Consumption

In Rankin Inlet, a small town bordering the Arctic Ocean, the lives of the Inuit are gradually changing. The caribou and seals are no longer plentiful, and Western commerce has come to the community through a proposed diamond mine. Victoria Robertson wakes to a violent storm, her three children stirring in the dark. Her father, Emo, a legendary hunter who has come in off the land to work in a mine, checks to see if the family is all right. So does her Inuit lover, as Victoria's British husband is away on business. Thus the reader enters into the modern contradictions of the Arctic--walrus meat and convenience food, midnight sun and 24-hour satellite TV, dog teams and diamond mines--and into the heart of Victoria's internal exile. Born on the tundra in the 1950s, Victoria knows nothing but the nomadic life of the Inuit until, at the age of ten, she is diagnosed with tuberculosis and evacuated to a southern sanitarium. When she returns home six years later, she finds a radically different world, where the traditionally rootless tribes have uneasily congregated in small communities. And Victoria has become a stranger to her family and her culture. Victoria compounds her marginalization by marrying a non-Inuit, Robertson, the manager of the town store. Over the years, as her children gravitate toward the pop culture of the mainland, and as her husband aggressively exploits the economic opportunities that the Arctic offers, Victoria feels torn between her family and her ancestors, between the communal life of the North and the material life of the "South." Through Victoria, Kevin Patterson deftly exposes the costs and consequences of cultural assimilation, and the emotional toll that such significant lifestyle changes take on communities. Spanning countries, generations, and cultures, "Consumption" is an epic novel of the Arctic, and a penetrating portrait of generational division and cultural dissonance.

Review :
"Because of his unique experience in the north, where he practiced as a physician, because of his elegant style and compassionate vision, Patterson has created a remarkably compelling novel. His insight into the human condition pulls us to the heart of events." -"Washington Post " "In this powerful first novel, Patterson delivers a searingly visceral message about love, loss and dislocation." -"Publishers Weekly" (starred review) "Patterson has mastered the most difficult trick of the sorcerer/writer-engaging the heart as well as the mind in the service of a greater truth." -"The New Orleans Times-Picayune " "Patterson is a sure guide through inhospitable terrain, be it the 'elastic, almost infinite emptiness' of the tundra or the far recesses of the soul." -"The New Yorker" " ""Patterson is an empathetic observer of wrenching cultural change and so-called progress. 'A-'" -"Entertainment Weekly " "The 'set-pieces' in "Consumption" are the very finest physician's writings I have read in ages. I am thinking of the chapter on fingernails, the butchering of the seal, and the surgery for tuberculosis as performed on Victoria." -Richard Selzer, author of "Mortal Lessons" and "Confesisons of a Knife" "Put Kevin Patterson's debut novel, "Consumption," right at the top of your must-read list. This book is a staggeringly beautiful elegy for the traditional life of the Inuit, showing the inevitable loss when cultures collide . . . "Consumption" is not only a beautiful novel, but also an important one. Few people are in Patterson's position of knowledge and experience, and so readers are given a special opportunity to learn about the Inuit, thechanges in their lives, and what those changes suggest for human beings in general." --" Edmonton Journal " "In this powerful first novel . . . Patterson seamlessly works murder, sex, and intrigue into the mix and offers a terrific cast that makes arctic life, and the ties of kin, palpable. He delivers a searingly visceral message about love, loss, and dislocation." --"Publishers Weekly" (starred review) "[The novel's] thematic resonance, along with an understated humanism reminiscent of Anton Chekhov (incidentally, another physician), make "Consumption" a quietly devastating novel." --" Vancouver Sun " "This is a dynamite first novel from Patterson. His broad life experience evidences itself on every page of this ambitious and tough-minded book. -- "Winnipeg Free Press " "In this powerful first novel, Patterson delivers a searingly visceral message about love, loss and dislocation." -"Publishers Weekly" (starred review) "Patterson has mastered the most difficult trick of the sorcerer/writer-engaging the heart as well as the mind in the service of a greater truth." -"The New Orleans Times-Picayune " "Patterson is a sure guide through inhospitable terrain, be it the 'elastic, almost infinite emptiness' of the tundra or the far recesses of the soul." -"The New Yorker" " ""Patterson is an empathetic observer of wrenching cultural change and so-called progress. 