The Cure for Death by Lightning
{{short description|1995 novel by Gail Anderson-Dargatz}}
{{infobox book |
| name = The Cure for Death by Lightning
| image = File:TheCureForDeathByLightning.jpg
| caption = First edition (Canadian)
| author = Gail Anderson-Dargatz
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| country = Canada
| language = English language
| series =
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| publisher = Knopf Canada
| release_date = 1996
| english_release_date =
| media_type = Print
| pages = 294
| isbn = 0-394-28157-8
| dewey =
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The Cure for Death by Lightning is the debut novel from Canadian author Gail Anderson-Dargatz. It was nominated for the Giller Prize, was awarded the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and became a bestseller in Canada (selling over 100,000 copies) and Great Britain (where it won a Betty Trask Award).http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307363886 {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}
Plot introduction
Set in an isolated farming community in Shuswap Country,{{Cite web|url=http://www.jackhodgins.ca/jackhodgins-interview-canadian-literature-fiction.htm|title = Interview with Jack Hodgins - Canadian Literature - Fiction - Short Stories - Novels}} British Columbia at the end of the Second World War it is a coming of age story containing elements of magic realism.{{cite web |url=http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780394281803 |title=Books at Random House of Canada {{!}} The Cure For Death by Lightning by Gail Anderson-Dargatz |website=www.randomhouse.ca |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060527082303/http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780394281803 |archive-date=2006-05-27}} Fifteen-year-old Beth Weeks has to contend with her family's struggle against poverty but also her increasingly paranoid and aggressive father whose behaviour leaves the family as outcasts in the community. A number of unusual characters appear in the book, including Filthy Billy, a hired hand with tourettes and Nora, a sensual half-Native girl whose mother has an extra little finger and a man's voice.
The title of the book comes from one of a number of household tips and recipes belonging to her mother which appear as asides throughout the book, while Beth's mother withdraws from reality and talks with her dead mother; leaving Beth to be sexually molested by her father.
Reception
- The Boston Sunday Globe described how, "some first novelists tiptoe. Not Gail Anderson-Dargatz. She makes her debut in full stride, confidently breaking the rules to create a fictional style we might call Pacific Northwest Gothic."{{cite web |url=http://www.randomhouse.ca/newface/dargatz.php#reviews |title=Gail Anderson-Dargatz |website=www.randomhouse.ca |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030609005414/http://www.randomhouse.ca/newface/dargatz.php |archive-date=2003-06-09}}
- Canadian Literature quarterly criticizes the "somewhat ponderous plot" but praises the "acuteness of vision" and "sharp rendition of the breathless, sensate moment" as the "magic in the ordinary" is revealed.{{Cite web |url=http://canlit.ca/reviews/auspicious_beginnings |title=Book Review | the Cure for Death by Lightning by Gail Anderson-Dargatz; the Lusty Man by Terry Griggs | Canadian Literature |access-date=2012-06-03 |archive-date=2013-01-15 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130115065827/http://canlit.ca/reviews/auspicious_beginnings |url-status=dead }}
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cure for Death by Lightning}}
Category:Canadian magic realism novels
Category:Novels set in British Columbia
Category:Canadian Gothic novels
Category:Canadian bildungsromans
Category:Houghton Mifflin books
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