1979: A Novel

by Ray Robertson

Overview

It’s 1979 and Tom Buzby is thirteen years old and living in the small working- class city of Chatham, Ontario. So far, so normal. Except that Tom’s dad is the local tattoo artist, his mother is a born-again former stripper who’s run off with the minister from the church where the pet store used to be, and his sister can’t wait to leave town for good. And everyone along his daily newspaper route looks at him a little differently, this boy who’s come back from the dead, who just might be the only one who understands the miraculous, heart-breaking mystery that is their lives.

Set in the year that real newspaper headlines told of North America’s hard turn to the right, 1979 offers a smalltown take on the buried lives of those who almost never make the news, and one boy’s attempt to make sense of it all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771960977
Publisher:	Biblioasis
Publication date:	03/06/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	647 KB

About the Author

Ray Robertson is the author of eight novels and three works of non-fiction. His work has been translated into several languages. Born and raised in Chatham, Ontario, he lives in Toronto.

Editorial Reviews

04/23/2018
Robertson (I Was There the Night He Died) centers this novel on Tom Buzby, an affable, Tang-drinking 13-year-old boy who delivers newspapers to the residents of the small town of Chatham, Ont. The low-key coming-of-age story captures Tom’s days following his parents’ divorce and traces his money problems, familial relationships, thoughts on local and world politics, and existential questions of assorted depths. Introducing readers to people whom Tom encounters on his paper route, the novel gives readers views into the sad, regret-filled, misbegotten, and occasionally contented days of various residents of Chatham in more than 30 short prose passages with newspaper-style headlines, such as “Average Guy Lives Average Life.” In first- and third-person narration, several figures—including an immigrant from China, an Auschwitz survivor, and a former athlete stricken with disease—reflect on life. Tom’s teenage experiences have their moments but are generally hampered by their ordinariness, and Robertson’s writing isn’t sufficiently lyrical to gild those mundane events. Robertson’s novel nods heavily to Edgar Lee Masters’s Spoon River Anthology, but it doesn’t carry the power of that work. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for 1979

"[An] entertaining new novel." —Metro Toronto

"As Robertson traces Tom’s coming of age, he explores themes of innocence lost, wisdom gained and learning to forgive ... [Robertson's] talent as a writer shows in his clear prose and ability to create unique and believable characters." —Winnipeg Free Press

"Richly and sympathetically imagined...beautifully crafted, a rich and textured perspective of small town life, a nostalgic journey that resonates with the world of today." —Kerry Clare, Pickle Me This

"Brilliant...what [1979] does most brilliantly is show us how we’re conditioned (in literature and in life) to notice only the shiny objects, the noise, to watch the magician’s hand, even though we know full well that’s not where the magic is." —Matilda Magtree

"I'm always on board for a new Ray Robertson novel, and one wonders what will have to happen for him to get to the front rank of Canadian writing, as he so richly deserves…Ray has a light touch; writes clean, punchy sentences; and has a musicality and movement in his prose that is a singular gift. I'll drop pretty much anything to read whatever he writes." —49^th Shelf

"Robertson has a knack for capturing the texture of adolescent life, and his version of small-town Ontario is vividly rendered."—Quill & Quire

"One to watch for, if you enjoy small-town Canadian stories, is 1979 by Ray Robertson. Tom Buzby, a thirteen year-old living in Chatham, Ontario, narrates this sweetly nostalgic coming-of-age story about Tom's developing interest in girls, his understanding of his parent's divorce, and his discovery of various rock bands (you could make an amazing playlist from records mentioned in this novel). I also loved reading about the dynamic between Tom and his sister, Julie. What makes this story a true gem however, is how Tom’s narrative is interspersed with a glimpse into the very private lives of his neighbours, including the people whose papers he delivers, and those whose paths cross his for other reasons." —Ottawa Public Library

"Robertson does an impeccable job."—Full Disclosure Praise for Ray Robertson

"Sharp-tongued … as Robertson ponders family and home as well as ‘what it means to love someone and to lose someone and to have to go on living anyway,’ he presents an intriguing character whose very real troubles are offset by bright flashes of hope."—Publishers Weekly

"… filled with sly wit and keen observation … an exceptional novel by one of the country’s finest literary voices."—The National Post

From the Publisher