'A-'" -"Entertainment Weekly " "The 'set-pieces' in "Consumption" are the very finest physician's writings I have read in ages. I am thinking of the chapter on fingernails, the butchering of the seal, and the surgery for tuberculosis as performed on Victoria." -Richard Selzer, author of "Mortal Lessons" and "Confesisons of a Knife" "Put Kevin Patterson's debut novel, "Consumption," right at the top of your must-read list. This book is a staggeringly beautiful elegy for the traditional life of the Inuit, showing the inevitable loss when cultures collide . . . "Consumption" is not only a beautiful novel, but also an important one. Few people are in Patterson's position of knowledge and experience, and so readers are given a special opportunity to learn about the Inuit, the changes in their lives, and what those changes suggest for human beings in general." --" Edmonton Journal " "In this powerful first novel . . . Patterson seamlessly works murder, sex, and intrigue into the mix and offers a terrific cast that makes arctic life, and the ties of kin, palpable. He delivers a searingly visceral message about love, loss, and dislocation." --"Publishers Weekly" (starred review) "[The novel's] thematic resonance, along with an understated humanism reminiscent of Anton Chekhov (incidentally, another physician), make "Consumption" a quietly devastating novel." --" Vancouver Sun " "This is a dynamite first novel from Patterson. His broad life experience evidences itself on every page of this ambitious and tough-minded book. -- "Winnipeg Free Press " "Put Kevin Patterson's debut novel, "Consumption", right at the top of your must-read list. This book is a staggeringly beautiful elegy for the traditional life of the Inuit, showing the inevitable loss when cultures collide . . . "Consumption" is not only a beautiful novel, but also an important one. Few people are in Patterson's position of knowledge and experience, and so readers are given a special opportunity to learn about the Inuit, the changes in their lives, and what those changes suggest for human beings in general." --" Edmonton Journal " "In this powerful first novel . . . Patterson seamlessly works murder, sex, and intrigue into the mix and offers a terrific cast that makes arctic life, and the ties of kin, palpable. He delivers a searingly visceral message about love, loss, and dislocation." --"Publishers Weekly" (starred review) "[The novel's] thematic resonance, along with an understated humanism reminiscent of Anton Chekhov (incidentally, another physician), make "Consumption" a quietly devastating novel." --" Vancouver Sun " "This is a dynamite first novel from Patterson. His broad life experience evidences itself on every page of this ambitious and tough-minded book. -- "Winnipeg Free Press " " Put Kevin Patterson ' s debut novel, Consumption, right at the top of your must-read list. This book is a staggeringly beautiful elegy for the traditional life of the Inuit, showing the inevitable loss when cultures collide . . . Consumption is not only a beautiful novel, but also an important one. Few people are in Patterson ' s position of knowledge and experience, and so readers are given a special opportunity to learn about the Inuit, the changes in their lives, and what those changes suggest for human beings in general. " -- Edmonton Journal " In this powerful first novel . . . Patterson seamlessly works murder, sex, and intrigue into the mix and offers a terrific cast that makes arctic life, and the ties of kin, palpable. He delivers a searingly visceral message about love, loss, and dislocation. " -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) " [The novel ' s] thematic resonance, along with an understated humanism reminiscent of Anton Chekhov (incidentally, another physician), make Consumption a quietly devastating novel. " -- Vancouver Sun " This is a dynamite first novel from Patterson. His broad life experience evidences itself on every page of this ambitious and tough-minded book. -- Winnipeg Free Press " Put Kevin Patterson' s debut novel, "Consumption," right at the top of your must-read list. This book is a staggeringly beautiful elegy for the traditional life of the Inuit, showing the inevitable loss when cultures collide . . . "Consumption" is not only a beautiful novel, but also an important one. Few people are in Patterson' s position of knowledge and experience, and so readers are given a special opportunity to learn about the Inuit, the changes in their lives, and what those changes suggest for human beings in general." -- " Edmonton Journal " " In this powerful first novel . . . Patterson seamlessly works murder, sex, and intrigue into the mix and offers a terrific cast that makes arctic life, and the ties of kin, palpable. He delivers a searingly visceral message about love, loss, and dislocation." -- "Publishers Weekly" (starred review) " [The novel' s] thematic resonance, along with an understated humanism reminiscent of Anton Chekhov (incidentally, another physician), make "Consumption" a quietly devastating novel." -- " Vancouver Sun " " This is a dynamite first novel from Patterson. His broad life experience evidences itself on every page of this ambitious and tough-minded book. -- "Winnipeg Free Press " " It's this thematic resonance, along with an understated humanism reminiscent of Anton Chekhov (incidentally, another physician), that makes Consumption a quietly devastating novel." - "The Vancouver Sun" " Some first novels simply tower above their contemporaries by the scope of their ambition and the power of their vision. Last year, it was Joseph Boyden' s Three Day Road; earlier this year it was Madeleine Thien' s Certainty, and now it' s Kevin Patterson' s Consumption." - "The Globe and Mail " " On the surface, Consumption is deceptively simple and gripping. It's the story of one woman and her family. But what a woman -- and what a family!" - "The Globe and Mail" " Patterson has seen and done much where two or more world views intersect. It makes him a peculiarly well-informed and insightful guide to the conflicts within the coastal Inuit community of Rankin Inlet in the Canadian Arctic, the primary setting of Consumption... " - "The Globe and Mail" " the people in Kevin Patterson's gripping new novel of the North, Consumption, are defiantly human. They are complicated, passionate, troubled, confused and, in some cases, doomed -- by disease, by their own failings and by those of their loves ones and by economic and cultural forces beyond their control." - "The Winnipeg Free Press" " Consumption launches a major voice in Canadian fiction" - "The Winnipeg Free Press " Praise for "Country of Cold": " [Patterson] . . . has made the leap to fiction with startling grace" - "The Georgia Straight" " A masterful debut short-story collection. . . . The stories are rich in event . . . but it' s in characterizations that Patterson shines, capturing shades of ambiguity, uncertainty and small happiness with a deft touch." - "The Vancouver Sun" " Country of Cold is a terrific book. Kevin Patterson writes frequently about misfits and loners, but he presents them with such hard-edged clarity and insight that it' s impossible not to think of these people as kin. And whether it' s slapstick hilarity in a prairie Dairy Queen or the dead-serious menace of a winter storm north of the treeline, the writing is always pitch perfect." - Michael Crummey, author of River Thieves and The Wreckage "It's this thematic resonance, along with an understated humanism reminiscent of Anton Chekhov (incidentally, another physician), that makes Consumption a quietly devastating novel." -"The Vancouver Sun" "Some first novels simply tower above their contemporaries by the scope of their ambition and the power of their vision. Last year, it was Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road; earlier this year it was Madeleine Thien's Certainty, and now it's Kevin Patterson's Consumption." -"The Globe and Mail " "On the surface, Consumption is deceptively simple and gripping. It's the story of one woman and her family. But what a woman -- and what a family!" -"The Globe and Mail" "Patterson has seen and done much where two or more world views intersect. It makes him a peculiarly well-informed and insightful guide to the conflicts within the coastal Inuit community of Rankin Inlet in the Canadian Arctic, the primary setting of Consumption..." -"The Globe and Mail" "the people in Kevin Patterson's gripping new novel of the North, Consumption, are defiantly human. They are complicated, passionate, troubled, confused and, in some cases, doomed -- by disease, by their own failings and by those of their loves ones and by economic and cultural forces beyond their control." -"The Winnipeg Free Press" "Consumption launches a major voice in Canadian fiction" -"The Winnipeg Free Press " Praise