“Thoughts of death come almost naturally to people who have spent real time among the dead - doctors, undertakers, soldiers - those who have seen death’s overwhelming presence and then the disconcerting banality of what it leaves behind.”
Five years after he vanished in 2007 Pierre Cormier has been declared dead. He was a serious, reserved man. Yet he leaves a whimsical note directing a roast in which the guests, all designated, are to “give candid assessments of his character”. The roast is to be held at The Only Café and presided over by Ari.
Pierre had come to Cape Breton in the fall of 1983 as a refugee from Lebanon.
In June of 2007 Pierre, now a corporate lawyer and executive at Draycor, a major mining company in Toronto, is dealing with a mine shutdown in Western New Guineau and with a diagnosis of aggressive prostate cancer. Eight protesters had been killed at the mine by trigger happy Indonesian special forces (Kopassus). He goes to the mine rather than for recommended treatment.
Taking a break before leaving he drives to the east end of Toronto where he comes upon the Only Café and Ari. They recognize each other as from the Middle East. Pierre is from south of Beirut and Ari from near Haifa.
In considering the actions of the Kopassus, Pierre is drawn back to the early years of Lebanon’s civil war from 1975 to 1982.
Pierre, a fisherman, had become a Phalangist soldier in the war. His father, mother, sister and niece were killed by Palastinian gunmen in 1976.
Maronite Christian militia massacred Palestinians at the Shatila refugee camp in 1982. The Israeli military did not intervene.
There is so much hatred in Lebanon. Violent death came to many Lebanese families. Massacre begat massacre.
In 2012 Pierre’s son Cyril is 24 and an intern in the newsroom of a Canadian T.V. network.
MacIntyre, the former co-host of a national Canadian current affairs program for 24 hours, skilfully delves into the turmoil of T.V. news with clever descriptions of news people Canadians will recognize as based on actual broadcasters.
Cyril desperately wants to know more about his father. There are few sources.
Suzanne Reynolds, a prominent Canadian broadcaster tells Cyril:
“Secrets are invariably motivated by something shameful. Like a betrayal or a crime. When the shame becomes too much, it leads to self-destruction of some kind.”
MacIntyre’s prose flows smoothly, rich in detail, as he explores Pierre’s greatest mystery - the story of his life.
The story moves effortlessly between the present of 2012, the disappearing year of 2007 and Lebanon of 1976 to 1982.
Pierre liked being on his boat in the ocean where he can “look at the distance between me and the land …. [W]here everything happens”.
Cyril diligently pursues Pierre’s life. He finds bits of information.
Cyril wants to know what Pierre was doing during the turbulent years of the civil war when his Dad was slightly younger than himself? His father has neither told Cyril nor his wives about those years.
Pierre’s ex-wife, Aggie, describes him as a stranger:
“To me and everybody else.”
As readers we learn what happened in those vicious years.
At work Cyril is involved in the challenge of trying to develop a story that involves intelligence agencies, Israel and radicalized Muslims. The consequences of what happened in the Lebanese civil war are connected with the Arab Spring of 2012. Facts are difficult to discern and harder to confirm.
Cyril is going to be a good reporter. His colleagues have convinced him it is more honourable to be a reporter than a journalist. He goes and talks to people. He does not just rely on existing interviews. There are good reasons to interview a witness more than once.
His friend Nader explains to him:
“That the only way to know what happens is to be a part of it.”
Cyril also has a secret though I was disappointed that the plot line was not fully developed.
Ari and Pierre were war survivors. Ari says Canadians have a “sanctimonious self-image”. MacIntyre forced me to think about the Canadian self-image. Are we a smug self-righteous people?
MacIntyre looks deep into the minds of men during and after war. He writes a compelling, complex thriller where the masses of bodies come from real life massacres decades ago.
As the conclusion neared I felt I was reading a John le Carré novel with the inevitability of a frightening and brutal conclusion crushing an individual.
MacIntyre is an excellent writer.
No comments:
Post a Comment