The Retreat

had not read David Bergen's previous book, The Time in Between, which is a Giller Prize winning book. I traditionally shy away from these types of books as I find them a tad too pretentious for my own taste. However, I thought the storyline for the Retreat sounded so interesting that I would try it. The book starts out in 1973 in a small town in Ontario called Kenora. Our main character is a young man who, Raymond Seymour, who is dating the cop's daughter - and this is not going over well with the cop or the cop's brother. After a "conversation" between Raymond and the cop's brother, Raymond finds himself dumped on a remote island. A year later, The Retreat, created by guru Doctor Amos is born. The Retreat is packaged as a savior of souls and a giver of serenity. This is enticing to the Byrd family who have major problems of their own and are looking for an escape. However, Lizzy, the young girl of the family cannot find what she is so desperately searching - enter Raymond. Raymond, once again, has a relationship with a girl who is his complete opposite (at least according to standard customs) and both Raymond and Lizzie will realize just how difficult and unfair life can be. This novel is extremely dark and brooding - it takes a frank and somewhat disturbing look at the unhappiness in people and how they try to run away - trying to find something or someone who can make them happy. This book also does not shy away from highlighting the prejudice that lays in many of us and was particularly rampant in the 70's. I realized that the writing is absolutely beautiful. The prose and the progression of the story are joined together effortlessly and the end result is a novel deep with meaning and sensation. Reading this book made me very sad and impressions of it stayed with me for a very long time. As I mentioned, this is not my usual type of novel, but I am glad that I made an exception. A highly recommended read

The book opens in Kenora, Ontario in 1973. Raymond Seymour, a young native man, has just been dropped off and left to die on a remote island by a local cop. His crime? Dating the white cop's niece. The Byrd family arrives in the summer of 1974 to stay at the Retreat, which is just outside Kenora as well. It's leader is the self styled 'Doctor'. He promotes the Retreat as a spiritual and practical escape for the summer. But to the reader his motives seem to have a darker side. " Take a group of people and plunk them down in a village, a village that is created from scratch, and make those people live together. What happens? That's what interests me." Mrs. Byrd sees this Retreat as her salvation from her unhappy life. Her husband Lewis loves his wife and will go along with whatever she wants. Their four children - Lizzy, the oldest, her brothers William and Everett and the the youngest boy Fish, aren't thrilled to be there. The Retreat is also populated with other guests, all seeking or hiding from something.1974 is also the year of the Ojibway occupation of Anicinabe Park in Kenora. Lizzy crosses paths with Raymond Seymour, who escaped from the island and now delivers fresh game to the Retreat. They begin a relationship. What follows is a haunting, unsettling story of lives, wants, needs and undercurrents never quite brought to the surface. The clash of cultures and beliefs fuel the fire. Bergen's phrasing and language are beautiful. I often had to stop and savour a phrase. "He was moving his crooked fingers, as if attempting to pick up some slippery idea up off the floor." I felt as if I was watching a train wreck. You don't want to see the destruction but feel compelled to witness it. As the novel hurtles towards it's inevitable end, I could not put it down. I was thinking about The Retreat long after I turned the final page. Bergen is a previous winner of the Giller Prize for his last novel, The Time in Between.