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Renovating Heaven
Renovating Heaven, slated for publication in 2008 from Oolichan Books, contains three novellas of Mennonite life in Canada from the 1950s to the 1970s. The following is advance promotional material for the book:
Leaving Germany with little more than their 16th century Anabaptist faith and lifestyle to guide them, Schroeder's family settles on a small Fraser Valley farm in British Columbia and proceeds to try making sense of the perplexing mores and values of "The English"; who surround them. The family finds solace, but not much else, within the local Mennonite congregation founded by Schroeder's grandfather, every single one of whose 62 members is related to Schroeder on his mother's side. (On the other hand, imagine the nightmares of the "English"; postman trying to deliver the correct mail to any of the 8 Mennonite families living on Edison Road, every single one of which has the surname Klassen, with either a son or a father named John.)
In "Eating My Father's Island";, life for the Schroeder family becomes abruptly more complicated when Father Schroeder unintentionally wins First Prize in a Canada Sewing Machine contest -- the prize being a tiny dot of an island off the B.C. coast. Farmer and now holiday-island-owner, Schroeder's father tries heroically to understand and live up to this new acquisition, though with all their mortgage and CPR emigration debts, the only holidays Mennonites can conceive of at this time in their history involve the After-life.
In "Renovating Heaven";, the Schroeder family abandons the farm after an outbreak of brucillosis results in the state-ordered destruction and burying of its entire herd. With what little money remains, the Schroeders move into a wreck of a house on South Vancouver's 49th Avenue, where Father Schroeder embarks on a truly epic renovation project, pitting an obsessive Mennonite reverence for the Sacred Right Angle against the Canadian propensity for Sloppiness & Godlessness -- a struggle that is easily the equivalent of a World Cup Hockey Tournament.
In "Toccata in D";, Schroeder returns to Germany to track down a mystery that has bedevilled the family since its emigration to Canada 20 years previously. What he discovers produces shock and anguish, but also, in time, conciliation and a kind of truce. A deeply moving story whose tragedy is gently leavened by Schroeder's trademark wry humour.
In more forgiving times, these stories might have been described as entirely autobiographical. However, given today's more stringent standards -- not to mention Schroeder's enthusiastic dedication to all the elements of effective storytelling (or, as his siblings would have it, "inclination to rampant lying and exaggeration";) - Schroeder has raised the white flag and called these stories "novellas";. That should go some distance to protecting the guilty and mollifying the innocent -- if such there is.
Leaving Germany with little more than their 16th century Anabaptist faith and lifestyle to guide them, Schroeder's family settles on a small Fraser Valley farm in British Columbia and proceeds to try making sense of the perplexing mores and values of "The English"; who surround them. The family finds solace, but not much else, within the local Mennonite congregation founded by Schroeder's grandfather, every single one of whose 62 members is related to Schroeder on his mother's side. (On the other hand, imagine the nightmares of the "English"; postman trying to deliver the correct mail to any of the 8 Mennonite families living on Edison Road, every single one of which has the surname Klassen, with either a son or a father named John.)
In "Eating My Father's Island";, life for the Schroeder family becomes abruptly more complicated when Father Schroeder unintentionally wins First Prize in a Canada Sewing Machine contest -- the prize being a tiny dot of an island off the B.C. coast. Farmer and now holiday-island-owner, Schroeder's father tries heroically to understand and live up to this new acquisition, though with all their mortgage and CPR emigration debts, the only holidays Mennonites can conceive of at this time in their history involve the After-life.
In "Renovating Heaven";, the Schroeder family abandons the farm after an outbreak of brucillosis results in the state-ordered destruction and burying of its entire herd. With what little money remains, the Schroeders move into a wreck of a house on South Vancouver's 49th Avenue, where Father Schroeder embarks on a truly epic renovation project, pitting an obsessive Mennonite reverence for the Sacred Right Angle against the Canadian propensity for Sloppiness & Godlessness -- a struggle that is easily the equivalent of a World Cup Hockey Tournament.
In "Toccata in D";, Schroeder returns to Germany to track down a mystery that has bedevilled the family since its emigration to Canada 20 years previously. What he discovers produces shock and anguish, but also, in time, conciliation and a kind of truce. A deeply moving story whose tragedy is gently leavened by Schroeder's trademark wry humour.
In more forgiving times, these stories might have been described as entirely autobiographical. However, given today's more stringent standards -- not to mention Schroeder's enthusiastic dedication to all the elements of effective storytelling (or, as his siblings would have it, "inclination to rampant lying and exaggeration";) - Schroeder has raised the white flag and called these stories "novellas";. That should go some distance to protecting the guilty and mollifying the innocent -- if such there is.
Submitted on March 17, 2008 in By David.
