with skill, and this is no exception. I loved the illustrations and how they added to the characterization.

Sunday, 1 May 2016

Indian Horse

Finished April 26
Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese

This novel follows Saul Indian Horse, a man who has hit bottom in his life, and while at a native healing centre looks back on his life to see what brought him to where he is now.
He looks back at his early life on the land with his brother, parents, grandparents, and other family members, particularly when they camp on the remote island that is special to his family.
He tells of his experience being brought to residential school, and of the priest that introduced him to hockey. Saul gradually reveals his life, those that influenced it for good and bad, those that he still feels something for, and the things that matter most to him.
Saul has natural skills for many things, and he gradually comes to accept these for what they can do for him.
This is a story of the impact of residential schools, here fictional, but real for so many. This is a story that brings some of that impact to readers in a meaningful way. This book had me laughing, crying, and touched deeply. Wagamese is a master writer, and when telling stories like this you can see that clearly. An amazing read.
A colleague urged me to take this book off my shelf where it had been lingering and once I did, I had trouble putting it down. I urge every Canadian who hasn't already read this book to do so. Besides being winning the 2013 Canada Reads People's Choice, this book was also shortlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, winner of the First Nations Community Read, and on the Globe and Mail top 100 list for 2012.