Mind Picker: All Saints

My in-laws have recently, in their seventies, joined the dwindling congregation of an Anglican church (a late in life compromise between his Catholic and her Baptist upbringings, prompted by a friend's late in life second career as this church's Rector), and as mature as they are, the in-laws are probably below the average age of this church's (twenty or so) congregants. Despite their recent joining and the low numbers in this community, the in-laws have found a place of real peace and fellowship that they hadn't realised they were lacking, and as the future of this small church (and many others) is in doubt, it makes a person sad for a future without such sanctuaries. All Saints is a book set in one such small and declining Anglican church -- a place with more funerals than baptisms yet situated in prime condo real estate in downtown Toronto -- and as the lives of its congregants are revealed in a series of short stories, the vital (and often surprising) connections between characters demonstrate the centrality of the church in their lives, even as its closure seems inevitable.

K. D. Miller has written a really surprising collection here: without any showy literary tricks, these stories are told in a variety of formats and from a multiplicity of points of view that give a real sense of the entirety of the congregation; with many stories giving context or a different slant on what has gone before, the format is used to its fullest advantage -- this almost feels like a novel without a novel's constrictions. For example, the first story, Barney, is a fascinating and touching look into the mind of an elderly man, Garth, and his marriage -- he and his wife are about to renew their vows for their 60th wedding anniversary at All Saints -- and as funny and as ordinary as their bickering is (and sounding exactly like my in-laws), the real story is about the guest room Garth is building in his basement. The ending is poignant and brought tears to my eyes. Then, two stories later in What They Have, a connection is made to that first story that surprised and delighted me. **spoilerish** In this story, a young university student and her flakey boyfriend are renting a basement room that you eventually realise is the one that Garth built -- but the timing is all wrong. Garth was working sixty years after the end of WWII but the young couple is renting the room in the 70s. Then we're told that the young woman is an aspiring writer who must have filed away the experience to eventually write about later, making the first story her fictionalised account of Garth, whom she never met. And if that sounds like a too-clever trick, it doesn't read that way: What They Have is a standout in this collection and Emily's story is so real and satisfying that, not only was I pleased to realise that the character must have enjoyed success as an author, but I was happy to read about her later life in Return.

In a similar vein, Magnificat tells a story of a woman, Cathy, who is attracted to a violent partner (and, in light of the Jian Ghomeshi scandal and his facebook PR stunt of playfully referencing last year's Giller Prize winning Hellgoing, it's unfortunate that this story does feature a woman who apparently wants to be abused -- at least Ghomeshi can't be publicly flippant about it right now) and, later, in Kim's Game, the character of Owen, who has a crush on Cathy, totally misunderstands what kind of woman she is and what she wants. The irony of this disconnect was so satisfying and the self-made tragedy of his situation so inevitable that the surprising final scene was equal parts horrifying and hilarious.

It was also interesting that Cathy and Owen aren't actually congregants of All Saints -- they attend a writer's workshop in the church's basement, taught by Emily (also not a congregant). There is another story from the point of view of the church secretary (not a congregant) and a one-sided epistolary story, written by an elderly woman who had a connection to the church many years before. For a book set in a church, All Saints isn't religious -- even the new Rector hedges when he's asked outright if he believes in God -- but as a place where people may gather (whether for a service, a writer's workshop, or a soup kitchen), the church is an important center in many people's lives. Miller doesn't write in pithy little quotable sound bites, so I haven't collected anything to quote from her, but the overall effect of her writing is simply impressive. For churches like All Saints -- and the similar one my in-laws attend -- I hope they're able to remain relevant and keep those doors open; the connections they provide may not always be obvious, but for those who seek them, they'll always be important.