SHARE THIS SHOW:
RELATED CONVERSATIONS:
RECENTLY ON TOL:
TOL Our Town
- A tumblr site dedicated to the people and places that make up Oregon and Southwest Washington.
TAGS:
Northwest Passages: Jim Lynch
Jim Lynch says he falls in love with places, then studies them until stories rise up. That led to his first novel, The Highest Tide. Well before he figured out the plot for his new book, Border Songs, he knew the setting: the "thin as a rumor" overgrown drainage ditch that divides nations and neighborhoods between Canada and western Washington.
The first lines grabbed me:
Everyone remembered the night Brandon Vanderkool flew across the Crawfords' snowfield and tackled the Prince and Princess of Nowhere. The story was so unusual and repeated so vividly so many times that it braided itself into memories along both sides of the border to the point that you forgot you hadn't actually witnessed it yourself.
Lynch was a reporter for years, drafting novels in the early morning before heading out to wherever he was going that day. He wrote for The Oregonian and The Seattle Times, among other papers, and covered the northwestern U.S. border after 9/11. In a Powells.com interview, Lynch says
One thing that's always interested me about the border is that it's practically a magnet for temptation. There's so much illegal commerce going on, and illegal potential around a border, national borders in general. I liked playing with the internal fear of the post-9/11 world — What are we up against here? — while the drug smuggling is getting to the point where you feel left out if you're not involved.
In Border Songs, everyone in the small British Columbia and Washington communities where the novel is set is involved in something — not the least, each others' lives. And through the extraordinary awareness of the main protaganist, a six foot eight and a quarter, nearly autistic border guard named Brandon Vanderkool, the leaves, the streams, the birds that make up this place come alive.
Look at the artwork of Andrew Goldsworthy to see some of what helped Lynch shape Vanderkool's character and communicate the sense of place that drives him. And bring your thoughts and questions to our conversation with Jim Lynch, part of our Northwest Passages series.
Thanks to Jill Poyer, director of the McMinnville Public Library for first suggesting Jim Lynch. Keep the ideas coming!
Tagged as: author · books · jim lynch · northwest passages
Photo credit: Cortney Kelley
-
In 2005 we took our new car up to Banff. As we approached the boarder (in the area where Jim's book set) we realized we hadn't brought our passports or the paperwork for the new car. They let us through and they let us return. Whew!
In 1997 we were in Jordan on a 122 degree day. I had some trouble with reentry to Israel. My 8 year old passport picture didn't look like me. The young boarder guard let me pass when I told her that I had aged rapidly since I began teaching middle school. She smiled, handed me my passport and said, "God bless you."
-
Jim Lynch: why aren't you working in muckracking right now? You clearly think that is the right path for journalism. go work for talkingpointsmemo.com. they are today's muckrackers.
-
I'd like to thank Jim Lynch for his wonderful first book, the coming of age tale The Highest Tide. I sent it to my 14 year old grandson as a way of telling him some important things about love and nature. He loved the book and it has been a bond between us.
-
security states imposed on small border towns, using constant camera monitoring? Jim, you should be reporting on this with a website or newspaper.
-
Comments are now closed.
I haven't read your books yet but Border Songs is on my list.
Even though the U.S. / Canadian border is virtually un-guardable, did you come up with any thoughts how you would protect the border?
To what effect do border guards enlist the aid of locals? What is your impression of the relationship between border guards and citizens?