Barnacle Love

Customer Reviews

• 4 out of 5
  
  
  by Bonnie from Canada | Mar 17, 2009
  

  Shortlisted for the 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize
  4 ½ stars
  
  I loved this beautifully written book. What a debut! My only quibble is that it is supposedly a book of linked stories, but I don’t think it can be read in any way except as a novel, which I did, in one sitting.
  
  The story is split into two parts. Part I, titled Terra Nova, focuses on Manuel Antonio Rebelo. Against his mother’s wishes, Manuel travels from his Portuguese village to Canada. “I need to go. I need to be part of a bigger world. I need to know if there’s room for me out there.” What follows is pain, sorrow, anger, love, and a whole host of other emotions, all so sensitively written that the reader easily absorbs each while being swept into the Portuguese community experience of life in Toronto, where they keep their own traditions and ceremonies alive.
  
  Part II, Caged Birds Sing, focuses on Antonio, Manuel’s son. We read of Antonio’s difficulties being a child of immigrant parents, and being taunted by schoolmates for being foreign.
  
  At heart, Barnacle Love is the story about the relationship between Manuel and Antonio; the disappointments in the choices made by Manuel, and his expectations for Antonio. It all rings so true, I couldn’t help but think that Anthony De Sa wrote, at least in part, about his own experience.
  
  I highly recommend reading this book, and to read it chronologically. Each story builds on the last, moving through the slow decline of Manuel and his family. Yes, it a sad story, but it is filled with a sort of poetic truth. And I suppose the ending was inevitable, but…Well, read the story; find out for yourself.
  
  
  
  

  
  
   8 people found this review helpful
  
  

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• 3 out of 5
  
  
  by Lorraine from Burlington, ON, Canada | Dec 5, 2008
  

  The story of Manuel, a Portuagese man who comes to Canada. The second half is narrated by his son. The story is told in short story/vignette form.
  
  Rather a sad tale of a dream gone terribly wrong. Interesting that it has a similar concept as The Boys in the Trees another Giller finalist which was also told in vignettes. However, I like Boys in Trees better. Both start off going one way and then unexpected take a bad turn -- by which, I mean that things go badly for the central characters. Barnacle Love starts warm enough, possibly warmer than Boys in Trees, but grows colder, whereas Boys in Trees grows warmer and more personable.
  
  Both books make immigration to Canada (Toronto, specifically, 60 or 70 yrs ago) seem like an awful ordeal.

  
  

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• 4 out of 5
  
  
  by Teddy from Richmond, BC, Canada | Dec 31, 2007
  

  This is my first book read for the Canadian Book Challenge.
  
  Please see my review on either Amazon.ca or my blog. Here are the links:
  
  Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/2el4py
  
  My Blog: http://teddyrose.blogspot.com/
  

  
  
   1 people found this review helpful
  
  

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• 3 out of 5
  
  
  by Shelley from Ottawa, ON, Canada | Jun 17, 2009
  

  Five stars to the first half of this book told from the perspective of Manuel Ribelo after being washed up on shore in Canada and his previous life in a small Portuguese village. I found the characters (especially his Mother) and story line all very captivating. I lost interest in the second half of the book narrated by his son - seemed like a tale that I've heard many times before describing immigrant experiences, loss of dreams, etc. Short-listed for the Giller Prize 2008.

  
  

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• 3 out of 5
  
  
  by Me from Here, Canada | Apr 14, 2009
  

  The story was not amazing, it was slow dull mundane and extremely boring. I kept reading, it slowly picked up slightly it had flow of the sea rolling gently barely moving but still kept you hypnotized. Immigrants are always interesting non the less, I would never ask anybody to pick up this book, not that they could hate. I still liked it a lot. More than a lot.

  
  

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