Rockbound

By Frank Parker Day

Book Overview

To the harsh domain of Rockbound -- governed by the sternly righteous and rapacious Uriah Jung --comes the youthful David Jung to claim his small share of the island. Filled with dreamy optimism and a love for the unspoken promises of the night sky, David tries to find his way in a narrow, unforgiving, and controlled world. His conflicts are both internal and external, locking him in an unceasing struggle for survival; sometimes the sea is his enemy, sometimes his own rude behavior, sometimes his best friend Gershom Born, sometimes his secret love for the island teacher Mary Dauphiny; but always, inevitably, his Jung relatives and their manifold ambitions for money and power. The balance of life on Rockbound is precarious and thus fiercely guarded by all who inhabit its lonely domain, but just as a sudden change in the direction of the wind can lead to certain peril at sea, so too can the sudden change in the direction of a man's heart lead to a danger altogether unknown. Enormously evocative of the power, terror, and dramatic beauty of the Atlantic sea, and unrelenting in its portrait of back-breaking labour, cunning bitterness, and family strife, Rockbound is a story of many passions-love, pride, greed, and yearning -- all formed and buffeted on a small island by an unyielding wind and the rocky landscape of the human spirit. Canada Reads 2005 Winner In a David and Goliath style battle to the finish, Rockbound by Frank Parker Day triumphed over Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood and was declared the 2005 Canada Reads winner. In a series of debates that aired on the CBC in February, panelist Donna Morrissey, author of Kit's Law and Downhill Chance , passionately championed this 1928 novel about life and nature on the small maritime island of Rockbound. The victory has brought this Atlantic Province favourite back into the limelight and is receiving nationwide attention, appearing on several bestseller lists across the country. After its initial publication, Rockbound remained in out of print status until 1973, when the University of Toronto Press acquired the rights to publish as part of their "Literature of Canada Prose and Poetry in Reprint" series. It was reprinted with an introduction by Allan Bevan of Dalhousie University's English Department. In 1989, Gerald Hallowell, an editor with the University of Toronto Press, rescued Rockbound from the backlist of the UTP catalogue. The book was reprinted with an afterword by Gwendolyn Davies, Dean of Graduate Studies and Associate Vice-President (Research) at the University of New Brunswick. UTP had been selling around 200 copies of the book per year, until Donna Morrissey selected it for the Canada Reads debates. Since then, UTP has sold over 35,000 copies and it has been reprinted three times The University of Toronto Press would like to thank Donna Morrissey for her superb defense of the book and all of the people at the CBC for their support and encouragement.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802067239
• ISBN13: 9780802067234
• Release Date: May 1989
• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Length: 326 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A Rugged Way of Life

I thoroughly enjoyed this book about the fisherfolk of an isolated island in Nova Scotia. The stunning setting is well described & the characters are interesting and realistic. Especially interesting to me was the way these people made do when unable to travel off the island for supplies or other Necessities. Their thrift and inventiveness was very inspiring!

Um... Frankenstein's monster sets sail, but pretty good

I don't really understand why there are such rave reviews about this book. It's very good, and I hope I give no one any offence, but there was a point where I just wanted to rip my hair out. He teaches himself to read, with a little help. He decides to play the violin, and does that independently... There is nothing this little guy can't do, I suppose. I liked the book- I'm just shocked that it got a "perfect" rating. It was interesting, but not very well developed. The writing uses allusion like he's stuck teaching Gray's "elegy". The Jason- thing was pendantic.

An enduring parable of treacherous times

2005 winner of "Canada Reads", Rockbound is an abridged audiobook version of the classic novel first published in 1928. Set upon Nova Scotia's south shore, it follows an 18-year-old who comes to the windswept island of Rockbound to claim his inheritance with nothing but rags on his back. Navigating the treachery of two warring clans, he gradually settles into life, marrying and having a son. He keeps a secret love for the island's schoolteacher, but he cannot be prepared for the wickedness of his great-uncle and self-proclaimed "king" of Rockbound. Superbly narrated by Shakespearean actor Richard Donat, who skillfully adds color and flavor to the Nova Scotia dialect of the Rockbounders, Rockbound is an enduring parable of treacherous times, where the sudden turning of a man's heart can be as deadly as the shift of wind near a rocky coastline. Highly recommended. 3 CDs, 3 1/2 hours.

Between A Rock And A Hard Place

I wanted to read this book just because of the positive word of mouth the book gets and I believed it would be interesting. What I was not prepared for was the difficult slang that the author used through most of the book. Ok so it makes the book authentic, but I found my self getting frustrated at times and I do not read a book to get frustrated. The book is about a fishing family in what must be one of the worst weather locations on the planet. Cold, wet, and dark, no wonder the folks there were in such a perpetual bad mood. I must say that the book has a way to suck you into the story. There is so much nasty under current that I kept reading just to find out the next tough stretch. I also loved all the detail of the fishing industry in the early 1900's. It is fitting that such a difficult profession was the occupation of this group of islanders. Overall I did enjoy the book. It had a ton of historic detail and great characters. I just did not like the difficult slang.

Warning all Bluenosers

This is a book chaulk full of your history the way you've not likely heard it told. Truly a must read for any maritimer. Put a log on the fire, find a comfy chair, a glass of port and enjoy a trip to your roots.

Rockbound, crosses the boundry of fiction/nonfiction!

This is Canadian fiction at its best. Set in the early 1900's, prior to World War one, this book follows the life of David Jung; from his early Youth when he arrives on Rockbound Island to stake his claim though his struggles and strifes to become the uncrowned King of the Island. Rockbound is a lonely place, beaten by storms, layered in fog, in constant winter weather. And it is the setting for Jung's struggles with the powerful North Atlantic, island politics, and family struggles. the conflicts are not just with the phyiscal world -- the horrible power of the ocean and its storms-- but also the internal strife. What the book does best is cross the line between fiction and nonfiction. Yes this is fiction but there is truth here, and you can tell the author knows of what he writes about. The eternal struggle of man against both nature and society are beautifully protrayed here.