He was awakened by the meowing of a cat.
The opening paragraph of the novel is comprised of a single sentence. Short and to the point, instantly accessible and deceptively insightful. The very circumstance of being forced out of slumber by the distinctive sound of a cat meowing creates an image which could potentially take the story in a number of different directions. The title of the novel (especially in conjunction with the typical cover art featuring a representation of a classic VW van) serves to narrow those possibilities immediately and focuses that vehicle’s infamous historical record as a conveyance of cross-country travel. One will almost naturally assume the cat does not belong to the person whom it awakens. Strays of a feather flock, but don’t generally stay, together.
“This is a rough town. You don’t go out on the street after sunset.”
This is a novel by a Canadian featuring characters from Canada. As a result, the victor below the border is eye-opening. Canada has a reputation for being, well, nice. Nice to a fault. Almost as if the idea of random street crime has no place in their society. It’s a myth, of course, but compared to the senseless violence that is an hourly way of life in American cities, it probably seems very real to people on both sides of the border. A visit to Detroit encapsulates this juxtaposition to perfection.
“A book is never complete in itself; to understand it you must put it in relation to other books, not just books by the same author, but also books written by other people.”
The quite uniquely named 21-year-old who joins the protagonist on his questing journey makes this observation in general, but it applies especially to the book in which it is asserted. The book readers hold in their hands when they get to this quote is one which demands contextual understanding and historical origination at an intense level. Among the historical figures that populate the character list in one way or another are Jacques Cartier, Buffalo Bill and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Those who are not familiar with these real-life personages will be at a considerable loss to fully gauge the broader thematic pursuits and analytical meanings. And that’s just three examples of many others.
