The Law of Dreams
2006 historical fiction novel by Peter Behrens
978-0-88784-207-8 (Anansi)ISBN 978-1-58642-117-5 (Steerforth)
The Law of Dreams is a historical fiction novel about the Great Famine of Ireland by Canadian author Peter Behrens. Published in 2006 by House of Anansi Press, it was the recipient of that year's Governor General's Award for English language fiction.
Plot overview
The novel follows the young Fergus O'Brien, who lives and works with his tenant family on a potato farm in Ireland. When the Great Famine begins in 1847, a mold spreads through the potato farms of the country, ruining the crop. Even after ten weeks of the famine, Fergus's father refuses to leave the farm in County Clare,[1] and eventually the family, save Fergus, is burned alive in their shack as the lie in bed, weak with hunger. Fergus is sent to a workhouse, where he comes to realize that he must leave soon before he dies of either fever or hunger. After escaping, he travels across the country, to Liverpool and Wales, joining a gang of thieves, working on the railways, and dreaming of the unknown land of America where he eventually immigrates.
Reception
The Law of Dreams was widely acclaimed by critics, who called it an "ambitious epic",[2] "impressive, swiftly paced saga",[3] "fearsome story,"[4] and "absorbing, unsparing and beautifully written account".[5] Ron Charles, a senior editor of The Washington Post's Book World section, named it his favourite of 2006 and compared Behrens' style to "pure magic".[6]
Although one reviewer criticized the novel for "veer[ing] dangerously close to melodrama",[2] another praised Behrens for "teach[ing] us again ... that the past was indeed ... a very real place".[5] The character of Fergus was called "thin and unconvincing as a narrator" by one critic,[2] but another praised the narration as "a mingling of Behrens's rich narrative voice and scraps of startling wisdom that seem to emanate directly from Fergus's mind".[4] The author's style was also commended for its "strange, hard poetry"[4] and "stark style admirably suited to conveying the horrors of starvation and despair."[3]
Awards
The Law of Dreams was the recipient of the 2006 Governor General's Award for English-language fiction, along with a CAN$15,000 prize, awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts. The jury praised the book as an "artfully-woven tale of mythic scope" and called Fergus a "complex and morally-heroic character".[7]
In 2007, the novel was also nominated for the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award,[8] the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize,[9] and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book from Canada and the Caribbean.[10]
References
- ^ www.amazon.com Retrieved 2016-03-07.
- ^ a b c "The Law of Dreams". Publishers Weekly. 22 May 2006. Retrieved 29 October 2008.
- ^ a b "Briefly Noted". The New Yorker. 20 November 2006.
- ^ a b c Charles, Ron (27 August 2006). "The Famished Road". The Washington Post. Retrieved 29 October 2008.
- ^ a b Baker, Kevin (10 December 2006). "The Coffin Ships". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 October 2008.
- ^ Charles, Ron (15 July 2007). "Harry Potter and the Death of Reading". The Washington Post. p. B01. Retrieved 29 October 2008.
- ^ "2006 Finalists: Fiction". Canada Council for the Arts. 2006. Retrieved 29 October 2008.
- ^ "Behrens, O'Neill nominated for first novel award". CBC.ca. 13 June 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2008.
- ^ "Writers' Trust announces bevy of award nominees". The Globe and Mail. 7 February 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2008.
- ^ The Canadian Press (9 February 2007). "Munro, Behrens shortlisted for Commonwealth Writers Prize". CBC.ca.
