Visiting Fellow is the story of middle-aged divorcee Wally, who is looking for love while fending off his possessive ex-wife in his home city of Winnipeg. A looming obligation as a visiting fellow in Tasmania provides the perfect opportunity to build a relationship – the question is, with whom?
Written by prolific Winnipeg writer Dave Williamson, this novel includes touchstones that any Winnipegger can appreciate. Known both for being the founder of Red River College’s Creative Communications program and as a writer of novels, short stories, memoir, TV and stage drama, Williamson skillfully guides us through the struggles of returning to dating long after you thought that part of your life was over.
In Visiting Fellow, Wally dates several different women – with little lasting success and plenty of bizarre mishap. Struggling to find the right balance between desire and being a gentleman, Wally worries how the concepts of sexual harassment and sexism might have changed dating since he last did it. A possessive ex-wife and their fifteen-year-old son cause intrusions of their own, but when Wally meets Carolyn, a widowed graphic designer, he hopes this time he’s found someone truly special. However, Carolyn comes with baggage of her own to match – she hasn’t moved on from the death of her loving husband, and this intrudes on their attempts to build a relationship. On a whim – and in an attempt to avoid his ex-wife – Wally invites Carolyn to join him on a trip to Tasmania, where he has been invited as a visiting fellow for two months. Will their young relationship wilt and die with too much too soon or bloom into the long-term relationship they both desperately want?
Despite the similarity in premise, I found this book to be much more engaging than Williamson’s last novel, Dating. While both works follow a man trying to find footing in the dating world long after they thought they’d have to, Visiting Fellow is a much less claustrophobic novel, focused more on the here and now of the late ‘90s and less on nostalgia for the past. As a result, Visiting Fellow doesn’t require the same level of shared experience that Dating does to truly enjoy the story.
When Carolyn agrees to join Wally on his trip, she begins keeping a journal. The entries shared with the reader, though often brief, give a much-needed depth to an otherwise unpredictable character. Shortly after they have arrived in Australia, Carolyn locks herself in the bathroom. Wally doesn’t know why. Her journal entry clarifies her motivations:
I’m writing this in the bathroom. Wally wanted to kiss me, and I told him I had to brush my teeth first. I’m sitting on the toilet with the water running. Wondering why I came all this way with a man I hardly know… He’ll be expecting to fool around! Why can’t he be tired?
The story is written in the third person but is restricted to Wally’s point of view. So, when he doesn’t fully understand her actions, neither do we. Without the journal, Carolyn would risk fulfilling the stereotype of the inexplicably moody female rejecting the male protagonist’s advances for no apparent reason.
Even with the journal, Carolyn remains an unreliable character – first rejecting Wally’s advances, then encouraging him, then rejecting him again – and I never quite came to trust her. Her journal entries are sporadic and only explain some of her behaviour. Thus, when she begins to settle and their relationship seems like it might be developing, the reader doesn’t know whether or not to trust it. Because of this, the end of the novel feels incomplete and untrustworthy – the characters have flip-flopped too much for the reader to fully believe that the story really ends the way the author has chosen to end it.
While Visiting Fellow is not a page-turner, the chaotic relationship between Wally and Carolyn did pull me into the story and often left me wondering what was going to happen next and whether or not I could trust the latest development. My biggest critique is that same lack of trust makes it difficult for the reader to accept the resolution. I would recommend this book for anyone looking for a love story that isn’t your typical romance.
Turnstone | 368 pages | $19.00 | paper | ISBN 978-0888015761
‘Visiting Fellow’ by Dave Williamson
Book Reviews
Visiting Fellow is the story of middle-aged divorcee Wally, who is looking for love while fending off his possessive ex-wife in his home city of Winnipeg. A looming obligation as a visiting fellow in Tasmania provides the perfect opportunity to build a relationship – the question is, with whom?
Written by prolific Winnipeg writer Dave Williamson, this novel includes touchstones that any Winnipegger can appreciate. Known both for being the founder of Red River College’s Creative Communications program and as a writer of novels, short stories, memoir, TV and stage drama, Williamson skillfully guides us through the struggles of returning to dating long after you thought that part of your life was over.
In Visiting Fellow, Wally dates several different women – with little lasting success and plenty of bizarre mishap. Struggling to find the right balance between desire and being a gentleman, Wally worries how the concepts of sexual harassment and sexism might have changed dating since he last did it. A possessive ex-wife and their fifteen-year-old son cause intrusions of their own, but when Wally meets Carolyn, a widowed graphic designer, he hopes this time he’s found someone truly special. However, Carolyn comes with baggage of her own to match – she hasn’t moved on from the death of her loving husband, and this intrudes on their attempts to build a relationship. On a whim – and in an attempt to avoid his ex-wife – Wally invites Carolyn to join him on a trip to Tasmania, where he has been invited as a visiting fellow for two months. Will their young relationship wilt and die with too much too soon or bloom into the long-term relationship they both desperately want?
Despite the similarity in premise, I found this book to be much more engaging than Williamson’s last novel, Dating. While both works follow a man trying to find footing in the dating world long after they thought they’d have to, Visiting Fellow is a much less claustrophobic novel, focused more on the here and now of the late ‘90s and less on nostalgia for the past. As a result, Visiting Fellow doesn’t require the same level of shared experience that Dating does to truly enjoy the story.
When Carolyn agrees to join Wally on his trip, she begins keeping a journal. The entries shared with the reader, though often brief, give a much-needed depth to an otherwise unpredictable character. Shortly after they have arrived in Australia, Carolyn locks herself in the bathroom. Wally doesn’t know why. Her journal entry clarifies her motivations:
I’m writing this in the bathroom. Wally wanted to kiss me, and I told him I had to brush my teeth first. I’m sitting on the toilet with the water running. Wondering why I came all this way with a man I hardly know… He’ll be expecting to fool around! Why can’t he be tired?
The story is written in the third person but is restricted to Wally’s point of view. So, when he doesn’t fully understand her actions, neither do we. Without the journal, Carolyn would risk fulfilling the stereotype of the inexplicably moody female rejecting the male protagonist’s advances for no apparent reason.
Even with the journal, Carolyn remains an unreliable character – first rejecting Wally’s advances, then encouraging him, then rejecting him again – and I never quite came to trust her. Her journal entries are sporadic and only explain some of her behaviour. Thus, when she begins to settle and their relationship seems like it might be developing, the reader doesn’t know whether or not to trust it. Because of this, the end of the novel feels incomplete and untrustworthy – the characters have flip-flopped too much for the reader to fully believe that the story really ends the way the author has chosen to end it.
While Visiting Fellow is not a page-turner, the chaotic relationship between Wally and Carolyn did pull me into the story and often left me wondering what was going to happen next and whether or not I could trust the latest development. My biggest critique is that same lack of trust makes it difficult for the reader to accept the resolution. I would recommend this book for anyone looking for a love story that isn’t your typical romance.
Turnstone | 368 pages | $19.00 | paper | ISBN 978-0888015761