Back of the Book Blurb: Ambrose Zephyr is a contented man. He shares a book-laden Victorian house with his loving wife, Zipper. He owns two suits, one of which he was married in. He is a courageous eater, save brussels sprouts. His knowledge of wine is vague and best defined as Napa, good; Australian, better; French, better still. Kir royale is his drink of occasion. For an Englishman he makes a poor cup of tea. He believes women are quantifiably wiser than men, and would never give Zipper the slightest reason to mistrust him or question his love. Zipper simply describes Ambrose as the only man she has ever loved. Without adjustment.
Then, just as he is turning fifty, Ambrose is told by his doctor that he has one month to live. Reeling from the news, he and Zipper embark on a whirlwind expedition to the places he has most loved or has always longed to visit, from A to Z, Amsterdam to Zanzibar. As they travel to Italian piazzas, Turkish baths, and other romantic destinations, all beautifully evoked by the author, Zipper struggles to deal with the grand unfairness of their circumstances as she buoys Ambrose with her gentle affection and humor. Meanwhile, Ambrose reflects on his life, one well lived, and comes to understand that death, like life, will be made bearable by the strength and grace of their devotion.
She is Too Fond of Books’ Review: The End of the Alphabet is a delight of a book that can be read in a just a few hours, but will stay with you for days. Richardson writes of love, loss, the sense of urgency that accompanies a fatal diagnosis, and, yes, everlasting hope and peace.
We know Ambrose’s final destination from the moment of his diagnosis; Richardson shows us an unexpectedly beautiful journey of exploration and self-discovery along the way.
The author’s prose are chosen carefully to be both sparse and overflowing with implications. The reader gets only one side of most conversations, but it is more than enough to set the tone and convey information. This scene appears at only page 10, when Ambrose is told of his diagnosis:
Indeed, said the doctor. Arrangements.
Ambrose Zephyr suggested, for all in the outer office to hear, that the doctor might want to wait one damn minute before suggesting that Ambrose might want to arrange his remaining days. Days that until moments before had been assumed would stretch to years. With luck, to decades. Not shrink to weeks.
If that, said the doctor.
The room filled with fog. The doctor became a blurry lamp behind the desk. The air turned as thick as custard, sauna hot. Ambrose struggled to keep his questions from spilling out with his breakfast in a puddle on the floor.
Something of a mystery, answered the doctor.
Not contagious as far as we can tell.
Fatal? Yes, quite.
Very sure.
Ambrose and Zipper are only sketches of characters, but they are able to carry the message of the story, which Richardson himself has referred to as a fable.
C. S. Richardson has worked in publishing for over twenty years, and has won the Alcuin Award, Canada’s highest honor for excellence in book design, several times. He lives in Toronto and is working on a second novel. My paperback copy of The End of the Alphabet includes an 8-question Reader’s Guide which will give an individual reader food for thought, or a book group fodder for discussion.
Also reviewed by Softdrink over at Fizzy Thoughts.
((Many thanks to Kim at Page After Page for giving me The End of the Alphabet in her Secret Santa Swap package. This book will be listed on the following challenges: New Author, Countdown (originally published in hardcover in 2007 by Doubleday), letter E for A-Z Challenge (title), letter C for geographic A-Z (the author is Canadian), 100+ Reading Challenge.))
The cover of this book calls it a novel, yet it runs only 119 pages. Where do you draw the line between novel and novella? Does “novella” imply a lighter/lesser impactful read? Would seeing a book described as a novella disuade you from reading it?
Oh good! You liked it! I hope to read it too this year and yeah for you for how many challenges it qualified for.
According to Wikipedia a short story is 1-99 pages, a novella is 100-200 and anything over 200 is a novel–give or take I think. When I
participated in a novella challenge last year, the hostess allowed books up to 250 pages!
I am reading a novella right now–The Uncommon Reader–and it is a breath of fresh air after the 2 last books I read for 2008.
Happy Saturday
Kim
I’m glad you liked the book. To me, 119 pages would make it a novella but I don’t know… I don’t let the number of pages dictate whether or not I read it.
This sounds very interesting. I’ll have to put it on my “check it out” list. : )
I’m adding this to my wishlist. Thanks!
Nicely done! I like novellas…especially when the next book up is over 700 pages long!
Loved this book! Read it when it first came out. Definitely a delight!
[...] The End of the Alphabet by C. S. Richardson [...]
[...] The End of the Alphabet by C. S. Richardson [...]
Ooh! I kinda want to read this one now! Sorry, that’s a novella. I have no problem with them and actually find them to be great reads when you don’t have a lot of time to read a full-length novel.
I am interested in reading it in knowing that it received Canada’s highest excellence in book design. I am always curious about books that rank ‘up there.’ As for novel or novella I never knew heard of ‘novella.’
If you liked this book — I would recommend the movie, The Bucket List. It also sticks with you, however, the story line may be too similar to the book.
[...] End of the Alphabet by C.S. Richardson. Recommended by She Is Too Fond of Books. This one sounds fun and short, a nice counter-balance to all the heavy tomes on the TBR [...]
I read it when it first came out and enjoyed it very much. The story has all the requirements of a novel: character development, plot, etc., and it read and felt like a novel. A pity that people often equate shorter length with a lighter or less serious subject treatment, or that length is even an issue. A good reading experience is memorable at any length. Literature, the kind that stands the test of time, has many memorable books that we today almost spitefully class as novellas-only because of how many words were used to tell the story. The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe comes to mind, what an impact that book made. That’s my two cents worth. Glad you reviewed it and brought up the question.
I read this book twice a year and love the interaction between Ambrose and Zipper and their surroundings. I’m so glad you liked it. I think it is a novella but I don’t look at novellas as being lighter or worse than novels.
kim – *The Uncommon Reader* is one I’d like to get to (some day!)
Ti – I don’t let the number of pages decide for me either. However, I’d shy away from a LARGE (700 p) book if I had just read something hefty
Jenners – I’d like to know what other readers think of it; the only other review I’ve read is softdrink’s
Jena – let me know what you think of it!
softdrink – yes, it’s good to mix it up!
Laura – another fan! Hey, I like all the old postcards on your site
Ladytink – Oh, I didn’t mind that it was short. It just struck me that maybe it would more properly be labelled a novella instead of a novel.
Nicole – we rented *The Bucket List* a few weeks ago; I thought it was very well done!
Sandra – how eloquently expressed! I think I read somewhere (?where) that “novella” is an American invention. In other, words, as you say, in most parts of the world, the length of the work doesn’t matter, it’s the content (character and plot development, etc.) that does.
vasilly – wow, twice a year! Are there other books that you have on a regular rotation?
[...] The End of the Alphabet by C.S. Richardson. Recommended by She Is Too Fond of Books. [...]
[...] The End of the Alphabet by C. S. [...]
[...] She is Too Fond of Books Dawn writes great reviews (some have been linked to the Saturday Review), and her feature Spotlight on Bookstores will be a great resource when I get to go on my tour of the U.S., visiting all the bookstores I can in the process. It was Dawn who connected me with The End of the Alphabet by C.S. RIchardson [...]