Causeway
A Passage from Innocence
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Linden MacIntyre remembers vividly the day construction started on the
causeway. September 15, 1952, was the day that Change—always for the better and
always from away—arrived to link his small Cape Breton village with the wide
world of the mainland. With its grand promises of jobs and riches and progress,
the building of the Canso Causeway also became a potent personal icon for
MacIntyre, the road that would bring him closer to the father who was always
away.
In a highly evocative memoir—at once a vibrant coming-of-age story, a
portrait of a vanishing way of life and a luminous reflection on fathers and
sons—MacIntyre fills his pages with vivid characters. From his grandmother,
the Gaelic-speaking Peigeag, who, it was rumoured, had “special powers” that
could both cure and curse, to Dan Rory, the father MacIntyre struggles to know
and love, these are people who inhabit a time and a place that is on the brink
of transformation. No one knows this more than MacIntyre, his narrative voice
ringing true on every page, the voice of a young boy both mystified and
captivated by the worlds he straddles.
Shot through with humour and humanity, Causeway is an extraordinary book, a
memoir that sets a new standard for the genre.
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Author Extras
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Critical Praise for
Causeway
"A sweet and edgy coming-of-age story that reads like a good conversation over many drinks."
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Ann-Marie MacDonald
"Causeway is an honest-to-God writer's memoir"
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Winnipeg Free Press
Reader Reviews from First Look
I lovd it!
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Kelly (Toronto, ON)
I lovd it!
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Kelly (Toronto, ON)
It’s been 30 years since I was in Cape Breton, but I still remember some of the places that MacIntyre describes, including the causeway. I was quite young on that visit and could not appreciate the enormous impact the causeway had on the area before, during and after the construction. I’ll definitely have a different perspective the next time I visit.
Highly recommended.
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Marie (Winnipeg, MB)
Setting his memories against the backdrop of the construction of the Canso Causeway lends Linden MacIntyre's book structure and purpose. The impact of a fixed link between an island and the mainland is one that other citizens of Atlantic Canada have also experienced. All the political promises of a better life just around the corner is a long standing theme in the life of Atlantic Canada. In writing this book, Linden MacIntyre has given all Canadians a special gift.
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Sandra (Cornwall, PE)
Linden MacIntyre's memoir makes the building of the Canso Causeway personal. It is no longer "just a causeway", but the bridge to a relationship between a father and his son. A must read!
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Wanda (Winnipeg, MB)
Linden Macintyre's "Causeway" is an excellent read. He captures the essence of small town politics and the change that came with the building of the Causeway.
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Kristine (Goulds, NF)
I enjoyed this book immensely. Canada needs more writers like this. I'm sure maritimers will love this book.
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Moe (Amherstburg, ON)
MacIntyre's father figures significantly in this memoir, both in chances gained and chances lost, stories of a life so familiarly told that the reader cannot help but think of his or her own familial relationships, and of our own small-town pasts. So different a picture of Linden MacIntyre than the probing journalist we see on CBC TV's the fifth estate, this story moved me to tears, something non-fiction rarely does.
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Kate (Gray Creek, BC)
By MacIntyre's account, many thought the Causeway would be Cape Breton's rescue - joining it to the mainland would bring prosperity and riches for the mostly poor villagers. For some, with luck and good timing, this was the case - for others, no amount of hard work could get them out of the poverty that was prevalent in Cape Breton in the early 1950's.
MacIntyre tells his story with warmth and wit and it was a pleasure to read.
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Vincenza (Mississauga, ON)
A very thought provoking book. I loved the history behing the causeway. It was at once a lesson on urban development and it's effect on the population, and a story told from a ten year young teen's point of view. Linden MacIntyre is a magnificent writer with a talent for storytelling.
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Christal (Orleans, ON)
Causeway was a fascinating book on many levels. Firstly, since I’ve seen Linden MacIntyre many times on television it was interesting to learn about his adolescence and family background. I found as I was reading certain passages that I could even hear Linden’s voice. Secondly, I have travelled to Cape Breton Island driving over the Canso Causeway and visiting many of the places he talks about. Until I read this book I never really thought about the engineering feat that building the Causeway was. Thirdly, the description of the village’s inhabitants was so well done that I felt like I knew them too. And finally, and most powerfully, the father-son relationship is a powerful story in its own right. Dan Rory MacIntyre may have spent many months and years away from home but he obviously had a presence in his son’s life. I suspect he is beaming with pride now.
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Wendy (Winnipeg, MB)
I enjoyed Linden Macintyre's Causeway not just for its rich historical and geographical detail, but for its vivid characters.
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Adam (Ottawa, FL)
WOW, the story brought back so many memories that all you had to do is change the names and places and it was almost exactly the way in which I had been brought up.
Again wow this book was super, and the bring back those early year memories... sometimes it brought tears to my eyes.
Thanks for the opportunity to read this book.
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Richard (Mission, BC)
I have long admired Linden MacIntyre the journalist. To be invited into his personal history has showed how the experiences of his youth and childhood shaped the man. His vivid memory of what was then takes me back to my own childhood. I only wish I had MacIntyre’s ability to describe the character of the people and place that shaped and strengthened his identity. This is a thoroughly good - well paced, well placed and well remembered.
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Christine (Calgary, AB)
Very enjoyable! From beginning to end, it kept my interest. It brought back memories of my own grandparents, and of my father's youth - different place, different time, but the same.
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Judith (Hawkesbury, ON)
Linden MacIntyre’s Causeway is a brilliant piece of writing. For me the story was a heartfelt retelling of life in three parts: the way things were before the causeway; the dysfunction and disruption during the construction; and, the inevitable changes both anticipated and realized once the construction is complete. MacIntyre tells a story from the heart, full of love and compassion, tinged with regret. A must read!
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Michael (Toronto, ON)
A delightful book that will surely be a Canadian movie of some sort. It rings familiar notes for baby-boomers who had similar experiences of the "growth" of Canada through the early 50's. The book is very pleasant reading as one wanders through the growing up of Linden and the importance his father had in his evolving life.
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Carolyn (Toronto, ON)
The Causeway, by Linden MacIntyre, is a memoir in the classic ‘coming of age’ style. Set on Cape Breton in the 1950s, it is full of small details that could only be remembered, as opposed to imagined. The reader can feel for the young Linden as he struggles to comprehend and accept the many changes that take place around him, and waits impatiently for the promised benefits that trickle in too slowly.
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Elizabeth (Toronto, ON)
Linden MacIntyre has written of those years of transitions we all experience in our early life, the remembrances of figures and times of a past we encounter while retracing our footstep toward what was home, our youth and familly. Those half forgotten moments marking the passing of a personnal era when things and relations were simpler, more personnal and more attaching. Reading this book brought me back to souvenirs and feeling of long ago, of that time when every one around was important and dear.
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Francis (White River, ON)
From a young boy's perspective, this intelligent, thoughtful and interesting memoir is a wonderful read. We have a first hand view of the building of the Canso Causeway, and the destruction of a way of a simpler way of life. People are not expendable, but even if they disappear they are always in your memory. This book is a testament to that. At what cost is progress warranted? This book is a small example of what is happening throughout the world for the sake of progress and improvement. It points out the important questions we should be asking ourselves before we sign on to every technological improvement or advancement. Are they necessary? Are we losing something more important by embracing them? Whatever the answer, we must hold onto the most important of all, our family, our friends, our history, our memories.
An excellent read, very enjoyable and enlightening.
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Deelia (Picton, ON)
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