Treasa Levasseur reminisces about life on a commune by way of Cedar Bowers's debut novel Astra
Treasa Levasseur is a Winnipeg-born, Ontario-raised musician and The Next Chapter columnist. Her Road Trip column highlights books that take the reader and Levasseur on a journey. A book can take you places you've never visited or, in Levasseur's case, lets you return to places she has visited in the past.
She recently read Astra by Cedar Bowers. The novel follows a woman born and raised on a remote British Columbia commune, who has long struggled to find her way in the world. As her path intersects with others over the years, she uncovers difficult truths about who they are and what they yearn for.
Levasseur spoke with Shelagh Rogers about the book.
A mysterious protagonist
"Astra is the protagonist of this book, and yet we do not meet her in her own words until the very end of the book. This book is a series of snapshots. Each chapter is the story of Astra, as seen by the people in her life. We begin up in northern B.C., in a fictional town. And it starts with the birth of Astra on a communal farm encampment area in the woods.
Each chapter is the story of Astra, as seen by the people in her life.
"We begin the story from her father Raymond's perspective, his point of view. I think I was really drawn in by that space in the beginning of the book because I once lived on a communal farm where I learned to milk cows and make tofu.
But the author has captured so wonderfully the sort of juxtaposition between the promise that the young people who began this place envisioned for it — the response that it was to the constraints of their lives — and then the ramshackle nature of a group of people who have a vision but not a plan. What happens to a big project that doesn't have a project manager?"
A life in impressions
"She's got a real way of sketching the lines of these characters that's very intimate. And of course, the plot interweaves all of these characters in various ways, and we do eventually leave. Our heroine moves and she winds up in a variety of places. On her first break out of there, she moves to Calgary, and then we wind up in Vancouver for quite some time.
"And then we briefly go to Toronto near St. Lawrence Market. So in a way, there are a few reasons why this is a perfect book for a road trip column. It takes us a little bit all over the country in a way that doesn't necessarily entirely make economic sense. That's exactly like touring as a musician. There's this feeling that your life is constructed by the impressions of others. And that's the tour de force of this book.
It's just marvellously executed — I can barely believe it's a first novel.
"Astra never quite lands throughout the book until you hear her in her own voice at the end of the book. And it's the first time that you hear a first-person narration, so it really shifts the tone. It's just marvellously executed — I can barely believe it's a first novel. I look forward so much to Cedar Bowers's future work. I can't wait to see what this person comes up with next."
Treasa Levasseur's comments have been edited for length and clarity.
