Grow Up, Rory Rafferty by Bruce W. Bishop

A Fiction Review by Anne Smith-Nochasak

Grow Up, Rory Rafferty is a guided journey into the world of 1979, into the tumultuous world of youth in the urban setting, enriched by the music, social settings, and attitudes that defined the times.

Rory Rafferty, a young man from a small community in Nova Scotia, dreams of owning his own seafood restaurant one day. When he has an opportunity to work as a busboy in an exclusive club in Toronto, he leaves his college program and heads to Ontario. There, he hopes to work his way to the top, gaining practical experience, connections, and cash to make his dream come true. On his flight, he meets Stephanie, an actress from Cape Breton who supports herself with theatre work, specifically, in the foyer of a movie theatre. She knows Rory’s club, having met her friend Tom there.

This might seem like a high level of coincidence, but every Maritimer knows that the last thing you expect is the first thing that will happen, wherever you go in this world. The coincidences mount as the plot unfolds, but they are most believable and very likely in the real world. Tom works in the club and is having a tryst with the owner, who happens to be married to a successful television evangelist. Tom will eventually go to work as their butler, and be involved with both of them, but this is just the beginning.

Coincidences lead to several humorous lessons in the novel, one important one being to phrase one’s confessions carefully, even when the microphones should be off. At the same time, coincidences can have tragic outcomes, such as the aftermath of Rory’s pre-Christmas phone call home.

Characters are three-dimensional and vivid—the author brings them to life before us in their manner of speaking, their movements, their outlooks and attitudes. Stephanie is outspoken and brash, yet sensitive and compassionate to those she loves—everyone needs a friend like Stephanie, to celebrate their good moments, scold them in their shortcomings, and embrace them in their disappointments. Tom is mercurial and self-serving, but he will also see a friend through the darkest times. The pastor and his wife are the archetypal self-absorbed rich, yet they are completely believable, even in their adherence to the stereotype. Their twins, so churlishly naïve and self-centred, are somehow at times redeemable. Rory’s parents, earnestly supportive, want their son to succeed, specifically succeed under their roof, and in balance, we have the wise uncle, who accepts without judgment and embraces all. Of course, there is the unforgettable Gunda, whose likes and dislikes are very pronounced, and whose revenge takes some subtle and not-so-subtle twists. Of all the characters, she is the one who makes my blood run cold, for she is the type who always shows up, in life as well as in novels.

Mr. Bishop recreates the times, and as I read, I was swept back to the late seventies in Halifax, to the music and the bar scene, to odd jobs found on the way to that elusive stable career of one’s dreams, when cash went to pizza and draft instead of pension funds, to a time when friends were sometimes erratic and unreliable, but always loyal just the same. The friendships, not the careers, defined those days, and so it was with Rory and Stephanie in Toronto.

At the same time, the darkness of the times is not overlooked. As a young man exploring his sexuality, Rory lives in a world in which he will be assaulted for dancing with a man, a religious milieu in which the LGBTQ2S+ community lived on the margins, a time in which they were relegated to the darker corners of hell for eternal torment. The teachings of the bitter nun of Rory’s childhood were still firmly in place, and to appear in the proximity of a gay bar could invite attack. One hopes those times are firmly tucked away in the seventies files, but recent remarks in public arenas suggest they are still with us.

Bruce Bishop’s attention to detail is noteworthy—an awareness of place settings for example, right down to the silence cloth, shows sound research. The battered couch with a bright tablecloth thrown over it, to keep the bugs at bay or at least take the mind off them, rings true to bargain apartment days. Such details of the setting enhance the delivery.

The novel is highly readable. Mr. Bishop’s use of dialogue, description, and narrative are natural and vivid, drawing us into the story. I looked forward to each reading time, to join the characters on their journey, to bear witness to the successes and the disappointments, the gains and the losses, and just often enough, the dreams coming true.

Grow Up, Rory Rafferty is also an excellent starting point for conversations, on what the times meant to the people living them, what the times mean to us today, and what we can learn about the directions we are taking as a society. I highly recommend this novel.

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About the Author

Bruce Bishop was born and raised in a small town in eastern Canada. 'Unconventional Daughters' (2020) was followed by 'Uncommon Sons' (2021) and 'Undeniable Relations' (2022), and the three are interlinked. They are set in the early to mid-20th century in Nova Scotia, Canada. They can be read on their own, and not necessarily in any order.

Book Details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Icarus Press Publishing in affiliation with Bruce W. Bishop (Oct. 31 2024)

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 278 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1777414199

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1777414191