‘Such hellish trouble’
Tunnel Island
by Bill Gaston
Saskatoon: Thistledown Press, 2025
$24.95 / 9781771872683
Reviewed by Candace Fertile
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A professor in the Dept. of Writing at UVic for many years, Bill Gaston now resides on Gabriola Island. His latest book, a collection of linked stories, is set in fictional Tunnel Island, a Gulf Island whose oddities will be familiar to anyone who resides near the Salish Sea. Gaston captures the characters of Tunnel Island and presents them with both humour and empathy. And true to life, the inhabitants range from the wealthy to those scratching out a living.
The eleven stories demonstrate Gaston’s facility creating fiction that is both entertaining and thought-provoking. In the opening story, “The Caretaker,” handyman Jack meets Mona, a professor visiting from California. Mona is working on a book about carriages in Jane Austen, and Jack had briefly studied English literature, but as the narrator says, “He loved reading what he loved to read, and if anything, school got in the way.” He quits university when his girlfriend gets pregnant, and it’s not long before Jack’s life veers off the rails. Jack and Mona live in different worlds: “In a world where ISIS strutted, climate changed, and his daughter was kept from him, sure you could write about carriages, but if you did you shouldn’t be this proud or be paid so much.” Their economic disparity leads Jack to some stupid decisions. But it’s easy to see why he makes them.
The seduction of wealth is touched on in “Uncle Six.” Kenzie is summoned by Uncle René to come to Tunnel Island and help him with something. Kenzie doesn’t like his uncle but is trying to follow his mother’s wishes that he maintain contact as they are family. René is wealthy and cheap. He orders Kenzie not to open windows at night if the heat is on, as he’s on a “pension.” Kenzie thinks, “You live on twenty acres on a Gulf island. You have a koi pond and five kinds of apple trees and two kinds of pear. You were a carpenter who took the dot-com risk and won big. Your ‘pension’ is compound interest.” René fulfills a welcome convention—that the rich are awful. But as Kenzie’s father once said, “[N]o one buys remote forest acreage on an island and lives there all alone unless they have problems.” Ostensibly, he wants Kenzie to help him trap or kill an otter who is gobbling up koi. What’s fascinating is that René has named the koi and knows their habits. Kenzie’s father was right.
Most of the characters in these stories suffer from damaged relationships. Gaston has insight into the many ways things can go wrong. In the most emotionally challenging story, “All Our Children Are Everlasting,” a child disappears, and what happens to her is never discovered. The loss of baby Julie nearly destroys her parents, Rob and Linda. And as the narrator and Rob were taking care of Julie, their friendship collapses, and the narrator ends up on the streets for a time. The story opens with the marriage of Rob and Linda fifteen years later. They want to adopt a child, and marriage is a requirement. No one thinks Julie can be replaced, but everyone is trying to move forward in life. The narrator weaves in the back story of Julie, and it’s clear that whatever the future holds for these characters, it will always contain Julie. This story is an absolute heartbreaker.
The romance pool on a small island is limited, and Gaston (Just Let Me Look at You: On Fatherhood) does a terrific job of showing the compromises people make. In “Cautiony Fawns,” the narrator Melody writes about Ron, a guy who, like Jack, makes a bad decision. In Ron’s case, three people die and he goes to jail. Melody and Ron used to meet up at The Ark, a pub that appears in several stories as it’s where people meet. Melody still feels a connection to Ron although their relationship was “a ‘closing time at The Ark’ kind of romance.” The pair bond over meth, which Melody eventually kicks, but Ron’s addiction leads to the fatal accident. Melody is clear about the effect of meth: “That first hit, that first hour, is pure triumph, so perfect it should be seen as a warning, but, of course, it never is. It’s better than an orgasm—so take heed.” She also maintains kindness for addicts: “Why would you not feel compassion for someone in such hellish trouble?” Melody’s compassion for Ron after he gets out of jail and tries to protect him, but once again, things don’t go to plan.
These stories demand a second or even third reading as characters reappear, and some change over time. The gift of a small community is that everyone knows everyone; it’s also a bit of a curse. In Gaston’s hands, it’s mostly a gift as closeness seems to create a sense of balance. While one person wants to attack someone, another person wants to aid them. Tunnel Island may be viewed a microcosm of the world, but it may only be in such communities as this one that individuals are known, tolerated, and even loved for their eccentricities.
[Editor’s note: Munro’s Books in Victoria will host a double launch on Wednesday May 21, starting a 7pm. Alongside Bill Gaston, Squamish author Clea Young will launch Welcome to the Neighbourhood, a short story collection.]
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Candace Fertile has a PhD in English literature from the University of Alberta. She teaches English at Camosun College in Victoria, writes book reviews for several Canadian publications, and is on the editorial board of Room Magazine. [Editor’s note: Candace has recently reviewed books by Heather Ramsay, Leslie Shimitakahara, Hannah Calder, M.V. Feehan, S.C. Lalli, Rebecca Godfrey with Leslie Jamison, Ian and Will Ferguson, Shashi Bhat, Carleigh Baker, and Kathryn Mockler for BCR.]
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The British Columbia Review
Interim Editors, 2023-26: Trevor Marc Hughes (non-fiction), Brett Josef Grubisic (fiction and poetry)
Publisher: Richard Mackie
Formerly The Ormsby Review, The British Columbia Review is an online book review and journal service for BC writers and readers. The Advisory Board now consists of Jean Barman, Wade Davis, Robin Fisher, Barry Gough, Hugh Johnston, Kathy Mezei, Patricia Roy, and Graeme Wynn. Provincial Government Patron (since September 2018): Creative BC. Honorary Patron: Yosef Wosk. Scholarly Patron: SFU Graduate Liberal Studies. The British Columbia Review was founded in 2016 by Richard Mackie and Alan Twigg.
“Only connect.” – E.M. Forster