Stranger By David Bergen Hardcover 1443450979 9781443450973 Literature Fiction Stranger From Giller prize–winning author of The Time in Between and Canada Reads finalist for The Age of Hope comes a stirring tale that lays bare the bonds of motherhood, revealing just how far a mother will go to reclaim her stolen child. Íso, a young Guatemalan woman, works at a fertility clinic at Ixchel, in the highlands of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas. She tends to the rich northern women who visit the clinic hoping that the waters of the nearby lake might increase their chances of conception. Like many of the women working at the clinic, Íso is aware of the resident American doctor, Eric Mann. Soon Íso is his secret lover, stealing away with Dr. Mann on long motorcycle rides through the mountains and enjoying beach vacations with Eric and his doctor friends. But their tryst does not last long. Dr. Mann decides he will return to the US, and a freak accident cuts the couple’s time together even shorter. Before Íso can tell Dr. Mann that she is pregnant, he is gone. After the birth of her daughter, the baby is taken from her. The director of the clinic informs Íso that her child is in America. Determined to reclaim her stolen daughter, Íso makes her way north through Mexico, eventually crossing illegally into a United States divided into military zones. Travelling without documentation, and with little money, Íso descends into a world full of danger. In a place of shifting boundaries, Íso must determine who she can trust and how much, aware that she might lose her daughter forever. The profound intelligence and political resonance we have come to expect from Bergen sit front and centre in Stranger , contributing to the growing legacy of this Giller Prize–winning author. With its themes of dislocation and disruption, of power and vulnerability, of rich and of poor, Stranger is a powerfully resonant political novel for our times. Stranger Literature fiction S immigration policies have hindered Guatemalan people from finding refuge there But that seems a little too on the nose and smugly progressive Canadian And it could be read as an allegory of the widening gulf between the rich and poor in America but I found it to be a little over the top that the rich are greedily hoarding what they have with razor topped walls and paying their undocumented help so little that they must sleep under bridges and in squats while the poor are eager at every turn to help so and share what little they have Or it could just be an allegory of the continuing power differential between men and women.

Stranger Literature fiction

Born in Port Edward British Columbia author David Bergen worked as a writer and high school English teacher in Winnipeg Manitoba before gaining a great deal of recognition in Canada when his novel The Time In Between won the 2005 Scotiabank Giller Prize one of Canadas most prestigious literary awards The novel also received a starred review in Kirkus Reviews and was longlisted for the 2007 IMPAC Award Bergens debut novel A Year of Lesser was a New York Times Notable Book and a winner of the McNally Robinson Book of the Year award in 1997 His 2002 novel The Case of Lena S was a finalist for the Governor Generals Award for English language fiction and won the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award It was also a finalist for the Mc Born in Port Edward British Columbia author David Bergen worked as a writer and high school English teacher in Winnipeg Manitoba before gaining a great deal of recognition in Canada when his novel The Time In Between won the 2005 Scotiabank Giller Prize one of Canada s most prestigious literary awards The novel also received a starred review in Kirkus Reviews and was longlisted for the 2007 IMPAC Award Bergen s debut novel A Year of Lesser was a New York Times Notable Book and a winner of the McNally Robinson Book of the Year award in 1997 His 2002 novel The Case of Lena S was a finalist for the Governor General s Award for English language fiction and won the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award It was also a finalist for the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award and the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction. Epub german Additionally Bergen has received the 1993 John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer and the 2000 Canadian Literary Award for Short Story In 2008 he published his fifth novel The Retreat which was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and which won the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award and the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction. Stranger king county prop 1 Bergen currently resides in Winnipeg Manitoba with his family site_link From Giller prize winning author of The Time in Between and Canada Reads finalist for The Age of Hope comes a stirring tale that lays bare the bonds of motherhood revealing just how far a mother will go to reclaim her stolen child so a young Guatemalan woman works at a fertility clinic at Ixchel in the highlands of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas She tends to the rich northern women who visit the clinic hoping that the waters of the nearby lake might increase their chances of conception Like many of the women working at the clinic so is aware of the resident American doctor Eric Mann Soon so is his secret lover stealing away with Dr Mann on long motorcycle rides through the mountains and enjoying beach vacations with Eric and his doctor friends But their tryst does not last long Dr Mann decides he will return to the US and a freak accident cuts the couple s time together even shorter Before so can tell Dr Mann that she is pregnant he is gone After the birth of her daughter the baby is taken from her The director of the clinic informs so that her child is in America Determined to reclaim her stolen daughter so makes her way north through Mexico eventually crossing illegally into a United States divided into military zones Travelling without documentation and with little money so descends into a world full of danger In a place of shifting boundaries so must determine who she can trust and how much aware that she might lose her daughter forever The profound intelligence and political resonance we have come to expect from Bergen sit front and centre in Stranger contributing to the growing legacy of this Giller Prize winning author With its themes of dislocation and disruption of power and vulnerability of rich and of poor Stranger is a powerfully resonant political novel for our times StrangerFind all my book reviews plus author interviews book extracts and guests posts on my blog Things I Loved About Stranger by David Bergen1. Stranger things First of all can we talk about that gorgeous cover As soon as I received the book from the lovely people at Duckworth I knew this was a book I was going to pick up and read straightaway There s something about that face those eyes and the rich colours that enticed me. Strangers book The writing is beautiful simple concise elegant and at times magical Thursday evening alone she walked and walked At one point crowds of people were walking against her moving towards the stadium She put her head down and pushed forward into the commotion banging shoulders with the passersby hearing them speak and their bodies and their voices were like scraps of wood that she received and with those scraps she fashioned a raft upon which she floated and she turned the raft and moved downstream with the crowd 3. Stranger ebooks free I loved the insight into the culture and people of Guatemala the food they eat how they travel their houses and shops the music they listen to I was enchanted by the picture the author creates of so s lakeside village The sun had set The houses were lit Young boys walked hand in hand in the streets and a child squatted near to her family s tienda Nearby an old woman sat before her fruit press her clean glasses stacked beside the basket of oranges so greeted everyone she met and they greeted her in return 4. Stranger text I fell in love with so She s brave clever thoughtful resilient and utterly determined to reclaim her child whatever obstacles are placed in her path She inspected her heart The hatred had been exhilarating And welcome And crippling And exhausting And very dangerous For passion anguish jealousy and anger would produce nothing but mistakes and false steps and failure A cold heart was necessary 5. Strangerland 2015 I adored so s mother She has such insight about humanity with all its flaws There was something about living in a country where the language was not yours You appeared to be stupid and you weren t noticed Or if you were noticed if was for your body or to clean someone s toilet or to look after someone s child You turned into someone to chase or to scorn or to look down on It was necessary