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VILLAGE
OF SMALL HOUSES - Ian Ferguson
Ian
Ferguson, short listed with his brother Will in 2002 for the Leacock Award
for "How to be a Canadian", returns with Village
of Small Houses: a Memoir of Sorts.
A clever blend of fact and fiction which is neither novel nor
autobiography, the book follows the author’s childhood in Fort Vermilion,
Alberta, far from the exotic country of Canada to the south.
Like the other great storyteller of western Canada, W. O. Mitchell,
he recounts with love and good humour how his family came to the north
following a flight from Edmonton, virtually penniless.
The
hilarious events surrounding Ian’s birth, involving a collapsing ferry and
a hurried rowboat ride, set the tone for the years spent coping in the
remote community among its Cree and white population where his father taught
after convincing the authorities of his ability and dodging the issue of
credentials.
The
characters who populate Ferguson’s world are lovingly drawn, from his
boyhood best friend Lloyd Loonskin who eventually comes to the sad end many
young native men do, to Bud Peyen, the gentle giant whose friendship and
protection are important to the family’s survival.
The village has its share of the mean and the miserable whom the
author holds up to ridicule but not to scorn.
Although
the days of his childhood are often hard, with little financial or family
security, Ian Ferguson’s warm spirit and an eye for the comic
possibilities of adversity make his recollection a delightful read.
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