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Winners of the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction
- Bertram Brooker, Think of the Earth (1936)
- Laura Salverson, The Dark Weaver (1937)
- Gwethalyn Graham, Swiss Sonata (1938)
- Franklin D. McDowell, The Champlain Road (1939)
- Ringuet, Thirty Acres (1940)
- Alan Sullivan, Three Came to Ville Marie (1941)
- G. Herbert Sallans, Little Man (1942)
- Thomas Head Raddall, The Pied Piper of Dipper Creek (1943)
- Gwethalyn Graham, Earth and High Heaven (1944)
- Hugh MacLennan, Two Solitudes (1945)
- Winifred Bambrick, Continental Revue (1946)
- Gabrielle Roy, The Tin Flute (1947)
- Hugh MacLennan, The Precipice (1948)
- Philip Child, Mr. Ames Against Time (1949)
- Germaine Guèvremont, The Outlander (1950)
- Morley Callaghan, The Loved and the Lost (1951)
- David Walker, The Pillar (1952)
- David Walker, Digby (1953)
- Igor Gouzenko, The Fall of a Titan (1954)
- Lionel Shapiro, The Sixth of June (1955)
- Adele Wiseman, The Sacrifice (1956)
- Gabrielle Roy, Street of Riches (1957)
- Colin McDougall, Execution (1958)
- Hugh MacLennan, The Watch That Ends the Night (1959)
- Brian Moore, The Luck of Ginger Coffey (1960)
- Malcolm Lowry, Hear Us O Lord from Heaven Thy Dwelling Place (1961)
- Kildare Dobbs, Running to Paradise (1962)
- Hugh Garner, Hugh Garner's Best Stories (1963)
- Douglas LePan, The Deserter (1964)
- [no award] (1965)
- Margaret Laurence, A Jest of God (1966)
- [no award] (1967)
- Alice Munro, Dance of the Happy Shades (1968)
- Robert Kroetsch, The Studhorse Man (1969)
- Dave Godfrey, The New Ancestors (1970)
- Mordecai Richler, St. Urbain's Horseman (1971)
- Robertson Davies, The Manticore (1972)
- Rudy Wiebe, The Temptations of Big Bear (1973)
- Margaret Laurence, The Diviners (1974)
- Brian Moore, The Great Victorian Collection (1975)
- Marian Engel, Bear (1976)
- Timothy Findley, The Wars (1977)
- Alice Munro, Who Do You Think You Are? (1978)
- Jack Hodgins, The Resurrection of Joseph Bourne (1979)
- George Bowering, Burning Water (1980)
- Mavis Gallant, Home Truths: Selected Canadian Stories (1981)
- Guy Vanderhaeghe, Man Descending (1982)
- Leon Rooke, Shakespeare's Dog (1983)
- Josef Škvorecký, The Engineer of Human Souls (1984)
- Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale (1985)
- Alice Munro, The Progress of Love (1986)
- M. T. Kelly, A Dream Like Mine (1987)
- David Adams Richards, Nights Below Station Street (1988)
- Paul Quarrington, Whale Music (1989)
- Nino Ricci, Lives of the Saints (1990)
- Rohinton Mistry, Such a Long Journey (1991)
- Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient (1992)
- Carol Shields, The Stone Diaries (1993)
- Rudy Wiebe, A Discovery of Strangers (1994)
- Greg Hollingshead, The Roaring Girl (1995)
- Guy Vanderhaeghe, The Englishman's Boy (1996)
- Jane Urquhart, The Underpainter (1997)
- Diane Schoemperlen, Forms of Devotion (1998)
- Matt Cohen, Elizabeth and After (1999)
- Michael Ondaatje, Anil's Ghost (2000)
- Richard B. Wright, Clara Callan (2001)
- Gloria Sawai, A Song for Nettie Johnson (2002)
- Douglas Glover, Elle (2003)
- Miriam Toews, A Complicated Kindness (2004)
- David Gilmour, A Perfect Night to Go to China (2005)
- Peter Behrens, The Law of Dreams (2006)
- Michael Ondaatje, Divisadero (2007)
- Nino Ricci, The Origin of Species (2008)
- Kate Pullinger, The Mistress of Nothing (2009)
- Dianne Warren, Cool Water (2010)
- Patrick deWitt, The Sisters Brothers (2011)
- Linda Spalding, The Purchase (2012)
- Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries (2013)
- Thomas King, The Back of the Turtle (2014)
- Guy Vanderhaeghe, Daddy Lenin and Other Stories (2015)
- Madeleine Thien, Do Not Say We Have Nothing (2016)
- Joel Thomas Hynes, We'll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night (2017)
- Sarah Henstra, The Red Word (2018)
- Joan Thomas, Five Wives (2019)
- Michelle Good, Five Little Indians (2020)
- Norma Dunning, Tainna (2021)
- Sheila Heti, Pure Colour (2022)
- Anuja Varghese, Chrysalis (2023)
