Inukshuk

Starred review from June 25, 2012
Shadowed by the Inuit word for stones resembling "a human form," a marker to reassure that "Someone was here," Spatz (No One But Us) portrays a discordant family crippled by emotional and physical distance. John Franklin's wife has abandoned him and their son Thomas for nonprofit work in the Arctic. In an attempt to start anew, John and Thomas relocate to Canada, where they struggle to connect with one another, but ultimately withdraw into themselves. John is lonely, imbalanced, and stuck in a "miserable, prolonged hanging-on." He turns to poetry and strikes up an affair, but flounders as a disciplinarianâboth in his job as a high school teacher, and as a suddenly single father. Meanwhile, Thomasâa 15 year old with "a remote, demented stare, stiff-legged pirate-boy walk, perennial snifflingâ" obsesses over Sir John Franklin's doomed early 19th-century bid for the Northwest Passage, going so far as to induce scurvy in himself. Thomas's fixation functions as a heartbreaking figuration of his desire to transcend his family's problems, reconnect with his mother, and secure his father's attention and care. Taking place over the course of just a few days, this tale of familial dysfunction is carefully interwoven with the historical retelling of Sir Franklin's quest, resulting in a layered journey that is hauntingly honest and emotionally resonant.

August 1, 2012
John Franklin and his 15-year-old son, Thomas, have moved from Calgary to Houndstitch, Alberta, in the wake of John's divorce from Thomas' mother. Neither are taking it well, and both are throwing themselves unhealthily into projects. John works tirelessly on a book of poetry in between being a teacher and rekindling a relationship with Moira, a fellow writer with troubles of her own. Thomas works obsessively on a screenplay and storyboards for a movie about the ill-fated crew of British explorer Sir John Franklin's Arctic expedition, even going so far as to give himself scurvy in the name of research. Spatz alternates between their perspectives, offering intimate and meditative glimpses into each man and his compulsion to escape, all the while managing to avoid the slippery slope of sentimentality. Inukshuk lyrically explores how we navigate the choppy waters of painful changes, and the lengths we will go to avoid both problems and the people who can offer real healing. A thoughtful and sympathetic look at the sometimes troubled relationship between fathers and sons.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)