wherever you lived to have the poor so that everyone else felt better Senora Perdido s own story is heartbreaking but the wisdom she takes from her experiences to pass on to her daughter is incredible You are smarter and you are better inside and you will not make the same mistakes I made Do you see 6. Strangerboi24 Throughout so s perilous journey in search of her child the people who help her most are those who have least The book creates an incredible picture of the generosity of spirit of people who possess little themselves but what they do have they share. Strangers on a train Stranger presents an eloquent but depressing picture of inequality in our world There is the world of people sleeping in doorways or in makeshift encampments or living in squats and scavenging for food in dumpsters behind supermarkets And then there is the world of gated communities where so eventually finds work patrolled by security guards with security cameras inside and out and where the occupants throw lavish dinner parties She learned that her employers were fearful not so much of the day to day but of the possibility that what they had might be taken from them their advantage their security and this being so they celebrated their fragile security by living extravagantly by throwing large parties and by spending large amounts of money on objects they would never use 8. Short Stories stranger feelings Stranger depicts the brutal reality of the dangers faced by desperate people trying to enter the United States illegally via a kind of modern day Underground Railway which operates by virtue of bribes and officials who look the other way but whose organisers have no regard for the safety of the people they transport. Strange book titles I loved how the book explored the incredible bond between mother and child whether it s the touching relationship between so and her mother or the maternal force so strong that it sustains so half way across America through untold dangers to recover her child. Can we be strangers again ebook It made me think About inequality about the desperation that drives people to leave their homes in search of a better life and about how people see the world in different ways so s story will stay with me for a long time. Stranger book series comFrom the first page of Stranger it is clear why David Bergen has a dozen published novels to his name and why he has won awards His writing is so atmospheric I felt as though I was floating amongst the action in some sort of dream. Ebook geronimo stilton Part of this is his non use of speech marks a technique I have seen before and which can take some getting used to but Bergen really makes it work Theoretically the story is told in the third person but the author follows so and puts us inside her head. Short Stories stranger feelings The initial storyline is familiar A young innocent local girl is attracted to a tall handsome US doctor married but supposedly separated from his wife Initially we have some real tension as the wife and mistress are thrust together for a while I won t spoil the story but as expected the man leaves and the girl is left pregnant Just as it seems she is coping with the situation the baby is taken away from her. Stranger chat The book develops with far action when against the odds so manages to travel to the USA in what is a very moving story of life as an illegal immigrant Along the way she meets many challenges but she also receives some wonderful human kindness. Strangers on a train Migration is currently one of the world s biggest issues and here David Bergen has contributed to the discussion However the moral does not end there Strangers is also a tale of the abuse both deliberate and innocent of the world s poor by the world s wealthy. Stranger king county prop 1 This was an almost perfect read and I have awarded Strangers a near perfect four and a half stars English This follows the story of Iso a young Guatemalan fertility clinic worker After an affair with one of the doctors whose life changes after an accident Iso finds herself pregnant Her lover is back in the US with his wife It is when Iso has given birth to her daughter that this story takes a change her child is abducted and she knows who took her She makes the decision to take her daughter back at all costs. Kindle stranger diaries elly griffiths This is a very simply written story but very effective Iso is a very determined character with her heart and mind set on one thing her daughter For me the author has tentatively gone into illegal border crossings illegal immigration and exploitation but the story is not about these issues it is about a young girl I found this simplistic approach kept the story moving and didn t get bogged down in the politics. Strangers book I would recommend to readers of crime mystery it does border on thriller occasionally but this is a story about a young girls journey of determination It is a quiet story rather than the blood and guns guns blazing one A simple story simply told but very profound. Stranger Literature fiction I would like to thank Duckworth Publishers for bringing this book to my attention My thoughts are my own honest and unbiased English There was no plan Life is not that organized The world is round Things sometimes just happen. Stranger king county prop 1 Stranger by David Bergen is a deceptively simple kind of novel if you read the book flap or the Goodreads synopsis you ll learn the whole plot but despite not finding many surprises except for sudden acts of violence or kindness as I was reading it was the overall tone that I thought was this book s strength and in a way also what makes me hesitant in my judgment in hindsight What s for certain is that this book is lingering in my mind and that s always a good thing Beginning in the Guatemalan highlands Stranger is told from the perspective of a young woman so who works as a helper at a fertility clinic while studying English Literature and saving to go to med school you would be wrong to underestimate so Right away there s a class distinction drawn between those wealthy white American women who come to take the waters and the local brown girls who excel at becoming invisible attendants too insignificant for the clients to even consider modesty around as they allow the helpers to undress bathe