With one foot set firmly in the primordial past, and one foot stepping tentatively toward an uncertain future, Michael Crummey’s fourth novel, Sweetland, explores nostalgic notions of home and the condition of an unyielding cultural identity when resettlement of a tiny island off the coast of Newfoundland threatens the life and community of curmudgeonly Newfoundlander, Moses Sweetland. Crummey’s protagonist, Moses Sweetland is symbolic of the resiliency of time and place. For twelve generations, Sweetland’s home in Chance Cove has remained largely untouched by modern society (although they have adopted some modern conveniences; Moses’ friend Queenie got indoor plumbing in the 1970’s and Sweetland himself is addicted to online…show more content… Not unlike his first novel, Galore, the characters in Crummey’s Sweetland span generations; in this way, the reader recognizes the strong familial and cultural ties entrenched in his rural Newfoundland settings. However, it’s not the number of Crummey’s characters that’s significant; it’s their extraordinary authenticity that makes them so memorable. Each character is quirky by design; Queenie the chain smoker, Jesse, Sweetland’s autistic nephew who just happens to hold conversations with Moses’ dead brother, and Duke, the barber shop proprietor who has never cut a single strand of hair, are all prime examples. In addition to their peculiar natures, Crummey enriches his characterizations through their authentic dialect. I’d be remiss here if I neglected to mention how Crummey’s depictions of the Newfoundland landscape, the Atlantic sea, and the mainland serve as characters in their own right. They are ‘characters’ that are both antagonistic and agreeable – a notion that illustrates further, Crummey’s ability to mediate the middle ground of
