Chris Benjamin

The stories in Boy with a Problem address the tricky issue of human connection: the links binding us together, the forces that conspire to keep us apart. Much of the drama in these tautly written examples of gritty realism is generated by characters who care for and need one another, but for whatever reason are unable to express that need and only clash and cause each other heartache. In Chris Benjamin’s fictional landscape, the search for common ground is never easy; no one is living a simple life. In the title story, young Dan has lost his parents, with whom he was often in conflict, to a car accident. But he is slowly coming around to the idea that the values they pressed upon him and that he resisted are meaningful and worth cherishing. In “Mulch Glue,” idealistic, precocious Bree, inspired by a school assignment, indignant that nobody she knows seems to care about threats to the environment, embarks on an imprudent but, as it turns out, effective one-person crusade against the local mill that’s polluting the Cove but which represents the only source of income for most people in town. In “Inevitable,” socially inept Wanda indulges her sado-masochistic sexual fantasies with a guy she meets at the grocery store, even though she remains suspicious of his motivation for wanting to be with her. And in “How Far Beyond Me She has Gone,” a father’s guilt and confusion—the fact that he feels “powerless to undo what had inflicted her”—drive him to extremes after his rebellious teenage daughter is sexually assaulted. Chris Benjamin writes tough. There is a refreshing and challenging directness to his prose, as if he’s laying it all on the line and refusing to cushion the blow with florid descriptions and layers of metaphor. The stories draw us into a place of raw emotion where there is no miraculous cure around the corner, no protector waiting to save the day. In Boy with a Problem there are more than enough problems to go around; everyone bears an affliction or carries a burden. Chris Benjamin’s characters inhabit a world that is treacherous, unforgiving and sometimes just plain mean, but their stories are all the more powerful for acknowledging that in real life there are no easy answers.… (more)

Don't take my word for it. Drive-by Saviours was just longlisted for a ReLit Award (“The country’s pre-eminent literary prize recognizing independent presses,” according to the Globe and Mail). And check out these reviews:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/drive-by-saviours-by-chris-b...

rel="nofollow" target="_top">http://saltyink.com/2010/12/07/salty-inks-selected-top-notch-books-of-2010/

http://shelf-monkey.blogspot.ca/2011/01/monkey-droppings-drive-by-saviours-by.ht...

http://www.atlanticpublishers.ca/books/entry/drive-by-saviours/

http://www.chrisbenjaminwriting.com/chris-benjamin-writing-blog/chronicle-herald...… (more)

Drive-by Saviours by Chris Benjamin is a great read. It has two storylines beginning in a small island of Indonesia and a large city of Canada. Bumi, born to a fisherman's family, developed an obsessive compulsive disorder without knowing it. As a murder suspect, he fled to Canada, leaving his wife and children behind. Mark, a social worker in Toronto, lived with his girlfriend and helped with refugee claimants. "Toronto," meaning "meeting place" in Ojibwa, is where Mark encountered Bumi during a subway commute. Since then, their friendship had impacted each other's lives, and more dramatic events happened throughout the book.
I enjoyed this novel that has stories to tell and is set with the realistic social background. I was also fascinated with the characteristics of the two protagonists: Bumi's eccentrics and wits, and Mark's ideals and social conscience. I'm glad to see that elements of idealism and anti-materialism are with the Generation X.
The structure seems to be experimental. All the chapters alternately tell the story of Bumi in the third person and of Mark in the first person. Nevertheless, the novel is a page-turner to the end.… (more)