Annabel - The Library of the Uncommons

461 pages

English language

Published Nov. 14, 2011 by Jonathan Cape.

ISBN:: 978-0-224-09127-5
OCLC Number:: 701111610

In 1968, into the beautiful, spare environment of remote coastal Labrador in the far north-east of Canada, a mysterious child is born: a baby who appears to be neither fully boy nor girl, but both at once. Only three people share the secret - the baby's parents, Jacinta and Treadway, and a trusted neighbour, Thomasina. Together the adults make a difficult decision: to go through surgery and raise the child as a boy named Wayne. But as Wayne grows to adulthood within the hyper-male hunting culture of his father, his shadow-self - a girl he thinks of as 'Annabel' - is never entirely extinguished, and indeed is secretly nurtured by the women in his life.

10 editions

JohnnyCache reviewed Annabel by Kathleen Winter

Review of 'Annabel' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I almost stopped reading this about three times. It is not an easy read - emotionally, not in terms of complexity. I am so glad I stuck through it. I felt so bad for Wayne right from the beginning, especially when the baby was described as not yet having any reason to mistrust anybody. I just knew that this would change in such a jarring way. I enjoyed reading through the discussion questions after the epilogue. I still can't answer many of the questions and will devote some time now to reading what others thought.

This is the first Canada Reads 2014 book that I have read (Cockroach is next), but the competition will have to be fierce to have a chance. I hope to have all of the books read by the time the competition starts.

EDIT (28 January 2013): OK, I finished this book almost two months ago. …

I almost stopped reading this about three times. It is not an easy read - emotionally, not in terms of complexity. I am so glad I stuck through it. I felt so bad for Wayne right from the beginning, especially when the baby was described as not yet having any reason to mistrust anybody. I just knew that this would change in such a jarring way. I enjoyed reading through the discussion questions after the epilogue. I still can't answer many of the questions and will devote some time now to reading what others thought.

This is the first Canada Reads 2014 book that I have read (Cockroach is next), but the competition will have to be fierce to have a chance. I hope to have all of the books read by the time the competition starts.

EDIT (28 January 2013): OK, I finished this book almost two months ago. Since then, I've read all of the other Canada Reads finalists (with the exception of The Orenda, which I'm currently halfway through). After reading Half-Blood Blues, I thought that it might be a better book than Annabel. However, some time has gone by and Annabel is still in my thoughts. A book that sticks with you is a really powerful thing. There was one thing in this book that didn't (and still doesn't) sit well with me: the medically dubious event. If you've read the book, you will immediately know what I'm talking about. I don't want to spoil anything for people who haven't finished it, so I won't say anything more. However, despite that, the book is quite incredible. I don't know if I have enough emotional strength to reread it, but I'd love to go through it again as I had missed a lot of the symbolism (and know about these things thanks to people who write better reviews than I do!).

Subjects

Intersex people
Gender identity
Fiction

Places

Labrador (N.L.)
Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador