Mahihkan Lake
- Publisher
- Thistledown Press
- Initial publish date
- Oct 2015
- Category
- Family Life, Coming of Age, Literary
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781771870535
- Publish Date
- Oct 2015
- List Price
- $19.95
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
Immediately before his tragic death, stuttering mechanic Dave visits his younger brother Denny with a note for their sister Dianne. “D-don’t r-read it. D-don’t open it. D-don’t nnothing it,” Dave commands before taking off one last time for the abandoned family cabin at Mahihkan Lake, a place where disputes are settled with shotguns and arson is written off as an act of God. After the funeral – and a brief stint in rehab for the gin-dependent Denny – he and Dianne head north to spread their adopted brother’s ashes and attempt to rebuild their fractured relationship. Meanwhile Harold, a truck driver who has lost everything, sets out on a solo canoe trip towards his own cabin at Mahihkan, but a series of mishaps.
About the author
R.P. MacIntyre is best known for his award-winning young adult fiction. He has also written for television, radio, and the stage and has edited and compiled over thirty-five anthologies of YA fiction, one of which won the Canadian Librarian Association’s Book of the Year in 1997. Mahihkan Lake is his seventh book and his first adult novel. Previous Books: Yuletide Blues, Thistledown Press, novel, 1991. The Blue Camaro, Thistledown Press, short fiction, 1994. The Crying Jesus, Thistledown Press, short fiction, 1997. The Sins of St. Dave, Playwrights Union of Canada, play, 1998. Revved, Thistledown Press, short fiction, 2002. Feeding at Nine, Thistledown Press, short fiction, 2006. Apart (w. Wendy MacIntyre), Groundwood Press, novel, 2007 Awards: Winner Saskatchewan Book Awards Children’s Literature for Feeding at Nine: 2007. (Also nominated for Fiction Award.) Winner Saskatchewan Centennial Medal of Honour for work in Literary Arts: 2005. Winner Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild Short Manuscript Award for “The Rink”: 2004. Winner Saskatchewan Book Awards Saskatoon Book Award for The Crying Jesus: 1998. (Also nominated for Children’s Literature Award.) Winner Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book of the Year for Takes: 1997. Winner Saskatchewan Book Awards Publishing in Education Award for Takes: 1996. Winner Vicky Metcalf Award for Short Fiction for ”The Rink”: 1993. Winner Best Educational Documentary at Saskatchewan Film and Video Showcase for A Room Full of Men: 1992.
Excerpt: Mahihkan Lake (by (author) R.P. MacIntyre)
I write this posthumously, impossible though it seems, having suffered a fate similar to an uncle and cousin. Now, my brother and sister are about to dispose of my ashes. (I’ve since been cremated) and I’m curious to hear the eulogy—if there is one—they are extremely self-centred individuals and don’t really have a clue about me, or about themselves for that matter. . . So while I miss the wind in my face, I am quite happy to be dead.
Dave Mackenzie-Givens 1955-2005
*
He slips into the lower Mahihkan River. He incorporates the roar into the brilliant white sun. But suddenly the keel beneath him collides rumbling over the rocks while the white water sends a rake of fear up his back and lends his arms strength he knows he has. His lungs burn and knees gristle while sweat stings his eyes. He holds on through the interminable, ripping eddies, trying not to sideslip until he’s through into the clean, quiet flow—the roar behind him. Ahead, a raven springs off a pine bough, spreads his big black wings and laughs. Harold laughs back.”
*
“Talent,” says Dianne, “is when you can sit down at a desk in grade two and draw a duck, even though you’ve never drawn a duck before.”
“That’s talent; you can draw a duck.”
“In grade two, yes. Or a horse that looks like a horse.”
“So that’s talent.”
“Or when you can pick up a guitar or sit at a piano and just play, even though you’ve never seen a guitar or piano before. You can just sit there and the music pours out of you without trying. That’s talent, raw talent.”
“I never had a guitar in grade two.”
“I know that, Denny. I’m not talking about you personally, just you generally and what talent is.”
“I never had a piano either.”
