I took a long time getting through this book because I didn't want it to end. Redhill could have made it twice as long and I wouldn't have complained. Compelling characters and settings, especially the 1850s Toronto segments. I really, really, loved this book. Redhill is one of my favourite Canadian authors.

This was a really enjoyable read; a story of early Toronto (1850ish if I remember correctly) intertwined a story of another Toronto family in 1997. Each half of the story has a pretty similar weighting and I didn't mind switching between the two because it didn't happen too often and both halves were entertaining and written in similar styles.The modern day story is woven around the death of David Hollis, a historical researcher, and the historical story meets up with his research in a way that'...

I borrowed this book without putting much time into reviewing it beforehand. When I actually picked it up to read and determined what it was about (ie. Toronto) I figured it would be boring and likely not worth my while. Once I started reading it, I initially confirmed my suspicions and almost put it down (in reality, I never do this). Am I glad I didn't! I loved the intermingling of the two stories; one from 1997 Toronto (where I happen to live) and one from 1856 historical Toronto. It became a...

I live in Toronto. I love history and architecture. This book was an incredible read and eventually I found myself on a walking tour of the buildings and history with Michael Redhill.There is so much development happening in the area of the waterfront where land was reclaimed now - I am sure many artifacts are found and some even hidden so the development goes on uninterrupted.This novel was an eye-opener and very engaging. Loved it.

I must say I enjoyed this book 5 stars' worth, but that's because I've lived in and near Toronto since 1977. It's a good story, quite how true I'm not sure, of the search for some historical (1850s) photos of Toronto possibly buried in the landfill which has become Toronto south of Front Street, and which was previously Lake Ontario. There are two threads: 1850s and late 1990s.

I think this book was too complex for the state of mind I was in while reading it. I loved the idea of a historical novel focused on early photographic techniques in Toronto, as well as the archeological nature of the story. I liked the idea of the layers of history building on one another, and later being uncovered in reverse order.I think I loved the concept more than the actual book.There were some flashes of brilliance, especially towards the end. Redhill is a clever writer, but sometimes it...

After reading "Bellevue Square", I was determined to read all of Michael Redhill's books (my Goodreads challenge for 2019). He has become My Favourite Author overnight. "Consolation" is the second Redhill book that I have read but was disappointed. It's well-written, and thoughtfully presented with its zigzagging timelines. I just found it too slow, lacking the zany twists of "Bellevue Square". But Michael Redhill is still My Favourite Author and the challenge is still on!

It is really 3.5 stars for this one, but since it didn't get from the Booker longlist to the shortlist I am being generous. This is the kind of book I take pleasure in - a real story, with emphasis on plot and characters in contrast to, for example, Enright's "The Gathering" and McEwan's "On Chesil Beach" which are less plot driven (although they have fared better in the Booker). I think the fact that I have just been to Toronto aided my enjoyment.Perhaps a little slow in parts.

Just flew back from Toronto with a copy of Michael Redhill’s Consolation and was so absorbed that I’m now halfway through its 468 pages in only six hours (the flight plus couldn’t-put-it-down reading time in the hammock later that evening). I’d always felt I wouldn’t connect with Redhill’s Toronto-centric point of view but he casts tough, straight-spoken women and men with much softer personalities – characters and action that pulled ME into the historical storyline.

A very engaging book. I enjoyed it tremendously. Loved the descriptions of the lives of strugging Torontonians in the 1850's. John and Bridget and the way their relationship evolved both in the present and past tense, somehow evoked my own memories (in love during those same years and living in Toronto). And I thought the way the two stories were linked together was very well done. As a lover of Toronto history this book is hard not to cherish page by page.

David Hollis spent his career unearthing artifacts of old Toronto, but at the time of his death from Lou Gehrig’s disease, his academic legacy was shadowed by his unsupported claims that a complete set of glass negatives of photos of Toronto, circa 1860, was lost in a shipwreck that now lies under landfill. However, the story doesn’t really deal with David except in flashback, as his wife, one of his daughters, and his daughter’s fiancé deal with his death by keeping vigil over a construction si...

It took me about 200 pages to get into this book. But then I enjoyed it very much. I must say that I thought the historical story was far more interesting than the present day one. I found Marianne and Bridget really annoying and their actions and words extreme. Considering that Redhill is a playwrigt, you would think that dialogue would be a strong point, but I found it to be trite. I liked the character John Lewis very much and especially enjoyed the relationship he had with David.The history

"He put it [a recently excavated clay pipe:] into my hand and closed my fingers over it and he said, ‘the past really happened.’”. . . “You held it in your hand. You know something most people don’t.”(Consolation, 435)Consolation changed the way I look at Toronto, the city where I live. This was not only because it asked me to imagine things like black bears walking down King St. or a graveyard (in fact, a "necropolis") at the now busy intersection of Yonge and Bloor, which added a vivid, histor...

(The much longer full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)As regular readers know, all this month I'm doing a special concentration here on the nominees for the 2007 Booker Prize, basically the British version of the Pulitzer (and a prize many think is actually more impressive than the Pulitzer); and it's no surprise that in general I've been disappointed by the nominated books I've now read, finding them on the whole to be too delicate, to...

This is the first book by Michael Redhill that I have read (although, Martin Sloane is on the book shelf ready to go) and it was really enjoyable. At first I found it difficult to get into; there is a parallel story-line that you need to navigate, which made it difficult to get into the rhythm of the story. However, once I found my feet I thought Redhill delivered a well narrated tale with a smart plot. Being a history lover, I found myself drawn to the historical story-line and I was pleasantly...

I am almost finished reading 'Consolation' by Redhill. It is not the greatest book I've read. I'm feeling, "oh, get on with it" to get to the end. The history of Toronto is interesting but the story is written like two stories in several different sections: story 1, story 2, story 1, story 2 etc. I find it a little exasperating?The part I found interesting was the history sections on Toronto. I could visualize the streets and intersections he refers to because I know Toronto. I could relate to t...

From The Atlantic reviewConsolationby Michael Redhill (Little, Brown)Lou Gehrig’s disease again! In this case, a local historian, suffering from the malady, posits, to public ridicule, that a trove of photographs of early Toronto lies beneath a landfill. Redhill, author of the affecting short-story collection Fidelity, shifts between the present-day account of the widow’s efforts to vindicate her husband and the story of the photographer in mid-nineteenth-century Toronto. Puzzlingly, the modern

i can't really tell if it has anything to do with being in Toronto these days or.. it's simply a good novel..? i like all the details about the photography profession and the actual names of streets and shops it's specially exiting when I walk by one of them!! what I mostly like about this book is the author's smooth way of jumping through time. i'll have to agree with those who favor the historical story over the resent onebut all in all, I think it's a good vacation read