Review: The Great Bardo Ride

The Great Bardo Ride by Lise St Amant
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A forty something oncologist's wife has died of cancer. Filled with grief and frustration at being unable to save her, he finds himself drinking too much and unable to function in his job. In this vulnerable state he learns from his father-in-law that his wife, Eva had borne a child before they met and gave it up for adoption. Now, he is given a letter written by Eva to her son and is asked to deliver it to the boy on her behalf. Having struggled throughout their marriage to have children he is further torn apart by this seemingly unreasonable request and by the unforgiveable keeping of this secret for years.

Still, something propels him to drive in a blizzard to the small Maine tourist village where the boy lives. He arrives through some miracle being as drunk as he becomes during the drive and is given a room in the local hotel--the home of the boy, David. His interaction with the family who owns the hotel, the secrets each of the members hold, the relationships they have with each other all lead to healing and a new path in his life.

Two things loom above the developing connections he makes with each of them and with himself--a seagull that seems very interested and a ferris wheel and its seemingly magical hold it has on anyone who rides it. The Ferris wheel is the Great Bardot--complete with a huge billboard boasting a painting of the voluptuous Brigitte but lacking the final T.

I shall never spend time on the beach at Ocean Park nor look at the wheel in Old Orchard Beach the same way again. But I will think about the book often.

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