“Lydia leans back to laugh at something Wilf Jardine says. Her breasts are the closest thing to Wilf, and he is looking down her taut white throat. Lydia’s teeth and lips a crescent of broken apple. Offering up her breasts and throat to Wilf. She wants to go elsewhere after the midnight fireworks, and that ambition to persist, I have decided, is drawing me to her.” Michael Winter, This All Happened
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This All Happened is structurally organized as the diary of Gabriel English. The novel has 12 chapters, one for each month of the year, and 365 entries. It’s a year in the life of Gabriel English, struggling writer and funny guy, who is smitten with Lydia. Gabriel’s passion for Lydia is of course his undoing. He is pushed from love to jealousy.
This All Happened is set in St. John’s, and although I’ve never been there, I did by the first chapter feel like I had a sense of the place, and knew the characters. I discovered This All Happened in Duthie Books on 4th Avenue in Vancouver. I’d heard about it and then there it was.
Michael Winter is a pretty crazy guy. I met him in Toronto last year and then again at the Vancouver Writers Festival. As I recall he talked about blow jobs. It was pretty early in the morning, but I thought it was funny. If you can hear Michael read it is well worth it, and not just for the blow jobs, sometimes he sings.
You can journey with Michael on his Canadian book tour for The Big Why. I recommend reading at least a few posts. Blog on, Michael: http://mhardywinter.blogspot.com/