The Trout

May 15, 2017
Writer Alex Smyth, the narrator of this satisfying novel from Irish author Cunningham (Capital Sins), grew up in Ireland but has settled in rural Bayport, Ontario. One day he receives a letter postmarked in Toronto containing only a fishing lure, which stirs up unsettling childhood memories, some of which involve another boy, Terence Deasy. Alex thinks he “murdered someone” when he was seven, but he can’t remember. As he tells his wife, Kay, “It’s like there are big holes in my brain.” He also feels uncomfortable that his first novel falsely eulogizes his elderly and estranged father, Dr. Patrick Smyth. Leaving Kay at home in Bayport, Alex returns to Ireland to seek answers from his father and to track down the key players from his childhood, including Terence. Cunningham artfully spins several stories at once: Kay, alone in Bayport with her doubts about their marriage and fears of a stalker; Alex seeing people and events from both a child’s and an adult’s perspective. Brief, cogent paragraphs about trout provide a connecting thread in this thoughtful, exquisitely told tale.

Irish writer Alex Smythe reflects on a childhood tragedy, his larger-than-life father, and the relationship that led him to abandon the seminary and flee to Canada. Narrator Jeff Harding makes a number of choices that jolt the listener out of the story. Why, for example, does Alex's wife, Kay, have an Irish accent while Alex has a Canadian one if they left Ireland at the same time? In addition, Harding's artificially high voice for several prominently featured child characters is jarring. His sing-song delivery throughout diminishes the lyrical writing and the tension and emotional impact of the novel, and his failure to differentiate between brief exposition on trout and the main narrative may cause confusion. An unfortunate miss. E.C. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine