Book Review: Northern Bull by Michelle Swallow

It’s -40 outside, and a giant moose head has gone missing. There’s an epic snowmobile race planned for that evening, and everyone is so hung over from the night before that a double double from Tim Horton’s just won’t cut it. Northern Bull by Michelle Swallow opens with these dramatic circumstances, and although it may give all folks outside of Canada the wrong impression of what it’s like to live here, I do believe her plot runs very true to life in the far northern town of Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories in Canada. This is a madcap novel that pokes fun at life in a town that most Canadians will have never / will never visit simply because of its isolation, so it was an entertaining look at a place I’ve heard much about, but not had the pleasure of seeing in person.

Plot Summary

Taking place over one raucous day, we meet a small group of characters living in Yellowknife, waking up to the messy situation described above. Jacques is on the verge of losing his rental house as it is on the verge of collapsing, and the landlord isn’t happy with how it’s being maintained by his hard-partying tenant. Maggie is Jacque’s neighbor, and she’s irritated by the fact that Jacques constantly takes wood from the pile she cuts herself, although she also thinks he’s handsome in a rugged, annoying sort of way. That evening a burlesque show is planned at the local bar, and Maggie signed up to read an erotic story she wrote, problem is she hasn’t been able to write the aforementioned story, and she’s having trouble thinking of a sexy storyline. Meanwhile, Jacques has been targeted by his unhinged friend Craig, who believes Jacques is the one who stole his missing moose head, a hunting trophy he has promised to show off to a group of visiting Japanese reporters in order to kickstart his tourism business. Jacques has no idea where the moose head is, but Craig has already burned down Jacques’ outhouse, so he’s resigned himself to driving around looking for this head in hopes Craig will lay off. Vic is a friend of both men, and he’s also excited about the burlesque show that evening, ready to become the first male stripper to make his name in town. Problem is, he can’t remember where he left his Mom’s minivan, and she won’t leave him alone to practice his routine until it’s found. Craig’s roommate Randy has lent him his fancy snowmobile for a big race that evening, all in an attempt to wow these tourists and give them a northern experience they aren’t soon to forget. As we bounce between perspectives, readers are also treated to flashbacks of the infamous hunting trip that led to bagging this beloved giant moose head, seemingly holding the key to explaining a few of the conflicts arising on this fateful day.

My Thoughts

I love a humourous novel, and the author does a great job of marrying the serious and the funny in this book. There is a subtle undercurrent of dysfunction here; the use of weapons between friends, the excessive partying, and the general recklessness that the male characters engage in on a regular basis are hard to ignore, but the book ends on a positive note with a hopeful tone and a hint of new self-awareness, so I clung to that as I laughed at these characters, not with them. The banter between the male characters is humourous with an edge, but still very believable and entertaining to read.

There’s also an impressive array of personalities on display in this book. Even though we only get short perspectives from a few different people, everyone was fleshed out really well, with rich inner lives and inner monologues, so it’s clear Swallow spent quite a deal of time thinking about the people that populate the pages. It would be easy to turn everyone into a caricature to simply move the plot along, but she resists this easy path and colours a world that makes us want to stay just a tiny bit longer, even when the adventures get a little dangerous.

You’ll have to suspend your disbelief for only some of the situations; the character development that Maggie in particular goes through is somewhat unbelievable, as she struggles with feelings of social anxiety yet finds herself running from a trigger happy local known as Ol’ Lady Peggy when Jacques drags her along on his hunt for the moose head. I personally didn’t find her willingness to follow him around all that believable, although I have heard of writers doing much worse to avoid getting back to a blank page, so perhaps I’m not giving her (Maggie AND the author) enough credit here. It’s all in good fun though, and the word ‘romp’ is the perfect way to describe this novel, which is why I enjoyed it so much.