Well this was a mammoth read at 825 pages but deeply satisfying, as well. It is based on fact, indeed the author's own family. It spans from 1886 until contemporary times. It is divided into sections. The first and largest section moves between generations and gives accounts of specific incidents to different members of the family, (I actually wrote a family tree to guide me through this), but each account was riveting. The character of the title Blackstrap, (yes named for the molasses), is the subject of the second section and the story then progresses at a pace.
As an adult, Blackstrap's body is a mass of scars accumulated through many life threatening episodes leaving him a damaged and angry man but we feel deep compassion for him. The purpose of the first section becomes clear in that we now understand his roots and the writer no longer has to dwell on the setting of Newfoundland, which is a character in its own right.
Blackstrap, likes his homeland is rugged, battered by life. His character will remain with me for some time, as will the landscape. The author has conveyed his deep love for this place and those intrepid, mainly Irish settlers, who made their home there. ( )

At over 800 pages it was too long, but pretty good. I wavered at times in my commitment, and more than several pages were just skimmed. A more judicious pruning by the editor was in order. A gardener’s hand needed, to prune so as to encourage overall healthy growth. Otherwise a book grows lanky and uninteresting.
Yet another in the barrage of Newf-lit. The author refers to it as a “transcompositive narrative”. Ie, a blending of facts and fiction, but so thoroughly mixed it is like a suspension of particles in a slurry of fiction. or something like that. He used Newfoundland historical events as touchstones in the lives of the characters. He touched on lives of different generations over a couple of hundred years in the families of Blackstrap Hawco. Some were so intriguing, especially the Irish immigrants in the 1800s, but he teased us with their lives and then abandoned them, and so abandoned us. We were introduced, made friends, but there were no callbacks. i kept waiting to return to the woman who gave birth to the twins, and to more of the story of the woman whose bastard baby was spirited away and presumably killed, by the too-powerful local priest. But the last half to third of the book returned to a more traditional narrative form, and by now became a story really just about Blackstrap. The author was fatigued by his experiment. So reluctantly we the reader had to go along with it.
His impressionistic style of writing was surprisingly easy to read once you allow yourself to be carried along in it. The style though leaves one with the sense that these characters are more animal than human; they seem almost incapable of intelligent decision-making. They are fatalistic, and abandon their futures and their presents to the powers -- the church, the employers, the wealthy businessmen. When they rebel it is in the way an animal rebels in a trap: it chews off its leg. Well, sadly, this is likely an accurate representation of not just Newfoundlanders but people all over. Families buffeted by external events, seemingly incapable of controlling or influencing those events. And lacking even the initiative or desire to take charge. Because at least this way they have someone to blame, and its not themselves. Or so they think........ ( )

At over 800 pages it was too long, but pretty good. I wavered at times in my commitment, and more than several pages were just skimmed. A more judicious pruning by the editor was in order. A gardener’s hand needed, to prune so as to encourage overall healthy growth. Otherwise a book grows lanky and uninteresting. Yet another in the barrage of Newf-lit. The author refers to it as a “transcompositive narrative”. Ie, a blending of facts and fiction, but so thoroughly mixed it is like a suspension of particles in a slurry of fiction. or something like that. He used Newfoundland historical events as touchstones in the lives of the characters. He touched on lives of different generations over a couple of hundred years in the families of Blackstrap Hawco. Some were so intriguing, especially the Irish immigrants in the 1800s, but he teased us with their lives and then abandoned them, and so abandoned us. We were introduced, made friends, but there were no callbacks. i kept waiting to return to the woman who gave birth to the twins, and to more of the story of the woman whose bastard baby was spirited away and presumably killed, by the too-powerful local priest. But the last half to third of the book returned to a more traditional narrative form, and by now became a story really just about Blackstrap. The author was fatigued by his experiment. So reluctantly we the reader had to go along with it.His impressionistic style of writing was surprisingly easy to read once you allow yourself to be carried along in it. The style though leaves one with the sense that these characters are more animal than human; they seem almost incapable of intelligent decision-making. They are fatalistic, and abandon their futures and their presents to the powers -- the church, the employers, the wealthy businessmen. When they rebel it is in the way an animal rebels in a trap: it chews off its leg. Well, sadly, this is likely an accurate representation of not just Newfoundlanders but people all over. Families buffeted by external events, seemingly incapable of controlling or influencing those events. And lacking even the initiative or desire to take charge. Because at least this way they have someone to blame, and its not themselves. Or so they think........ ( )

Blackstrap Hawco, by Kenneth J. Harvey, is a mammoth size book. At over 800 pages, it is an epic novel of a Newfoundland family. Harvey uses actual historic events brilliantly to weave the fictitious story of the Hawco family. The story of Blackstrap’s life is tragic. It’s as if he is watching his life unfold without any control over what will happen to him. The story is told from the perspective of different characters in the novel which gives the read a full understanding of the complexity of the family members. It also goes back to the first generation of Hawcos who arrived in Newfoundland. The book is also not told in chronological order. While this might appear to be disconcerting, it works beautifully and only serves to keep the reader more intrigued in how the story actually unfolds. I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone interested in the history and culture of Newfoundland or anyone interested in great Canadian fiction. ( )

http://shelf-monkey.blogspot.com/2008/12/appreciation-of-kenneth-j-harvey.html ( )