Review of The Gallery of Lost Species by Nina Berkhout

The Gallery of Lost Species

I like this coming of age tale, a young woman’s grappling with difficult and impossible family members. Edith is the plain sister, overshadowed by her beautiful and talented sister, Vivienne. Their mother, forced to leave her home in Paris, deeply resents her lack luster life in Canada, married to a failed artist.

The mother’s disillusionment with reality poisons her family, and each suffers silently. They are not a close family. The father, once handsome and full of potential, has faded, dressing in a suit to go to his job in an Ottawa government building, where he undresses and puts on his janitorial costume, as though his job is a disgrace that must be kept secret from the neighbors. They needn’t worry about others finding out as the family has few real friends.

Berkhout does a great job in creating characters. The beginning of this novel is especially strong. Early on, I detected a style of writing almost on a par with Alice Munro. But as the novel progresses, the narrator, Edith, occasionally seems too naïve, and her sister’s and mother’s callousness is occasionally overwrought and forced.

Although I enjoyed this book, I could see that young women might like it even more. Edith’s struggles with her sister, mother, father and boyfriend are realistic and convincing. Unlike many novels of this type, Edith is a convincing character, not the perfect heroine. The beautiful sister, Vivienne, is doomed, and a surprise element introduced late in the book makes good sense. At a point where the author could have become sentimental, she remains well grounded in cause and effect.

This novel reminded me of other novels aimed at young women, Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees,  especially. I prefer Berkhout’s more realistic novel, perhaps also because the other has been so over used in the Alberta curriculum. Berkhout’s story is loaded with character development, symbolism and thematic motifs, making it a good choice for the classroom or independent study. This novel would also be an excellent tie in with art history, as many famous artists and their works are included in this story.

Reviewed by Mary Oxendale Spensley