Books: Blood Sports
Subtitle
Reviewed by Michael Elves
Eden Robinson
McLelland & Stewart, 2006
Putting down Blood Sports, after blazing through it with few breaks, I realize it’s not like other novels that I think to compare it to. The breakneck pacing, gritty portrayal of drug use and compelling depiction of the criminal underbelly of society all bring to mind films as various as Trainspotting, Reservoir Dogs and Amores Perros. This is because there is a filmic quality to Robinson’s writing that virtually guarantees Hollywood agents will be knocking at her door to discuss an adaptation.
So what exactly would this adaptation be?
Here in a nutshell is the plot of Blood Sports (without spoiling it, of course):
Tom is a 20-something who believes he has gotten his shambles of a life in order. His junkie girlfriend, Paulie, has cleaned up and together, the two have a daughter, Melody, in whom they see great hope for their future. Despite being well-meaning and generally ‘good,’ Tom has been in trouble in the past — drawn into the criminal pursuits of his cousin Jeremy — and he quickly finds trouble in his present. With the two people he loves placed in grave danger, Tom finds himself forced back into a world he thought he had left behind in order to save them.
Tom, Paulie and Jeremy’s back-stories intertwine, and Robinson shows the connective threads of their past in a slow reveal that is broken up by segments of action in the present. This alone would be enough to demonstrate the filmic quality of Robinson’s story (it’s a device that’s been used in films from Double Indemnity to Memento), but the author goes further into the realm of film by telling portions of the story in letters, and even transcripts of videotapes. Her descriptive skill is such that even when she’s not using these devices, the reader can picture the action of the novel vividly.
The setting aids in this vividness — Vancouver’s Downtown East Side is a very real place, and the crime, the drugs, the dinginess, all of this rings true to anyone who has heard news reports about needle exchanges and the down-and-out denizens of the area. It can be risky to place fictional people and goings-on in real places, but an adept writer can convince a reader to believe in what is written, and Robinson is a very adept writer.
The only complaint that I can raise about Blood Sports is that at times the narrative devices Robinson uses seem like just that: devices. It has a faint whiff of showing off to it and leaves me wondering if the story could have been told as effectively (or more effectively) without them. To her credit, though, these devices are pulled off with more aplomb than in other novels I have read recently. Or other films I have watched, for that matter.
As we head into better weather and the end of exams, the search for good beach-reading begins, and I heartily recommend that you read Blood Sports in the sun to avoid the chills the action can prompt.