for "Country of Cold": "ÝPatterson¨ . . . has made the leap to fiction with startling grace" -"The Georgia Straight" "A masterful debut short-story collection. . . . The stories are rich in event . . . but it's in characterizations that Patterson shines, capturingshades of ambiguity, uncertainty and small happiness with a deft touch." -"The Vancouver Sun" "Country of Cold is a terrific book. Kevin Patterson writes frequently about misfits and loners, but he presents them with such hard-edged clarity and insight that it's impossible not to think of these people as kin. And whether it's slapstick hilarity in a prairie Dairy Queen or the dead-serious menace of a winter storm north of the treeline, the writing is always pitch perfect." -Michael Crummey, author of River Thieves and The Wreckage "It's this thematic resonance, along with an understated humanism reminiscent of Anton Chekhov (incidentally, another physician), that makes Consumption a quietly devastating novel." -"The Vancouver Sun" "Some first novels simply tower above their contemporaries by the scope of their ambition and the power of their vision. Last year, it was Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road; earlier this year it was Madeleine Thien's Certainty, and now it's Kevin Patterson's Consumption." -"The Globe and Mail " "On the surface, Consumption is deceptively simple and gripping. It's the story of one woman and her family. But what a woman -- and what a family!" -"The Globe and Mail" "Patterson has seen and done much where two or more world views intersect. It makes him a peculiarly well-informed and insightful guide to the conflicts within the coastal Inuit community of Rankin Inlet in the Canadian Arctic, the primary setting of Consumption..." -"The Globe and Mail" "the people in Kevin Patterson's gripping new novel of the North, Consumption, are defiantly human. They are complicated, passionate, troubled, confused and, in some cases, doomed -- by disease, by their own failings and by those of their loves ones and by economic and cultural forces beyond their control." -"The Winnipeg Free Press" "Consumption launches a major voice in Canadian fiction" -"The Winnipeg Free Press " Praise for "Country of Cold": "ÝPatterson¨ . . . has made the leap to fiction with startling grace" -"The Georgia Straight" "A masterful debut short-story collection. . . . The stories are rich in event . . . but it's in characterizations that Patterson shines, capturingshades of ambiguity, uncertainty and small happiness with a deft touch." -"The Vancouver Sun" "Country of Cold is a terrific book. Kevin Patterson writes frequently about misfits and loners, but he presents them with such hard-edged clarity and insight that it's impossible not to think of these people as kin. And whether it's slapstick hilarity in a prairie Dairy Queen or the dead-serious menace of a winter storm north of the treeline, the writing is always pitch perfect." -Michael Crummey, author of River Thieves and The Wreckage Praise for "Country of Cold": "ÝPatterson¨ . . . has made the leap to fiction with startling grace" -"The Georgia Straight" "A masterful debut short-story collection. . . . The stories are rich in event . . . but it's in characterizations that Patterson shines, capturing shades of ambiguity, uncertainty and small happiness with a deft touch." -"The Vancouver Sun" "Country of Cold is a terrific book. Kevin Patterson writes frequently about misfits and loners, but he presents them with such hard-edged clarity and insight that it's impossible not to think of these people as kin. And whether it's slapstick hilarity in a prairie Dairy Queen or the dead-serious menace of a winter storm north of the treeline, the writing is always pitch perfect." -Michael Crummey, author of River Thieves and The Wreckage Praise for "Country of Cold": "[Patterson] . . . has made the leap to fiction with startling grace" -"The Georgia Straight" "A masterful debut short-story collection. . . . The stories are rich in event . . . but it's in characterizations that Patterson shines, capturing shades of ambiguity, uncertainty and small happiness with a deft touch." -"The Vancouver Sun" "Country of Cold is a terrific book. Kevin Patterson writes frequently about misfits and loners, but he presents them with such hard-edged clarity and insight that it's impossible not to think of these people as kin. And whether it's slapstick hilarity in a prairie Dairy Queen or the dead-serious menace of a winter storm north of the treeline, the writing is always pitch perfect." -Michael Crummey, author of River Thieves and The Wreckage