Story House

Vancouver writer Timothy Taylor's sophomore novel, Story House, has all the wonderful qualities that made his first novel, Stanley Park, such an engaging reading experience. In fact there are several similar themes: work (architecture rather than cooking this time), the father-son relationship and Vancouver . When I read the initial reviews I was a little turned off by the description of a boxing match the architect father, Packer Gordon, had arranged between his two adolescent sons. The boys, half-brothers, had a complicated and rocky relationship and their father misguidedly felt a violent physical encounter would ameliorate the fractiousness. He engaged a retired fighter, Pogey Nealon, to teach them how to box then put them in the ring together. Needless to say this encounter does not remedy their enmity toward each other. I don't like boxing in books or movies or real life and I certainly don't like the idea of a retired boxer with a cliched name like Pogey but this book is not about boxing although the match is pivotal and sets the scene for everything that follows. The characters are unusual but well drawn and their interactions are complex. Add a bit of fishing, criminal activity and a reality TV show about architecture and you have a mix that is intelligent and imaginative. I recommend it.