Hardcover , pages. More Details The Cape Breton Trilogy 3. Other Editions 8. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Why Men Lie , please sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list ». Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3.
Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Mar 30, Cheryl rated it it was ok Shelves: literature , library , fiction , canadian. Just a 2. It was a slog. The characters weren't particularly likeable. They were superficial egocentric sketches, aimlessly richocheting off of each other's lives. Confusing, muddy, angst-ridden. Buried secrets, lies and perceived lies, all over-magnified into dramatic substrate. Found these two books nestled against each other on my ereader: Just a 2.
Found these two books nestled against each other on my ereader View all 3 comments. May 02, Ruth Seeley rated it liked it. Effie remains a somewhat shadowy and implausible character, and this time the murkiness is just frustrating. I suppose it's a good thing for discussion purposes that the reader is left unsure of precisely why and precisely how Effie's father used to terrorize her, but I found myself annoyed by the obliqueness obliquity? MacIntyre is asking a lot of his readers in this one, and I'm not sure it's fair to do so.
I also found JC's character shady and under-developed and Effie's devotion to him - given the mysteries of his life which he doesn't share with her until it's way too late - hard to swallow. There also seemed to be inconsistencies in Duncan's character although I confess it's been a couple of years since I've read The Bishop's Man. Hard to believe he'd withhold 'material evidence' from his sister and keep JC's secrets when the 'evidence' he's withholding so profoundly affects Effie's life choices.
Still, MacIntyre writes beautifully and the novel's worth reading for that alone. One caveat: I think it's possible to understand Why Men Lie without having read The Bishop's Man , but I'm not convinced it's possible to understand this novel without having read The Long Stretch though - a lot of necessary background would be missing. Jun 26, Steven Langdon rated it really liked it Shelves: super. Linden MacIntyre's previous novel, "The Bishop's Man," won Canada's Giller Prize for the best novel of the year, so this book, which overlaps to some degree its protagonist is the sister of the priest who is the Bishop's man, comes with high expectations.
And for the most part, "Why Men Lie" manages to meet those considerable standards. The central characters are vivid and interesting, the plot is sharp-edged and keeps you engaged, and the writing is excellent. This novel begins in Toronto and captures well the texture of the downtown city streets, then shifts back to Cape Breton -- and the same interwoven, incestuous network of relatives and neighbours that came together in the previous book. Effie, a professor of Celtic languages, is building a new relationship with an old friend, JC Campbell -- while also continuing to come to terms with three previous sexual relationships that have shaped her life with her first husband John, her second husband Sextus, and her longtime partner Conor.
Effie is also navigating her changing ties with her daughter, and sorting through her remembered tensions with her deceased father and his wartime friends. But this is not just a novel about passions, present and past. It is a deep and probing rumination on violence and betrayal, and the failures of men and women to be honest with each other. I found that MacIntyre worked through these themes well, with a caring sympathy yet a tough sharpness.
His characters are layered, capable of tenderness, yet also marked by harsh anger and hurtful deviousness in their unfolding lives -- there are no angels, yet there is no unremitting evil either. Men and women grope through mistakes and memories to form enduring connections, but only sometimes succeed.
There are questions I have about this book. Does the author succeed in writing from a woman's point-of-view? I'm not sure. Effie's ties to her daughter seem to me less fierce than they should be to be convincing -- and I think a woman like Effie would have far too strong an arsenal of street smarts to fall into the trap with Paul that afflicts her.
Also, is there a bit too much insider commentary on Cape Breton and its mythology? There is a veiled reference, for instance, to Alistair Macleod's famous writing on Cape Breton that adds nothing to the story, and can only be seen as a tribute to another author from the Island. Cape Breton has been a dramatic source of inspiration to literature, music and poetry in Canada -- but we don't need to have that taught to us in technicolour yet again.
Nevertheless, this is a strong novel, a well-written follow-up to "The Bishop's Man," and a book that will stay with me. Effie with her Gaelic will stand out as a remarkable central character -- and JC will endure as a tormented tragic figure, trying to come to terms with the execution of a US prisoner. As for Duncan, the Bishop's man, this book also carries his story forward, and perhaps previews a sequel to come.
