Ragged Company
Books | Fiction / Indigenous
4.3
(78)
Richard Wagamese
Four chronically homeless people–Amelia One Sky, Timber, Double Dick and Digger–seek refuge in a warm movie theatre when a severe Arctic Front descends on the city. During what is supposed to be a one-time event, this temporary refuge transfixes them. They fall in love with this new world, and once the weather clears, continue their trips to the cinema. On one of these outings they meet Granite, a jaded and lonely journalist who has turned his back on writing “the same story over and over again” in favour of the escapist qualities of film, and an unlikely friendship is struck. A found cigarette package (contents: some unsmoked cigarettes, three $20 bills, and a lottery ticket) changes the fortune of this struggling set. The ragged company discovers they have won $13.5 million, but none of them can claim the money for lack proper identification. Enlisting the help of Granite, their lives, and fortunes, become forever changed.Ragged Company is a journey into both the future and the past. Richard Wagamese deftly explores the nature of the comforts these friends find in their ideas of “home,” as he reconnects them to their histories.
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More Details:
Author
Richard Wagamese
Pages
384
Publisher
Doubleday Canada
Published Date
2009-10-06
ISBN
0307372634 9780307372635
Ratings
Google: 4
Community ReviewsSee all
"Wagemese was a lyrical master of tender and compassionate storytelling, and this remarkable story of the ersatz family which evolves between a quartet of hard core street people and their 3 middle class "Square John" friends is unforgettable. Told from 5 alternating viewpoints, Wagemese gradually reveals the tragedies, traumas, and just plain bad luck that have landed each person in their current situation. All the characters are well drawn and distinctive, but by far the most vividly realized is Digger, the toughest and most bitter of the 4 "rounders". Quick to anger and slow to trust, he provocatively challenges the 3 "do gooders", accusing them of chaos tourism and an inability to accept the rounder perspective as valid. When a sudden windfall offers them financial security, all 4 rounders must decide how much to let it change them, and if the middle class trappings of a suburban homelife are enough to erase the nightmares of the past.<br/><br/>Up til about 3/4 through, I thought this was one of the best books I had ever read, but then Wagemese seemed to lose focus : 3 late night desperate searches for a missing person, several increasingly artificial confrontations , and some irksome new age style spiritual rambling. A few of the philosophical reflections felt out of character, and only one of the 2 female characters is given any depth. Still overall, this is a rich and engaging story revealing the fragility of "normal" life and the inner strength of those too often dismissed as worthless."
Lesley Williams