Foreword Clarion Reviews -- Five Out Of Five Stars
Posted September 15/16
"This vibrant story of unfailing love concerns itself with one man’s struggle for workplace dignity.
C. I. Downs’s powerful novel The Policy is the story of a young father’s desperate love for his child and of his battle to achieve justice for his fellow workers, who are caught in a system where the odds are stacked against them.
Insightful, intense, and timely, The Policy dives deeply into issues that affect workers and their families. Downs’s narrative skillfully handles the overall lack of respect accorded to workers by management, including the lack of adequate childcare and the stress that imposes on working parents; workplace dangers; and the effects of long-term stress and sleep deprivation on a person’s well-being.
The gritty nature of the tale necessitates strong language to convey the stink, sweat, and frustration of the workers’ lives but requires a gentler touch in scenes filled with tender love. Downs’s language succeeds on both fronts, and his prose is unfailingly beautiful. In one scene, Rory is shown sitting at a bar, “drifting between contemplation and complete vacancy,” taking comfort in his “two ounces of smoky single malt on ice,” feeling a little dizzy from the drink after “working a long day that lapped into the night.”
The pacing is brisk when appropriate, and the character development is full and rich, with perfect amounts of time devoted to bringing out each character’s salient traits. Also vivid are the descriptions of the steel plant, the jobs the workers do, and the machinery they use. Emotional states are brought to life, and the characters’ inner worlds are vividly and sympathetically rendered.
The Policy is a vibrant story of unfailing love. In a world in which the present may be unbearable and the future uncertain, Downs has pointed to the heart as a sure compass." Foreword Clarion Reviews
Read Original Review Here.
C. I. Downs’s powerful novel The Policy is the story of a young father’s desperate love for his child and of his battle to achieve justice for his fellow workers, who are caught in a system where the odds are stacked against them.
Insightful, intense, and timely, The Policy dives deeply into issues that affect workers and their families. Downs’s narrative skillfully handles the overall lack of respect accorded to workers by management, including the lack of adequate childcare and the stress that imposes on working parents; workplace dangers; and the effects of long-term stress and sleep deprivation on a person’s well-being.
The gritty nature of the tale necessitates strong language to convey the stink, sweat, and frustration of the workers’ lives but requires a gentler touch in scenes filled with tender love. Downs’s language succeeds on both fronts, and his prose is unfailingly beautiful. In one scene, Rory is shown sitting at a bar, “drifting between contemplation and complete vacancy,” taking comfort in his “two ounces of smoky single malt on ice,” feeling a little dizzy from the drink after “working a long day that lapped into the night.”
The pacing is brisk when appropriate, and the character development is full and rich, with perfect amounts of time devoted to bringing out each character’s salient traits. Also vivid are the descriptions of the steel plant, the jobs the workers do, and the machinery they use. Emotional states are brought to life, and the characters’ inner worlds are vividly and sympathetically rendered.
The Policy is a vibrant story of unfailing love. In a world in which the present may be unbearable and the future uncertain, Downs has pointed to the heart as a sure compass." Foreword Clarion Reviews
Read Original Review Here.
Kirkus Review -- Posted September 15/16
"A steelworker deals with unions, economic forces, and single fatherhood.
In this debut novel, Downs tells the story of Rory Gunn, a Canadian steelworker driven by the obligation he feels toward his young daughter, Anna, who is severely impaired by fetal alcohol syndrome. Her mother abandoned the family soon after the girl’s birth, leaving Rory with bitter memories (“Every time he looked into Anna’s tiny brown eyes, he chastised himself for not standing up to her mother while a vodka was poured or a beer was cracked open”). Rory’s difficulties in finding reliable child care for Anna and building a connection with a daughter who often refuses to speak are more immediate than the conflicts between labor and management at his workplace. But as the effects of the 2008 financial crisis make their way to the plant, holding onto his job—and holding his own against the smug and dismissive foreman and managers—becomes increasingly important. Rory, initially skeptical of unionization, gradually turns into an advocate and eventually serves as an officer in the union he persuades his co-workers to form. When union officials arrive for contract negotiations, Rory finds himself as disillusioned by them as by everyone else, and becomes convinced that protecting Anna has to be his only goal. This bleak book is a striking rendering of working-class life, presenting a precarious existence where almost nothing is within Rory’s control except his alcohol consumption, which he keeps in close check because of Anna. While there is an uplifting aspect to the loving paternal relationship, Rory faces many trials in the novel, and readers in search of a hopeful narrative will not find it here. Downs adds a layer of highly descriptive language to the story: Rory’s local bar is “a place where the spectre of life’s many liens against true freedom wouldn’t follow”; the plant superintendent is “a bumbling fool, a poor man’s Inspector Clouseau with the attitude of a wound-up Pomeranian.” At times the vibrant prose crosses the line into overwritten (“More so than anyone he called co-worker could say without there being less than a granule of truth to it”), but on the whole Downs brings a poet’s sensibility to a tale of hardship, loss, and love.
A vivid novel explores the challenges of blue-collar Canadian life." Kirkus Reviews
Read Original Review Here
In this debut novel, Downs tells the story of Rory Gunn, a Canadian steelworker driven by the obligation he feels toward his young daughter, Anna, who is severely impaired by fetal alcohol syndrome. Her mother abandoned the family soon after the girl’s birth, leaving Rory with bitter memories (“Every time he looked into Anna’s tiny brown eyes, he chastised himself for not standing up to her mother while a vodka was poured or a beer was cracked open”). Rory’s difficulties in finding reliable child care for Anna and building a connection with a daughter who often refuses to speak are more immediate than the conflicts between labor and management at his workplace. But as the effects of the 2008 financial crisis make their way to the plant, holding onto his job—and holding his own against the smug and dismissive foreman and managers—becomes increasingly important. Rory, initially skeptical of unionization, gradually turns into an advocate and eventually serves as an officer in the union he persuades his co-workers to form. When union officials arrive for contract negotiations, Rory finds himself as disillusioned by them as by everyone else, and becomes convinced that protecting Anna has to be his only goal. This bleak book is a striking rendering of working-class life, presenting a precarious existence where almost nothing is within Rory’s control except his alcohol consumption, which he keeps in close check because of Anna. While there is an uplifting aspect to the loving paternal relationship, Rory faces many trials in the novel, and readers in search of a hopeful narrative will not find it here. Downs adds a layer of highly descriptive language to the story: Rory’s local bar is “a place where the spectre of life’s many liens against true freedom wouldn’t follow”; the plant superintendent is “a bumbling fool, a poor man’s Inspector Clouseau with the attitude of a wound-up Pomeranian.” At times the vibrant prose crosses the line into overwritten (“More so than anyone he called co-worker could say without there being less than a granule of truth to it”), but on the whole Downs brings a poet’s sensibility to a tale of hardship, loss, and love.
A vivid novel explores the challenges of blue-collar Canadian life." Kirkus Reviews
Read Original Review Here