Art, love, and history furnish the setting in this tale of fate and destiny. Set in Vancouver in 1962, we follow Cyril Andrachuk, son of immigrant parents from the former Ukraine, as he makes his way from high school to menial labour jobs, from first love to first heartbreak, from sibling rivalry to malicious family betrayal. Cyril is the only Canadian-born member of the Andrachuk family, his parents and older brother having survived the Holodomor, Stalin's systematic starving of the Ukraine in the 1930s during which two million people died. Cyril's mother carries the scars and memories of a past she can't let go of; she mourns the early death of her husband and feels responsible for the malnourished, brittle bones of her eldest son, Paul. Cyril is a mystery to her: he wants to be an artist he draws incessantly and talks about going to art school. He draws his late-father's tools saws, drills, hammers, wrenches, everything. When Cyril produces a series of large commemorative "Stalin stamps" his mother questions her son's insensitivity; when an act of impassioned violence erupts in the house, it is Cyril's sanity that is called into question. The Delusionist is a darkly comic novel about love, loss, creativity, and coming to terms with the horrors of history. Praise for Grant Buday: "Buday's genius is that of the storyteller." The Vancouver Sun "mordantly funny" The National Post "a rollicking black comedy of errors with a host of unforgettable characters" Quill & Quire (on White Lung)
The story really caught my attention from the first chapter. It was interesting to follow Cyril over the course of four decades as he navigates through his life and his creativity and his family and all of the emotions tied in with everything in his life. I really felt sorry for Cyril; from the first chapter it’s clear that he feels like an outsider from his own family, his interactions with his mother and brother often tense and awkward. It informs some of his actions and his behaviour as he seems adrift somehow.
The other characters that populate this novel were also interesting, from love of his life Connie who weaves in and out of his life, to his long relationship with Gilbert. As frustrating as his mother and brother were in their behaviour towards him, they were interesting in their own way and were never at any point a caricature or a one-note. The Holodomor in Ukraine in the 1930s very much informs their characters and what they survived, and their nationalism was interesting to follow especially when they encounter other Eastern Europeans like the Hungarian artist teacher Novak.
Overall I really enjoyed reading The Delusionist and following Cyril’s ups and downs. The novel has a great sense of time and place as the story goes through the decades, and of course the bits of Canadian-ness shines with its sense of multiculturalism. I highly recommend checking out this book if you’re looking to read some Canadian and indie fiction.
My full review of this book can be found on my blog, caffeinatedlife.net: http://www.caffeinatedlife.net/blog/2014/12/12/review-the-delusionist/
