Saints, Unexpected

Saints, Unexpected by Brent van Staalduinen is a well-received novel set in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, the city where I was born and still live. Most of the book takes place in the downtown Hamilton of 20 years ago, which was 10 years before I moved there from the suburbs up the mountain. Many specifics of place were unknown to me, but the overall picture was true. The author brings the city to life and stays faithful to its difficult character.

The narrator is a 15 year old girl, who tells her version of one tragic, formative summer. I cried for two whole chapters near the end. Most of the book falls under the section ‰ЫПHamilton, Then‰Ыќ while the epilogue is titled ‰ЫПToronto, Now‰Ыќ, a reflection on revisiting not only a difficult time of life, but a difficult place in life too. Hamilton is the kind of hometown people diminish or hide or forget, especially if they move to Toronto. There‰ЫЄs a lot of shame. Things have changed, somewhat for the better. Gentrification is in progress, for good and for bad. Part of me is grateful for the improved assortment of restaurants and shops downtown and the increased number of people like me on the streets, but another part of me is sad for the business owners and residents who are getting pushed out as a result. The bad parts of town are not getting better, and the people who need support are not in a better situation. I often tell people, ‰ЫПActually, Hamilton has improved a lot in the last several years ‰Ы_‰Ыќ but there‰ЫЄs always this twinge inside of me that thinks, ‰ЫПReally? For you, maybe.‰Ыќ The epilogue of Saints, Unexpected reflects this difficulty, valuing the strengths of a city while remembering a time of loss and change.

(Originally published in my weekly newsletter, All This Reading, with some differences.)