(Fiction, Contemporary, Suspense, Canadian)

A short-list nominee for Canada’s 2013 Giller Prize, Cataract City is set in Niagara Falls Ontario, where the gorge into the Falls gives the city its nickname.

Owen and Duncan are childhood friends who’ve grown up in Niagara Falls. As adults, the two men end up at opposite ends of the law: Dunc gets in involved in cross-border cigarette smuggling and Owen is a police officer.

Although I’m not really a fan of suspense, this kept my interest throughout, perhaps because I’m personally familiar with the “Cataract City”.

Notable quote: It boiled down to this: it’s a lot harder to love than to hate. Harder to be there for those you love—to see them get older, get sick, be taken from you in sudden awful ways. Hate’s dead simple. You can hate an utter stranger from a thousand miles away. It asks nothing of you. It eats you from the inside but it takes no effort or thought at all. (page 327)

4 stars ( )

My reasons for choosing this book to read:
1. Canadian author
2. Set in a place I love and know well >> Niagara Falls aka "Cataract City"

When I started reading this book, I thought Yikes! This is not what I was expecting, too masculine for my taste. However, I chose this book to read for our book club for the month of May AND I invited the author to join us via telephone (he kindly accepted) to discuss his novel during our monthly meet. Therefore, I had no choice but to read it to the end. VERY happy to say it turned out to be a brilliant idea (self pat on the back), because as I kept reading those cute little red rating stars kept multiplying.

The name alone was intriguing, I looked it up, and to my surprise found out it is a true nickname for Niagara Falls. I never knew that and I love finding out new information about things/places I thought I knew everything (obviously not) about. In addition, I love learning about things I know nothing about. Well Craig is a good teacher, too good at times during certain brutal, graphic scenes in the novel! He taught me about dog racing, dog fighting, and men fighting to the point I said out loud >> TMI! Not sure that I really wanted to know ALL that! However, that is a good thing, because if a writer and his words do not evoke any emotions, good, or bad, he is not a writer worth reading.

The heart of the story is about true friendship between two men, Duncan (blue collar) and Owen (white collar) and a female (strong, tough girl) character I loved, Edwina.

Craig is a writer worth reading! His prose is genius, descriptive, and visual. He is a masterful storyteller that has the unique ability to put you right in the story ringside. (Pun intended)

PS. Our book club truly enjoyed our chat with Craig. To quote one of our members: “Craig was so candid, entertaining, and generous with his time.”
Thanks again Craig! ( )

This is a very well written story and I would probably give it a higher score if I were a male reader as I believe the story, violence, and life style would be more appealing to a guy. The story is told by two narrators, Owen Stuckey and Duncan Diggs, two kids growing up in Niagara Falls Ontario.
They are best friends until they spend a couple of nights lost in the woods at the age of eleven and are forbidden from seeing each other by their parents. Owen is from a well educated family and Duncan's background is more working class. Years later their lives intersect again over greyhound dog racing and a girl named Edwina Murphy. Cataract city seems like the kind of place that is unkind to its younger generation. Those tho stay end up Working at the cookie factory or at the dock. Most with any ambition leave.
The characters are really well described but I found the story went on too long in some parts, especially the first and last chapters when Owe and Dunc are lost in the woods. Several encounters various aspects of the law round out the tale. ( )

This book is unlike any book I've ever read before. For one thing it is truly a masculine story with two childhood friends and their lives in Cataract City (Niagara Falls). The book is rough and tumble to say the least. It begins with two twelve year old boys (Duncan and Owen) who were taken out to the woods. The kidnapper died the night he stole the boys and the two boys were left to try to find their way out of the forest around Niagara Falls on their own. They got lost and wandered for three days, but their survival instinct was truly remarkable, and they managed to survive. Those boys grew up but the episode forever changed them. Owen managed to get out of Cataract City and he became a cop. Duncan never left and instead stayed and thoroughly explored the underworld of his city. We get first hand looks at greyhound racing, dog fights, bare-knuckle fighting, smuggling and a good look at the people who live in that underworld. Through it all Duncan remains remarkably grounded, but that doesn't prevent him from getting into serious trouble and being sent to prison. The book is so descriptive and so well-written, that it almost felt like I was watching a movie rather than reading a book. It's difficult in spots because of the clairty and the "no-holds-barred" writing of Craig Davidson, but the tension remains throughout until the very end of the book. I really couldn't put it down. I feel like I really got to know Dunk and Owe and their city. In fact, Cataract City is so well-described that it actually felt like it was another character in this edgey, brilliant book. This is a wonderful, sprawling and gutsy book that I think should have won the Giller Prize. It's not an easy book to read. In fact, it is very difficult and graphic, but it's one that will stick with me for a long time. ( )

i spend a lot of time questioning the reliability of first-person narratives. but with [Cataract City], it was quite a different experience.

i finished the novel last night and while the book was okay, i think i am being harder on it because it's a finalist for the giller prize. the judges are: [[Jonathan Lethem]], [[Margaret Atwood]] and [[Esi Edugyan]]. that's a serious panel of judges to impress. i felt like i was too aware of the writing the whole way through the read and, i am about to say something really stupid now, it felt like an MFA project. (this is stupid for me to say because i have no idea what this means, really. other than in my mind it's a bit show-offy or tries to push the envelope...just for the sake of pushing the envelope. like, a 'look how clever i am'-type thing. also...i wasn't feeling the authenticity of the story, most of the time.)

i didn't end up feeling manipulated and there were parts of the story i liked a lot...but as a whole...i couldn't get past the writing and just enjoy the story. there were also little editing issues all the way through. i was reading a tree-book and didn't mark it up...but there was one spot where the same phrase was repeated within three (brief) sentences. and then the intro to the story (the first two sentences) were repeated nearly verbatim later in the book. what's up with that?)

also -- would a person who has done hard time (hard time, contemporary era, north american maximum security prison) really call the police 'the fuzz'?

as well...i am feeling slightly uncomfortable that the native characters included in this novel were all caricatures. now, i do recognize that there were a lot of caricatures being portrayed, given the way davidson addressed the city of niagara falls, but i did feel disappointed in how the native characters were portrayed. though [[Joseph Boyden]] blurbed the novel...so, there's that... :/ #confused ( )