MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - New Leaf August 2018 Discussion • The Great Halifax Explosion by John U. Bacon

gmw · 08-18-2018, 09:38 AM

Well, I finished.

The central part of the book, covering the event and its immediate aftermath, contained rather more than its fair share of newspaper headlines masquerading as narrative text. Hmm... I came close it myself, just there

. (I'm wondering if this is the source of issybird's accusation of poor writing?)

There were quite a few places where I think a lack of good editorial influence is apparent, not to mention proof-readers/fact-checkers. I already mentioned the picric acid description, a few other examples include:

Spoiler:

But the complaints aside, there were some good things in this work.

The book makes a number of interesting side-references to aspects of World War I: the events of the first Christmas, the life, poetry and death of Wilfred Owen, and more. If you can stand the heartbreak, for more detail I recommend the 1996 mini-series narrated by Judy Dench, called 1914-1918.

I thought this apt: "The Great War had already spanned a good portion of the children’s young lives, so it had been normalized, something they lived with every day."

I thought this was an interesting observation: "This was the era that commercialized Christmas, after all, by purchasing teddy bears, Lincoln Logs, and Erector Sets, all available in stacks at a new institution called the department store—Eaton’s in Canada, and Sears, Roebuck in the United States."

That "Looting was virtually non-existent" seems incredible, and leaves me wondering how much was due to the influence of the war. Or was it the sheer size of the devastation?

I liked this line: "met extraordinary circumstances with basic goodness. During these trying days, that was heroic enough."

I thought this deserved highlighting: "The objective pursuit of truth was impeded by the fact that Imo’s captain, Haakon From, and Harbour Pilot William Hayes had both been killed [...]" This single fact makes the legal arguments later rather open to conjecture: might there have been some reason for the behaviour of the Imo? (I see Bookpossum's recent post makes reference to this idea, so I'm obviously not the only one having such thoughts.)

This little tid-bit was interesting to discover: "If the mother had been debilitated or killed while the father was off at war, family or friends often took their children, with a catch: they had to be of the same religion."

And this struck me as odd: "A year after the Richmond reunion, on June 9, 1985, they [...] inserted a time capsule in the tower, to be opened on December 6, 2017, the hundredth anniversary of the explosion." Who creates a time-capsule for just 32 years?

And the conclusion harks back to the opening, where it speaks of the Christmas trees for Boston and "Halifax resurrected the tradition". Say what? Once does not a tradition make!

In the acknowledgements we see: "All of these authors and experts agreed to meet with me on my trips to their city, giving generously of their time and knowledge during our long conversations." This includes reference Janet Kitz (mistakenly spelled as "Katz" in this section). This gives me some hope that, however much it may appear to be excess copying/reference to Kitz's work, it has still found acceptance by Kitz - and if true, that's good enough.

08-18-2018, 09:38 AM	#42
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	Well, I finished. The central part of the book, covering the event and its immediate aftermath, contained rather more than its fair share of newspaper headlines masquerading as narrative text. Hmm... I came close it myself, just there . (I'm wondering if this is the source of issybird's accusation of poor writing?) There were quite a few places where I think a lack of good editorial influence is apparent, not to mention proof-readers/fact-checkers. I already mentioned the picric acid description, a few other examples include: Spoiler: Off the cuff comments like this: "Le Médec’s main concern was not being reduced to shrapnel." and "Corpses were scattered throughout the rubble as though a mannequin warehouse had been bombed" seemed rather lacking in taste and grace to my eye. Much was made of Vincent Coleman's actions, even to the extent of repeating emphasis in an almost interruptive way. eg: "And this is what makes Vincent Coleman’s actions that day all the more remarkable." I'm not saying Coleman's actions were not worthy of praise, but there was something peculiar, maybe tacked-on, about how it appeared in the text. In the aftermath he speaks of "For two solid weeks fifty soldiers were assigned the task of burying the dead, right up to Christmas Eve." but had previously said the first burial was 17-Dec. It doesn't add up. Presumably the fifty soldiers had to start work before the first burial, but was it 6 days of digging without any burials? I don't know, but as it reads now it does not make sense. There are other snippets like this spread throughout the book. This "Humphrey Mellish, who would prove to be every bit as mushy as his name." is not only ugly/unfortunate phrasing, it's not clear what he means until you read on and find out that Mellish was ineffective. (I am inclined to think Mellish may merely have been trying to considerate, unlike his bullish opponent.) But the complaints aside, there were some good things in this work. The book makes a number of interesting side-references to aspects of World War I: the events of the first Christmas, the life, poetry and death of Wilfred Owen, and more. If you can stand the heartbreak, for more detail I recommend the 1996 mini-series narrated by Judy Dench, called 1914-1918. I thought this apt: "The Great War had already spanned a good portion of the children’s young lives, so it had been normalized, something they lived with every day." I thought this was an interesting observation: "This was the era that commercialized Christmas, after all, by purchasing teddy bears, Lincoln Logs, and Erector Sets, all available in stacks at a new institution called the department store—Eaton’s in Canada, and Sears, Roebuck in the United States." That "Looting was virtually non-existent" seems incredible, and leaves me wondering how much was due to the influence of the war. Or was it the sheer size of the devastation? I liked this line: "met extraordinary circumstances with basic goodness. During these trying days, that was heroic enough." I thought this deserved highlighting: "The objective pursuit of truth was impeded by the fact that Imo’s captain, Haakon From, and Harbour Pilot William Hayes had both been killed [...]" This single fact makes the legal arguments later rather open to conjecture: might there have been some reason for the behaviour of the Imo? (I see Bookpossum's recent post makes reference to this idea, so I'm obviously not the only one having such thoughts.) This little tid-bit was interesting to discover: "If the mother had been debilitated or killed while the father was off at war, family or friends often took their children, with a catch: they had to be of the same religion." And this struck me as odd: "A year after the Richmond reunion, on June 9, 1985, they [...] inserted a time capsule in the tower, to be opened on December 6, 2017, the hundredth anniversary of the explosion." Who creates a time-capsule for just 32 years? And the conclusion harks back to the opening, where it speaks of the Christmas trees for Boston and "Halifax resurrected the tradition". Say what? Once does not a tradition make! In the acknowledgements we see: "All of these authors and experts agreed to meet with me on my trips to their city, giving generously of their time and knowledge during our long conversations." This includes reference Janet Kitz (mistakenly spelled as "Katz" in this section). This gives me some hope that, however much it may appear to be excess copying/reference to Kitz's work, it has still found acceptance by Kitz - and if true, that's good enough.