Alligator

Starred review from May 8, 2006
The powerful American debut of Canadian bestseller Moore does for Newfoundland what Empire Falls
did for dying smalltown Maine and The Sportswriter
did for suburban New Jersey. Seventeen-year-old Colleen Clark and her mother, Beverly, can't overcome their grief over the sudden death of David, Beverly's husband and Colleen's stepfather. While Beverly copes by dieting and retreating into herself, Colleen downloads videos of beheadings off the Internet and tries her hand at eco-terrorism ("I wanted to change things," she says about dumping sugar into a bulldozer's gas tank) before running away to Louisiana—where alligators troll the bayou. Madeleine, Beverly's older sister, scrambles to finish her cinematic opus before her heart—heavy with longing for her youth and gradually weakening due to an unnamed medical condition—gives out. Frank, a 19-year-old still reeling from his mother's death from cancer, obsesses over Colleen and finds himself intertwined with Valentin, a Russian gangster with his own tormented past. Powerfully drawn secondary characters—an actress in Madeleine's film, Valentin's lover—add depth to this generous novel.

Starred review from July 1, 2006
Moore -s outstanding first novel begins with a series of loosely connected, sharply focused chapters; as the novel progresses, the connections between characters and events tighten. Colleen, a Newfoundland teen who grew up quickly after the death of her beloved stepfather, has been convicted of ecovandalism. Instead of undertaking the required community service, she runs away to Louisiana to meet Loyola, the alligator man featured in one of her Aunt Madeleine -s films. Meanwhile, Madeleine is racing to finish her greatest film yet, knowing she will soon die. Beverly, Colleen -s mother and Madeleine -s sister, attempts to cope with the death of her husband and to understand the changes in her daughter. Then there is struggling actress Isobel, who stars in Aunt Madeleine -s final work; Russian é migré and sociopath Valentin, who burns down Isobel -s house for the insurance money; and Frank, a hot-dog vendor and would-be lover of Colleen. Moore -s novel, set in St. John -s, Newfoundland, is a carefully crafted microcosm of time and place featuring nuanced characters who quickly gain readers - sympathy or horror as their pasts and futures unravel. It won a regional prize in the Commonwealth Writers - Prize. Highly recommended." -Rebecca Stuhr, Grinnell Coll. Libs., IA"

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2007
Adult/High School-The lives of several interconnected people in St. John's, Newfoundland, appear to be both ordinary and off the beaten path. Readers first meet teenage Colleen, who has just put sugar in the gas tanks of forest-clearing equipment-and been caught. Through her, they meet her aunt Madeleine, a middle-aged, self-absorbed indie filmmaker in the midst of making her crowning achievement. The woman leads the peripatetic life of an artist who is also responsible for finding the money to finance her projects. Widowed Beverly, Colleen's mother and Madeleine's sister, is trying to cope with her sorrow and not quite paying attention to her daughter. Other characters include Frank, who grew up poor and is saving his hard-earned money, and, living above him, Augustin, a ruthless Russian sociopath who's seen and done it all. He meets and sleeps with Isobel, a fading actress whose final "big" role will be in the film. The eponymous alligator appears in one of Madeleine's films that Colleen sees early on; near the book's end, she goes to Louisiana in a quest to meet the man attacked by the animal, who survived and runs an alligator farm. The plot is just sufficient enough to form a book, although there is a fiery climax. However, the best part is the fresh writing. There are frequent flashbacks, done seamlessly. With lively, real, expressive writing that pulls readers into the story, this slice-of-life novel will be popular with teens."Judy McAloon, Potomac Library, Prince William County, VA"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2006
In her U.S. debut, prizewinning Canadian author Moore brings a distinctive prose style and high emotion to the stories of five residents of St. John's in Newfoundland who are in various stages of desperation. Flowing from one perspective to the next and weaving in and out of disparate backstories, the interconnecting tales focus on stubborn Colleen, a teenage ecoterrorist, and her recently widowed mother, who attempts to contain her grief through dieting; a hard-charging, visionary filmmaker who knows she is ill but is obsessed with completing her magnum opus before her heart gives out; and a lonely, recently orphaned teenager whose greatest dream--to own his own hot-dog stand--is threatened by a vicious Russian sailor who preys upon the vulnerable. Numerous, vividly drawn secondary characters round out a novel whose greatest strength is its startling imagery. With its magnetic descriptions, including downloaded images of beheadings and a man being eaten by an alligator, this novel presents a dangerously unpredictable world, where people's deepest and most private emotions only make them susceptible to exploitation.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)