Apr 11, Pamela Detlor rated it really liked it. The first 16 pages covered bits and pieces of a year, without a sense of where things were going. My issue with Effie: she seemed somewhat jaded in her opinion of men. This based on a lifetime of failed experiences with men, including her father. Both Effie and Stella are well portrayed. Toronto and Cape Breton are featured beautifully in the story.
I enjoyed the visual pictures MacIntyre painted of so many places I knew from personal experience. There are many types of lies. Some lies self-serving and deceitful. There are lies of omission and half-truths.
There are little white lies and lies told to protect another person. There are pointless lies. All of these are featured in this story. The Golden Rule: Never Tell A Lie: looses some steam when we realize that every person on earth has told a lie, of some sort, in his or her lifetime.
Maybe you felt awful, or your life was falling apart. Yet, you chose to lie. Honesty is the best policy; yet, this story shines a light on the fact that not all lies are created equally. Jun 13, Lara rated it really liked it Shelves: adult-fiction. I am a big fan of Linden MacIntyre's journalism, and I did try to read this book in his wonderful voice, but I kept getting distracted.
I was distracted, too, by the fact that I was living in Toronto at the time the story is depicted, so I was trying to piece together my own little memoir of that time. It was bitterly, bitterly cold, but it was clear. I had gone to a swanky NYE party and I remember the band played 'Party like it's 19 I am a big fan of Linden MacIntyre's journalism, and I did try to read this book in his wonderful voice, but I kept getting distracted. I had gone to a swanky NYE party and I remember the band played 'Party like it's ' of course and I was wearing a cocktail dress and this horrible witch co-worker who was also at the party stole my cab right out from under me the last cab in Toronto and left me shivering on the side of the road in the Quays at 3am.
The night was hell, not something you forget. I do remember the Army coming to dig us out later that winter, though. Thanks, Mel Lastman. I wonder if the story of JC and Sam was inspired by Mr. MacIntyre's own experiences with inmates at the Kingston Pen, especially that poor fella who shot himself. In this book, the phone is a character in its own right. I kept waiting for the Lurid Big Reveal about Effie and her father, and I was glad that the details remained in the shadows.
We are told as much as we need to know, and to share more would only be sensationalistic and demean the work. Jan 30, Ryan McKenna rated it really liked it. Interesting to have MacIntyre tell this story from a female perspective. A nice end to this east coast trilogy. Jun 12, Laura rated it it was amazing. Why do we lie?
Is it to make ourselves look better? To reinstate emotional boundaries? To hide secrets? To protect ourselves? To protect others? More importantly why do we tend to tell the greatest lies to those closest to us? And, given that this is true, do we ever really know someone? Why Men Lie is the Why do we lie? Why Men Lie is the the third installment in a trilogy beginning with his piece The Long Stretch.
Because they can. Popular psychology's consensus is that men lie more than women, but both lie — although about different matters, and with different inflections.
This last of MacIntyre's Cape Breton trilogy unravels further the community and familial threads that weave the earlier narratives. Having achieved "healthy middle age," comfortable in her role as a university professor, Effie envisions a relatively calm future. Convinced that she can no longer be ambushed by male capriciousness, she is, of course, vulnerable to exactly that, the domino effect making her doubly susceptible. Her priest-brother, her ex-husbands, her dead father all wait in the wings to pummel her comfort.
Disobeying the cardinal rule of journalism, objectivity, he has allowed this story to become personal. Effie's relationship with JC starts promisingly enough, but it quickly shades into doubt when she catches him out in various lies. He has had violent encounters; he withdraws for long periods of time; his past recalls some whiff of scandal. The threnody that "men are almost always disappointing women" provides background as the story unfolds, tacking between the assumptions that men and women make about one another, the physical intensity of love's progress, and the murky waters of history.
These characters lug what contemporary parlance would call "baggage," veritable steamer trunks that burst open in the present. Effie and JC belong to one of those concentric circles of folk who seek lives and careers in Toronto, yet never quite leave home behind.
The Cape Bretoners depicted are a metaphor for every group that washes up in Canada's biggest city, carrying their communities with them.
MacIntyre is absolutely brilliant at showing how our biggest smoke, "the vast vending machine they call Toronto," seduces and alienates newcomers. Wiersema is a writer and bookseller in Victoria, B. Not looking to cloud your day but winter is knocking! No need to wait until next weekend to score sweet sales on gadgets, gear. Sign up to receive the daily top stories from the National Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way.
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