Interview: Kevin Patterson, On the Line with Joseph Planta (thecommentary.ca)

Kevin Patterson

Tuesday, 19 December 2006

Consumption is a novel set in Canada's Arctic, and tells the story of Victoria, who is born on the tundra in 1950s, but who leaves for the south and grows accustomed to the lifestyle. Northern life clashes with southern life, as Victoria and her children adjust to the culture shock of it all-walrus meat versus fast food; satellite TV and the midnight sun. Throw in to the mix, Keith Balthazar, a doctor from Yonkers who comes to Rankin Inlet to do more harm than heal. The book's author, Kevin Patterson, himself an internist who lives on Salt Spring Island, but who practices in the Arctic, talked with Joseph Planta about his new novel.

Consumption by Kevin Patterson. (Random House, 2006)

Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Consumption

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Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

This is the Planta: On the Line program here at THECOMMENTARY.CA.

Consumption is a novel set in Canada's Arctic, and tells the story of Victoria, who is born on the tundra in 1950s, but who knows nothing of the nomadic hunting life of the Inuit, because she's sent south to treat her tuberculosis. Six years away, she grows accustomed to the southern lifestyle, and when she returns she is a stranger to her culture and her family. Northern life clashes with southern life, as Victoria and her children adjust to the culture shock of it all-walrus meat versus fast food; satellite TV and the midnight sun. Throw in to the mix, Keith Balthazar, a doctor from Yonkers who comes to Rankin Inlet to do more harm than heal.

I am joined now by Consumption's author, Kevin Patterson, himself an internist who lives on Salt Spring Island, but who practices in the Arctic. His first book, The Water In Between, a memoir, was a Globe Best Book, and his short fiction collection, Country of Cold, was the winner of the 2003 Rogers Writer's Trust Fiction Prize. Consumption, $24.95, published by Random House, has already been described as one of the top Canadian novels of the season, with one critic suggesting that it was reminiscent of Chekhov. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Kevin Patterson; Good morning, Dr. Patterson.