Haunting Loneliness and Visions of the Past: The Second Season of Jonas MacPherson by Lesley Choyce
A Review by Laura Patterson
This breathtaking tribute to life is best read in the early morning when all is quiet, and the living have not woken from their slumber. The words of this story dance off the page to shine a light in the darkness. The Second Season of Jonas MacPherson is a beautiful, spiritual story that will make you think of what comes next in life and what comes after.
Jonas MacPherson is an old man living alone in his little house on a cliffside that drops down into the Atlantic Ocean. He has his pigeons, his old cars, and the ocean, but loneliness haunts him. He has lost many people throughout his life, including his beloved wife, whose memory continues to burn bright. When Jonas is told he only has a short time to live, he refuses to accept it and finds a way to experience his life a second time around. Through fasting, he enters a hazy, dreamlike second season where he revisits the moments and people that have shaped his life. Whether it is dementia or starvation causing these illusions, Jonas does not care, for he has found peace in his new world where he feels young, strong, and full of life once more.
“The Second Season of Jonas MacPherson was beautifully written in an easy, flowing, poetic style.”
The Second Season of Jonas MacPherson was beautifully written in an easy, flowing, poetic style. The characters were curious and intriguing, and I loved that the ocean played such a huge part in this story acting as a character itself, always giving and taking. One could say that Jonas’ life was much like the ocean: rising and falling with the cycling tides, ever-changing, and occasionally enduring violent storms.
I cannot begin to tell you how much I loved the story of Jonas MacPherson and how much it means to me. I have watched my grandparents age and pass away and have often wondered what they experienced. I hope that through their pain and suffering they were able to experience a few moments like Jonas did in this story where they could relive a fond moment and find peace and comfort at the end.
I have learned many lessons through the eyes of Jonas MacPherson. The beauty of this novel is astounding and acts as a guide through life's darkest moments. The voices throughout the novel belong to real people who have lived, honest and true, with calluses on their hands and bends in their backs. They speak to me through the ink on these pages that I hold, now so dear. A more beautiful story has never been written, and I am thankful for it having found me.
About the Author
Lesley Choyce is the author of more than 100 books of literary fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction and young adult novels. He runs Pottersfield Press and has worked as editor with a wide range of Canadian authors. Choyce has been teaching English and Creative Writing at Dalhousie and other universities for over forty years. He has won The Dartmouth Book Award, The Atlantic Poetry Prize and The Ann Connor Brimer Award and has been short-listed for the Governor General's Award. In 2022 he was awarded the Atlantic Legacy Award for his "lasting contribution to the development of the literary arts in Atlantic Canada." He surfs year-round in the North Atlantic.
Book Details
Publisher : Pottersfield Press; new and revised with an afterword by the author edition (Sept. 11 2024)
Language : English
Paperback : 186 pages
ISBN-10 : 1990770576
ISBN-13 : 978-1990770579