Writer takes conversational approach - book review
brent whitman, peak staff

Lost Between Houses
David Gilmour
Vintage Canada

The boundary between fiction and the real world is porous. The weekend that the movie Gone in 60 Seconds came out, news reports talked of an increase in car thefts. The movie was about stealing cars. In David Gilmour's latest work the subject is not car thefts and the boundary is traversed in the opposite direction, as Gilmour's childhood experience become inspiration for a highly autobiographical novel.

Let's cut to the chase: Lost Between Houses tells the story of a sixteen-year-old boy who has a lot on his mind. With his father in the loony bin, a beautiful but sneaky girlfriend, and his family moving between houses all the time, it's no wonder narrator Simon Albright is feeling some angst. Novelist David Gilmour, who you may recognize from his work with the CBC, stunningly conveys Simon's emotions as he goes through a rough time in his life.

Gilmour does this by plugging us directly into Simon's mind. The first person narrative sounds like this totally frank conversation with the reader, if you know what I mean. So along with all the action, you've got this running commentary about what he was feeling and why. It's like listening to your best friend run off at the mouth. Or like he's thinking out loud. There's some bullshit thrown in with the real stuff, and sometimes he rambles on about fuck-all. But it all works together to give this really intimate feeling. It's supposed to be like the way teenagers really talk: swearing, slang, and all that other mischief.

One thing that was realistically portrayed by this narrative style was how much teenage boys think about sex. Interestingly, and perhaps typically, Simon is happy to fantasize, but as soon as his girlfriend starts talking about how much she enjoys masturbating, or tries to get him talking about bisexual experiences, he changes the subject: "Sometimes you talk like a guy, Scarlet." "That's because I'm part lesbo." "Are you part lesbo?" "Everybody's part something." "I'm not part homo." "Yes, you are." "I am not." "You mean you never played doctor when you were a little kid? Or jacked off with another guy?" "Jesus, Scarlet, your mouth."

Lost Between Houses is set in and around 1960s Toronto. However, Simon, by his own admission a "little rich prick," isn't caught up in any of the cliché 60s events like Woodstock or anti-war protests.

As for the story itself, it opens with Simon's mother convincing him to throw a party. This is where he first meets Scarlet, his future girlfriend. After finishing his exams, the family heads off to their summerhouse in the country. The summer is filled with various shenanigans and fun times with Scarlet, until Simon's dad gets out of the mental hospital and decides to sell the house in the city, and send him to school as a boarder. I won't give away the ending, but suffice to say that the story gets kinda wild in the last few chapters...

Overall, I loved the book. The first-person device gives the story a visceral emotional impact, and the story was really interesting - anybody who's ever been a teenager can relate. The semi-autobiographical nature of the work really contributed to the realism of the story.

With its direct, conversational style, Lost Between Houses would be an enjoyable read for a summer day at the beach.

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