The Canal House

February 10, 2003
A starred or boxed review indicates a book of outstanding quality. A review with a blue-tinted title indicates a book of exceptional importance that hasn't received a starred or boxed review. THE CANAL HOUSE Mark Lee. Algonquin, $23.95 (368p) ISBN 1-56512-379-4 Lee is an experienced foreign correspondent (who is currently also a vice-president at PEN Center USA), and his knowledge of the perils and challenges of that life comes across most powerfully in this somber and elegiac debut novel. It is the story of the life and death of war correspondent Daniel McFarland, who after a brush with death in Uganda develops a new sense of mission and responsibility toward those whose wracked lives he is covering. He is drawn into an affair with Julia Cadell, an English doctor who idealistically ministers to the suffering in war zones, and the book's title refers to a brief idyll they share in London before setting out again on dangerous missions. Their new one is in East Timor, where the Indonesian government is crushing an independence movement, while British and Australian troops, sent in by the UN, try to act as intermediaries without actually joining the fighting. The scenes on that idyllic island smashed by war are the best in the book—they have the breathless immediacy of battlefront reporting—and if Daniel's final decision is a bit melodramatic, a sad resolution is the only possible one for Lee's tale. A subplot about a wealthy British magnate in pursuit of Julia never quite convinces, and the narrator, a photographer who follows Daniel around, is a bit shadowy. But there's no denying the eloquence and terror of Lee's vistas of contemporary war in the world's more obscure corners. (May 9)FYI:The current publicity around the movie version of Greene's
The Quiet American could help refocus readers' attention on the role of the war correspondent, though the book's title and cover don't begin to convey its subject and quality.

February 15, 2003
Lee's day job is working as a foreign correspondent for major news organizations in the United States and abroad, and his second novel (after The Lost Tribe) exhibits what might be expected from someone with his background: colorful settings convincingly detailed and a good grasp of world affairs, politics, and intrigue. However, this story of a globe-hopping journalist's transformation from opportunist to humanitarian never once brings the characters to life, while the narrative itself determinedly sticks to a tried-and-true, no-surprises formula. Is Daniel McFarland really as aloof and uncaring as he presents himself? How will a near-death experience on assignment in Uganda change him? Will he find love with the only major female character (a relief worker) in the book? And, ultimately, is Daniel too good to live? Readers who instinctively know the answers to these questions can pass on this novel. The climax plays out during an uprising in East Timor, and many good people accompany Daniel's new love and his photographer friend Nicky in assisting refugees to safety. In addition to his news reporting, the author acts as vice president of membership for the PEN Center USA (an organization protecting writers' rights worldwide). Clearly, he is doing good work elsewhere, but his experiences haven't translated into good fiction this time around.-Marc Kloszewski, Indiana Free Lib., PA

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2003
When foreign correspondent Daniel McFarland heads to work, he never knows if he will come back. Whether his mission is to cover war-torn Bosnia or report on the wreckage of an earthquake, Daniel moves with precision and, most important, always gets the story. Now photographer Nicky Bettencourt has been chosen to travel with Daniel to Uganda to attempt a meeting with a bloodthirsty warlord who has murdered and displaced hundreds of people. Nicky's apprehension is well justified, since the last photographer to travel with Daniel was killed by a land mine. Once in Uganda, Daniel and Nicky arrive at the relief camp of Julia Cadell, a selfless doctor who is assisting the refugees pouring forth from decimated villages. Daniel is unaware that Julia will be the love of his life, and Nicky will not know, until it is too late, that he has forged the friendship of a lifetime. Lee is a foreign correspondent who creates a powerful aura of realism that will forever alter your perception of the news.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)