and full body massage them In addition to the clients the clinic is staffed by foreign doctors who look down on the locals while acting as great white saviours but remember this is a for profit clinic of questionable alternative medicine hardly Doctors Without Borders When the handsome Dr Mann steals so s heart despite warnings from her friends and family so believes herself too smart and aware to be treated as a trifle events are set in motion that will see so embark on a dangerous journey crossing illegally into first Mexico and then the US so navigates an altered America in which the rich have barricaded themselves further against the riffraff hey if you can t build an impenetrable wall at the southern border why not build those walls around your individual neighbourhoods while the poor majority riots in the streets. Stranger things cast That s pretty much the plot but as I began with it s the tone that worked the best for me and for the most curious of reasons Now I m not someone who would ever warn another to check your privilege or gang up on an ally of insert identity group for misguidedly white knighting during a conversation in which members of the identity group could very well speak for themselves however I am fascinated by these confrontations and will read incredibly long comment threads to see how they play out but I have long felt uncomfortable reading books written from the perspective of one gender when the author is of the opposite and for the purpose of my generalised complaint I m going full binary on gender and note that I don t tend to buy women writing as men any than I tend to believe men writing as women When you add on the fact that Bergen is an older white man from Canada writing from the perspective of a young Guatemalan woman something about this doesn t feel like his story to tell there s an ironic overtone to the well intentioned white man writing about the well intentioned white man who went to Guatemala and messed everything up And yetI bought into so and her perspective Using abrupt clipped sentences as in my opening quote Bergen somehow keeps the narrative gender neutral and matter of fact and this propels the plot without hitting any false notes As for the clipped sentences some review that I can t now find said that a mark of Bergen s genius is that you ll find nary an adverb in his writing and I ll need to think further on the truth of that Maclean s refers to the spare writing in Stranger as gorgeous lyricism and The Globe and Mail says of Bergen He s known for his clean prose and wonderful startling observations and this book has perfect pitch and I won t argue with that There are a few passages that did approach the lyrical and while the following long chunk which be warned contains my only real spoiler might have annoyed me in principle as the experience of giving birth is not a man s story to tell it was real enough to make me nod and think Yeah there s truth in that so closed her eyes She breathed quickly and then slowly depending on her state She saw herself as floating on water and then she became the water and the water became her She went under and she rose to the surface and again she went under And each time she went under she went a little deeper so that when she looked up at the surface of the water she made out vague shapes and dim lights and she heard as if from a great distance her mother s voice singing She was no longer afraid She was quite peaceful The final time she went under she went very deep and as she rose she saw the surface shimmering above her but it was quite a distance and she was losing oxygen and just as she felt that her lungs were finished she broke through the surface and gasped for air and the baby was born She did not see the baby being born of course but she knew because as she sucked for air she felt an extreme euphoria and she heard Francisca say the word bueno and she heard the women s voices rise and fall in happiness and in that moment she believed she had done something that no one else had ever done before and she was amazed at herself It is eventually revealed that so s full name is Paraiso Perdido which translates as Paradise Lost in an interview with the CBC Bergen says whose paradise lost I guess is the question and in tandem with the American doctor s surname being Mann and everyone is always warning so that men can t be trusted I assume these names signal that the story was meant to be read as allegorical If it s a geopolitical allegory then maybe that Maclean s review is correct in thinking it s simply a rebuke of the US and how and especially as it concerns fertility and reproduction It s probably some combination of all of these ideas the fact that this book makes me think on all these ideas argues for its importance. Stranger danger So after being startled by the clipped spare prose and having this ironic discomfort of being aware of the white foreigner commenting on meddlesome white foreigners further complicated for me personally by the gender switch and the second half of the book serving as a commentary on American social wars as written by a Canadian was this really Bergen s story to tell I liked Stranger than I would have expected I have no idea how it will stack up against the other titles on the Giller Prize longlist I won t have read many of them before it s reduced to a shortlist next week and it feels like a rounding up to give four stars English This book turned out to be a very pleasant surprise as I wasn t too sure if I was going to enjoy it at first The simple prose grew on me and I couldn t put it down in the end desperately wanting to discover what happened to so and her baby. Strangers book As a mother I was rooting for so the whole time although I did wonder what her plan was I was very glad to discover that she wasn t a bad ass woman on the rampage but a young mother who was quietly determined to get her stolen baby back. Strangerland 2015 The description of her journey to the United States was so clear in my mind s eye as I was reading and felt for her as she struggled to keep out of harm s way I enjoyed meeting the different characters she met along the way making me wonder how I would behave in each situation. Strangerland 2015 Thanks so much to Duckworth Overlook for my paperback advanced reading copy English

