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Andrew McCredie Layne Christensen

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book
review
“The Cage, by Audrey Schulman,

Algonquin ‘Books of Chapel Ail,
aed pages hardcover

oe “Beryl holds an ice cube in her

“hand as she sits in her. closet.

“The air is humid with the slow

‘,, neat of August. The water from

fo the i ice drips steadily down her

“arm? Her. palny hurts from the

“ cold. She holds: the ice, trying

to imagine herself in tempera-
tures of 30 and 40 below." .

fy “UDREY SCHUL-
IMAN’S first novel is
the story of an ambi-
‘tious young female photogra-:
ipher who lands a challenging -
“assignment - —— to photograph
polar bears in the Arctic tun-
‘ dra: The project takes her ;
“inte a harsh and unforgiving
~ landscape i in northern |:
“Manitoba, where every
: reserve of her strength will be:

-Donna.and Gary: ‘Malone:

: ‘My Wine Cellar “opened its doors at the back of 1501

* tonsdale ‘Avenue in’ December: '93. Since then. the

popularity of personal wine making has flounshed and
the. company has ° seen iremendous . growth.’ To
accommodate their growing customer base. My Wine
~ Cellar & opening it its second. focation af. 225 Pemberton

Avenue. i
. The company ‘sets 1s aself apart from*ethers lke it by

Until this opportunity, her only
experience with photographing ani-
mais had been with captive ones.
This time, however, the animal will
.roam free while Beryl herself will be
‘in a cage.

Being held captive in the pres-
ence of huge carnivores will not be
the only unnerving part of the
assignment.

Schulman spends the first portion
of the book outlining Bery!’s charac-

.ter: the parental forces that have
shaped her personality, the loneliness
of being an only child, her envy of
men’s bodies, “strong as animals,”
and her patience for photographing
captive animals.

Photography attracts her because
it allows her to hide her fear, to con-
tain it.

But soon Beryl confronts her own
fears in the treacherous conditions of
the expedition... -

, Although many burly male pho-

. tographers compete for the lucrative

contract, Beryl wins it by default —
she is the only one small enough to

: fit into the metal cage. She prepares
herself for the adventure by sitting
for long periods in the the lotus posi-
‘tion in her bedroom.

«> She studies all she can about
polar bears. She is shocked by a

- photo of a bear carcass. With all its
skin stripped off, it looks remarkably
like a man. Here begins Schulman’s

_ extended metaphor of polar bear as
man, and man as predator.
On the flight e Churchill,
Manitoba, Beryl meets her two male
co-workers.

‘David is a slick, video camera-
man who makes her wish “she had

. ears like a cat so she could fold them :
_ back.” Butler is a self-possessed nat-

nrg Limited Edition Wine Making Projects such as"
©. 100% grape juice iwines, red wine made ftom fresh grapes.

“pak barrel aging, and wine from local fut in season. As

“well: customers may choose from a long list of kit wines °

"year round,

B -*<: Donna & Gary have a real passion for) wine and wine
1; ‘making. This is obvious ‘to anyone who has had the.

© opportunity to ask them about wine. Tagetticr, the staff at
; My Wine Cellar have’ over..40 years of wine making
perience Dealing with expen is always a set place to

Wednesday, June 28, 1995 ~ North Shore News - 17

STORIES

het ote Se tek et

NEWS photo Paul McGrath’:

NORTH VANCOUVER District librarian Tina Nielsen sits amidst some of the fare stocked by the:
Lynn Vatley library, 1280 East 27th St., North Vancouver. Public libraries are 2 Popular summer:

time destinations for book butts in search of good, cheap reads.

uralist who takes an instant disliking
to David. .

The two men compete trying to
impress Beryl with their macho nat-
uralist adventures.

Once in Churchill they begin
filming the bears in an unnatural
habitat — the local dump. All three
begin to learn firsthand what formi-
dable animals the bears are.

As they struggle to adapt to the
habitat so comfortable to the bears,
the cold affects their equipment and

: their bodies in adverse ways. They

begin to sense how challenging their

_task will be to survive in the tundra.

At night, Beryl dreams about dat-
ing and dancing with suave polar
bears. She reflects on her last of sev-
eral unsuccessful relationships, on .
her escape from “captive” life. .

The last member of the team, the
guide, Jean-Claude, finally appears
with their expedition vehicle. Bery!

SO RA TOLER

finds him inscrutable, b but is. -
intrigued with his reticence.

Together the four set out in their
“Arctic RV” and set up camp three
hours outside of Churchill in the
middle of nowhere to accomplish
their mission — to photograph polar
bears inthe wild. -

Confined in a tiny space, unable ;
to venture outside in the sub-zero
temperatures for more than 15 min-

utes at a stretch, relations among the’

four people become unbalanced.

Beryl and Jean-Ciaude become
lovers. The other two become i irasci-
ble in each other’s presence. -

Then, one day they discover the
bears have chewed through the fuel
line under the dus. There is no heat,
no fuel for cooking, no fuel to get
back to Churchill. They realize they
are in grave trouble and decide to -
walk back to Churchill — it is the
only way to survive.

From here the book becomes

more a survival tale as the four peo--

ple hazard the Arctic climate, endur-

ing the severe cold, blizzards, white- ”

out and starvation. Not all of them
are able to survive the ordeal. Some:
succumb and remain forever captive

in the snow drifts which blot out the : »

landscape...

The conclusion, although some-
what abrupt, is as stark as the north-"
em air the survivors breathe:

For.a first-time novelist,

. Schulmari shows an exceptional tal
ent for documenting the minutiae

and subtext of male-female interac-: =:

tions, She also has a unique sensitiv-

. ity for describing landscape and how ..
. it affects state of mind.

Her use of the polar bear as a
metaphor for male predaiorial’
behavior is at times a little overt, bul
it doesn’t interfere with the other-

wise solid storytelling.

Make any batch of wine. on our premises between. June 28.
and aay 5 ‘and receive $15: off, the. regular retail price.

-Donina and Gary welcome you to their’.
“second North Vancouver location.

Saturday

1 1: 00am - 7: 7:00pm

A: 00am - &: &:00pm