You ought to read “The Bird Factory”

Earlier this year, I took a creative writing course at the School of Continuing Studies at U of T. It was a great experience, and a lot of the credit for that should go to the instructor, Toronto author David Layton.

Although he’s the son of poet Irving Layton – and no relation to Jack or Mike, of course – it ought to be noted that David is a wry, insightful and evocative writer in his own right. I went out of my way not to read any of his work during the course, just because I didn’t want to run the risk of aping his style in any of my assignments. But shortly after the course ended, I got my hands on a copy of The Bird Factory, his first novel, and I’m quite glad I did.

Told through the eyes of Luke Gray, an artist and entrepreneur in his thirties living in Toronto with his wife Julia, The Bird Factory is a a flowing but frantic account of a man transitioning from a happily predictable marriage into the uncertain future of a family. Balancing dark humour with warm wisdom, and written with a keen eye for character and human relationships, it’s a hell of a read to say the least.

To tell you much more would give too much of the game away, so I’ll simply recommend the book and leave it at that. If you need me in the meantime, I’ll be reading Motion Sickness.

Posted in You Ought to Read