Stranger By David Bergen

1443450979

9781443450973

English

272

Hardcover

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This was dark and gripping at times yet I couldn t help but feel that not being own voices it missed out on some of the cultural nuances of Guatemalan society And while the novel was wonderfully diverse there was quite a bit of stereotyping of POC characters. Stranger jhene lyrics More thoughts on this in my review English 4 1 2 This book was mesmerizing in so many ways It explores the tie between a mother and child and shows how far a mother will go and how much she ll endure to reclaim her child The story is of youn Iso a young Guatamalen woman who becomes involved with an American doctor who works in the fertilization clinic where Iso is a caregiver The clinic is located right in amongst the Sierra Madre de Chiapas The inevitable happens and Iso finds herself pregnant and her doctor lover has gone back to the States with his wife Iso has big plans for her unborn baby but fate works against her and she finds after one day that her baby girl has been taken Iso knows that her lover and his wife have her so she sets out on a very long and arduous journey through three countries to bring her daughter home The plot and the tension created in this book is unremitting and Bergen does a wonderful job of character portrayal in all his characters but especially young Iso The only dissonance that I found in this wonderful story is the apparent distopian state of America With no lead up or explanation we find an America that has become a police state and that has been divided into numberred military zones The book appears to be set in the present day right up until Iso crosses the American border and then all of a sudden finds herself trying to navigate through a country that is goverened by armed guards and policemen Very strange and I think not in character for the rest of this book But in spite of that this is a very compelling book and one very worthy of the Giller prize nomination English I seriously did not expect to fall in love with this one and if I had to describe this book in three words they would be Mesmeric Quotable and Profound. Stranger danger A gripping story about Iso a young Guatemalan woman who through major events finds herself struggling with lots of issues like love motherhood men and life in general She meets and falls in love with a charming Doctor loses him to a fatal accident which had him move away and finds herself pregnant and alone To add to her struggles her daughter was kidnapped and shipped off to America thus her journey begins to get her baby daughter back. Stranger kids The plot and prose was super simple but I found myself admiring how easy the words flowed which made it very easy to read It was beautifully written and I really could have finished this book in one sitting I couldn t give it the full five stars because there did come up a point where I kind of got bored and forced myself to get through those pages I found the first part of the book appealing than the last half Looking at the tabs marked in my book it would testify to that I found myself marking quotes in the beginning. Stranger kids Thanks to duck_books for this book which was given in an exchange for an honest review English Stranger is a compelling book with an indomitable heroine who like Blanche Dubois must at least occasionally depend on the kindness of strangers Sometimes she gets it wrong but mostly she is rewarded for her discerning criteria with getting it really perfectly right on I love this book which is full of social and immigration issues race and class all wrapped up as a parable infused with Magic Realism that iguana It has the feel of a quest and while it certainly is that it is not just that so is someone who has a determined moral fibre which shines through in any language and I am relieved for her that Cormac McCarthy wasn t writing her story She embarks on a sad side journey which likely no one else in her position would have undertaken I like to think that her kindness and moral ethics won the battle as she courageously sought her Holy Grail going from the depths of despair to the heights of hope Paradise lost and found I love how the water imagery is carried throughout the novel to insist upon its righteous great power in the end. Stranger things cast As they walked the younger man followed from a distance She did not know if three men were safer than the one boy but she thought that one out of three might have a heart or a code that he lived by Ch 8She was favoured She was unknown There was no curiosity about her and she took comfort in her anonymityShe felt very strong Ch. Book strangers 8 English David Bergen s well written novels have usually been set in Canada often in his home city of Winnipeg But this excellent book explores a timeless theme rooted mainly in the poverty and inequalities of Guatemala in Central America. Stronger book The central character Iso is a young woman working as support staff in a supposed lakeside fertility clinic where North American women come in hopes that the lake s waters will make them fertile Perhaps there are a few who do but the clinic thrives on hopes rather than results Into this narrow world comes a stranger a young male American doctor with flowing hair and a powerful motor cycle and Iso is swept off her feet becoming his lover This is to be forever he tells her until the wife from whom he d said he was separated arrives at the clinic seeking to have a child with her husband. Stranger things cast The story of what happens how it all plays out kept me deeply engaged in this book Bergen has written a story for our times with its huge inequalities its injustices and its struggles by people to try to overcome these He writes without over dramatization but with a deep sense of compassion The result is a very fine novel English .

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Stranger things

American interference has ravaged Guatemalan society while hostile U: Strangerlike There you have it my 10 reasons to read this book I cannot recommend it too highly: Strangerboi24 I received an advance reading copy courtesy of publishers Duckworth Overlook in return for an honest review English Book Reviewed by Clive on www, Stranger jhene lyrics I definitely recommend it if you prefer quiet determined characters rather than super hero badass types. Strangerboi24 Overall I would totally recommend this book It s not a new story or have that wow factor but in its own unique way it has something worth reading: Stranger epublishing A child does arrive but born to Iso even as the doctor s motorcycle crashes and he is returned badly injured to the U: Stranger king county prop 1 S Then things turn vicious as the doctor s wife persuades the clinic to give her the new born child who is suddenly thousands of miles away in America, Stranger in a strange land What is Iso to do What follows beautifully traced by Bergen is her courageous maybe foolhardy effort to get herself illegally to the U: Strangerlike S and bring her child back There she will be the stranger with what seems a devastatingly formidable task to undertake.2.7.9.10.whisperingstories