Brilliant writing, as only Anne Michaels can create. Having experienced the flooding of the Lost Villages to the creation on the St. Lawrence Seaway, this novel so beautifully expresses those haunting feelings of my youth.

too heavy

This goes on my list as one my all time favourites. It's a difficult book to describe: a tale of enduring love, grief and loss, but also a narration of two monumental engineering projects of modern times - the Aswan Dam and the St. Lawrence Seaway - and the enormous displacement of populations that resulted. Michaels prose reads like poetry - a quilt of brief vignettes stitched together with heart-wrenchingly beautiful language. The characters are real and complex - not meant for readers looking for tidy resolutions.

I love Michaels’ writing. She has a wonderful way with words and images stay indelibly in my mind. In this novel a young Canadian couple Avery and Jean who meet on the banks of the St Lawrence river, embark on a journey to Egypt. They live in a houseboat moored on the Nile close to where Avery is overseeing the dismantling of the temple of Abu Simberl and its reconstruction further downriver. Jean is a botanist by vocation and passion and observes the transition of the historical monument and the environmental changes brought about by the building of the dam with mixed emotions. The descriptions of the landscape, the heat and the people are gorgeous and we get a sense of the desert's beauty. The marriage begins to unravel after the loss of a child and there is a huge sense of sadness and pathos as they return to separate lives in Toronto. They long for healing and yet are torn apart by the death of their baby. The story shifts to an affair Jean has with a Polish artist and Avery begins architecture school. We meet more characters who are beautifully drawn. I loved this book because Michaels puts together beautiful sentences, uses words carefully and is evocative in her writing. She also really 'gets' people and translates their emotions well into a story. This is a beautiful book! She is also the author of Fugitive Pieces which has been made into a great film. www.bookreviewsbyalumine.blogspot.com

The story begins in 1964, with a Canadian couple living in a houseboat on the Nile River, where he is an engineer helping to move the temple of Abu Simbel above the rising waters south of the Aswan Dam. A tragedy takes them back to Toronto, where they separate, until the woman finds new love with a Polish refugee artist.

<p>Oh my. I love Anne Michaels' writing, I really do. I don't think there's anyone else currently writing who crafts a more beautiful sentence than she does. And that's why I finished this book - the writing was unbelievable.</p> <p>I can't say I really loved this book, though - I kept getting hung up on how much I didn't really like Jean. I could sympathize with her, sure, but she's just so <i>sentimental</i>. I mean, did she do anything other than cry at Avery for their first several dates? Over what? And then she leaves him and spends some time screwing around with another guy whose life puts her emotional baggage in some perspective, and Avery just waits around? <i>Seriously?</i></p> <p>I had this friend in high school who kept dating the same jerk who cheated on her, and every time it happened she'd react as though she'd lost everything. One day, on the 108th retelling of her woes, my right foot flew out <i>completely involuntarily</i> and kicked her in the shin. I just couldn't take it anymore. And you know? This book gave me the same feeling of senseless futility. I wanted to kick Jean in the shin. I really did.</p> <p>That said, the research done for this book is top-notch, so readers wishing to be whisked away to Egypt or Eastern Ontario can save themselves some time and money if they pick up <i>The Winter Vault</i> instead. And it was kind of interesting to read a book in which the tortured anti-hero all the others lust after is a woman, rather than the surly man-child artist that populates so much of our fiction shelves. I certainly don't regret the time I spent with this book, and I suspect that readers with more patience and tolerance for self-defeatist people will find Jean likable and even interesting. Don't let my misgivings hold you back - <i>The Winter Vault</i> is a lyrical masterpiece built on a flawless research process, and does deserve your time.</p>

Lush, lyrical, poetic - as one would expect from Michaels...not a light read, so set a good chunk aside to "get into" the text. Interesting plotline on top of the sensual settings, & descriptions: newly married engineer and his bride are stationed in Egypt & Sudan to oversee the breathtaking deconstruction, shipping & subsequent reconstruction of the colossal Abu Simbel temples,to make way for the Aswan Dam . Flashbacks feature a more local, but equally large engineering feat ; constructing the St. Lawrence Seaway. Lying parallel are the flooded, destroyed and then finally emerging lives of the characters.

I enjoyed this book especially after I got through the first half. The first half seems unnecessarily disjointed and also hard to follow as a narrative. The second half was much more interesting. The characters Jean and her new boyfriend were very interesting. I liked their creative activities that they participated in. Did not find the relationship of Avery and Jean to be compelling at all. Very sad in parts.

Probably the dullest, most boring book I have ever finished. I only finished it because it is a selection for my book club. I wanted to stop after 50 pages. Nothing, absolutely nothing happens to the people in the book that is interesting. I never cared at all about any of them. Save your time and read something good.

Story evolves around the building of the Answan Dam, and the St Lawrence Seaway.