Our take on Daddy Lenin
Guy Vanderhaeghe's Short Story Collection, Daddy Lenin
Vanderhaeghe’s new book, Daddy Lenin, is a collection of nine short stories full of singular characters and addictive plotlines. Here’s our visual take on some of the memorable objects found in each of the stories.
In “The Jimi Hendrix Experience,” a bored 14-year-old finds his Jimi Hendrix-inspired pranks backfiring on him unexpectedly.
In “Tick Tock,” Charlie Brewster is aching with the impulse to smack someone.
In “Koenig & Company,” Billy Dowd’s mother has just had “her third nervous breakdown in four years.”
In “1957 Chevy Bel-Air,” when teenage protagonist Reinie Ottenbreit took his insolent girlfriend to a café, “She sang along softly to each song with a longing look on her face that Reinie found thrilling.”
In “Live Large,” the story starts off with Billy Constable whose business has taken a turn for the worst, and so he accepts his wife’s suggestion to give up his favourite pastime, golf, not just to save money “but feeling he deserved this punishment for his sins he acquiesced.
In “Where the Boys Were,” two teenage brothers get involved with a visiting American girl and a pistol waved triumphantly in their faces.
In “Anything,” Tony Japp leaves behind his failing career as an actor in Toronto, and embarks on a misguided adventure in the big city of Saskatoon.
In “Counsellor Sally Brings Me to the Tunnel,” Teddy is ordered to see a counsellor after being suspended from his job as a teacher, for lying to his students. In one of his sessions, he confesses an incident from his childhood where he found himself hiding behind a scarred dresser.
In “Daddy Lenin,” Jack spots a fellow graduate student who, forty years ago, earned the nickname Daddy Lenin for “his uncanny resemblance to the lovingly preserved corpse lying in state in the Kremlin.”
Wordfest presents Guy Vanderhaeghe with Marina Endicott on June 1, 7pm, at the Calgary Public Library. The event is hosted by Fred Stenson. Tickets are $15.
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