No Great Mischief: A Novel
by Alistair MacLeod

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Book Reviews of No Great Mischief: A Novel

Book Review: Family ties
Summary: 5 Stars

At one level this novel is the story of Alexander MacDonald, his twin sister and their older brothers, belonging to a family of tremendous loyalty and commitment, steeped in tradition and history. We follow them from early childhood when tragedy befalls them, leaving them orphans, through their adolescent years and to adulthood.

At a deeper level, it is a testament to 'blood is thicker than water'. The MacDonalds trace their roots back to the legendary Calum Ruadh ("the red Calum") and his brood of 12 children who arrived in the New World in the 1770s as one of the early settler families in Cape Breton.

The descendents of the founding father, Alexander and his siblings, remain cocooned in the close-knit family, protected by the strength of family ties and values which help them through the sometimes painful dramas in their lives. The past stays vividly in the minds of all its members; the grandparents reminding the younger generation constantly through stories of lives lived. Time seems "to compress and expand almost simultaneously"; events are repeated to allow the author to present them from different perspectives. Convictions are expressed almost like mottos throughout the novel: "Always look after your own blood" or "We are all better when we're loved".

While Alexander and his sister, living in the relative comfort of their grandparents' home, are encouraged and financially supported in their academic ambitions, the older brothers have to fend for themselves. Poverty is their primary school as they struggle to keep themselves and the farm alive. For the young twins a visit to the brothers is always an adventure where no grown-ups rules apply. McLeod portrays the different characters well - reflecting the particular affection that Alexander has for the grandparents. Most intriguing is the other grandfather, a quiet and withdrawn man, who lives by himself having lost wife and only daughter through tragedies. Despite his doubts about himself stemming also from the stigma of being a single mother's child whose father died before he was born, he exudes strength and compassion and plays an increasingly important balancing role in the life of the family.

To escape increasing financial difficulties, the older brothers leave the island for the uranium mines of Ontario and elsewhere. However, the location of home is never in doubt and it draws them back forcefully. After one of the MacDonald team is killed in the mine, Alexander, having progressed well in his academic studies, drops everything to join the brothers to make up the required number. His action manifests the strong loyalty to the family while allowing McLeod to continue the narration from Alexander's perspective. Life in the mining community is well drawn in its crudeness and harshness. While there, the MacDonalds are pitched against a group of francophone Quebeckers. Tension and outright hatred between the two leaders add another layer of complexity and provide in the end an explanation for another major story line - the here and now of the day in the life of...

McLeod's enthralls the reader with his portrayal of the land of Cape Breton, its history and mores. It would be difficult to find a more hauntingly beautiful description of the landscape, of the impact that the seasons have on the surroundings and the ever-present power of the sea. This is a book to treasure and to read more than once. Friederike Knabe

Summary of No Great Mischief: A Novel

But No Great Mischief is far more than the straightforward saga of one family over the generations. Instead the author has created a painfully beautiful myth in which the long-ago is in many ways more present than modern existence. Even in the last decades of the 20th century, the MacDonalds fall into Gaelic--its inflections, rhythms, and song--with deep nostalgia. This is a family that is used to composing itself in the face of disaster. They often assure one another, "My hope is constant in thee," and in the light of their many losses, the clan must cling to its motto.

No Great Mischief begins with Alexander's visit to Toronto, where his eldest brother now subsists on a diet of drink and memories. The narrator, a successful orthodontist, doesn't have much to do with the former but is unable (or unwilling) to escape the latter. As the novel proceeds, Alexander fills in his family history, including such key episodes as his great-great-grandfather's self-exile from Scotland. Though Calum Ruadh had intended to leave his dog behind, it broke away and tried to catch up with him. MacLeod piercingly captures the animal's struggle as her master first tries to make her head for shore and then--realizing she won't desert him--spurs her on. Throughout No Great Mischief various people recall this incident, an emblem of intensity, hope, and dependence. A descendant of the bitch is also on hand when Alexander's parents and one of his brothers disappear under the ice on a cold spring night. She persists in searching for her people and tries to protect their lighthouse from the new keeper, receiving in return "four bullets into her loyal waiting heart." When Alexander's grandfather hears of her death, he uses a phrase that becomes one of the book's litanies, "It was in those dogs to care too much and to try too hard."

This is a MacDonald characteristic as well. A good deal of No Great Mischief's strength stems from scenes of longing and despair--for those who die for a lost cause, whether in 1692 when one leader is killed ("the redness of his hair dyed forever brighter by the crimson of his blood") or in an Ontario uranium mine where one brother is decapitated. MacLeod evokes his clan, and the elemental beauty of their landscape, in quiet, precise language that gains power with each repetition. (A sentence such as "All of us are better when we're loved" comes to acquire a near proverbial ring.) If he occasionally tips his hand too much, pressing home his point that present-day prosperity isn't all it's cracked up to be, no matter. I doubt that this inspired and elegiac novel will ever leave those who are lucky enough to read it--proving after all the persistence of the clann Chalum Ruaidh. --Kerry Fried

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