This book is a slice of Newfoundland life. It is a terrific book! I read it as a part of my degree, and have recommended it to every Newfoundlander, or person who wants to know what a childhood in Newfoundland is like. Wayne Johnson has captured a place in my heart with this warm book! Do enjoy, it is great!

A very touching, very funny account of a young boy coming of age in Newfoundland. The wry comments and observations by Bobby O'Malley's father are priceless.

This book is a most inspiring book, comparing only to that of Silver Birch. Larry and Grace are two very gifted Mediums and channels for Spirit Awareness and guidance, centering only in truth in it's purest form. A must for anyone who desires to enjoy gentle, compassionate and understanding awareness from truth, leading to further spiritual self-growth.

This is a compelling story of how fame affects a very nuclear family. A mother and young son start a children's television show, and when the boy becomes a teenager he stars in his own series which develops a huge cult-like fan base. It has another great father character (typical of Johnston's books) who tries to realize his own dreams. But the more nerdy mother who literally and figuratively runs the show is another unforgettable character, and a study in how good intentions can do more damage than good. And the son is realistically written as being torn between what he wants for his father, his mother and himself. The fanatic following of the family's fame is at times over the top, but the real story is what goes on inside their increasingly secluded home.

Larry and Grace are two very gifted mediums and channels of the purest wisdom and guidance of Dr. Bernadt, an evolved guide from the world of Spirit. This book radiates the heartening wisdom of Dr. Bernadt, and will be an inspiration to those who seek spiritual guidance/awareness from the world and truth of spirit.

I have had the good fortune to live and travel in Newfoundland, so I was excited to read Wayne Johnson's unforgettable book, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams. I loved the book for its amazing characters and its haunting landscapes. I was particularly fascinated with Smallwood and Fielding, and find myself wanting to know much more about the real life and history of Joey Smallwood. I grew up in Nova Scotia and knew of Smallwood only as some mythical person, the Only Living Father of Confederation, who dragged Newfoundland kicking and screaming into Canada. This book gave me a sense of the real man behind the myth, and Smallwood is as unforgettable as his province. Even though I lived at one time in a remote outport on White Bay, I never fully understood the outporter's perspective on Canada until I read this book. The book is beautifully sad and desperate, but it is also hilarious in places. It holds its own with other recent books I have read about this special place: Howard Norman's The Bird Artist and E. Annie Proulx's The Shipping News. For the reader interested in reading more about Newfoundland, I would recommend Ray Guy's humorous You May Know Them As Sea Urchins, Ma'am and Claire Mowat's The Outport People. My all time favorite Newfoundland book remains Cassie Brown's Standing into Danger. The Colony of Unrequited Dreams portrays the generosity and courage of the ordinary Newfoundlander, but Standing into Danger captures the spirit of a people who have nothing and who are willing to give everything.

"The Colony Of Unrequited Dreams" is unquestionably Wayne Johnston's breakthrough book. The author of four previous works, none of which I am familiar with, breaks ground with a book he is sure to be remembered for. Despite its strong echoes of Dickens and/or John Irving, Mr. Fielding finds his voice early on in the contrasting narrative voices of Sheilagh Fielding and the adventures of Joseph Smallwood, sometimes separately, sometimes simultaneously, in the most unlikely setting imaginable--Newfoundland. Indeed, when I picked up 'Colony,' I questioned just how interesting such a setting could be. Well, style and characterization triumph over geographic unfamiliarity, in a work of mystery, history and social change. The very last sentence written by Fielding is a real heart wringer. In fact, I was sorry to have 'Colony' end; it was that rare experience, a book I wished had gone on, one I know I will re-read in a few years to savor Johnston's narrative technique. I look forward to his follow up from here; his is a voice I want to hear more of.

Perhaps I'm a little bit biased towards this novelization of the life of Joey Smallwood. No, I'm not from Newfoundland. No, I'm not a historical fiction buff. No, my name's not Joey.

But as I read along, a sneaking suspicion entered my mind. I did a little bit a family research, and it turns out that I am distantly related to the character of Prowse, who could be loosely described as Smallwood's arch-enemy. Admittedly, it is a tenuous relation (three generations by marriage), but still, very cool. And of course, it helps that the novel is one of astonishing quality.

COLONY tells of the slow rise of Joey Smallwood, from his very humble beginnings to his eventual election as Newfoundland's first premier. Now, I don't know anything about the history of Newfoundland. I don't believe the book is meant to be a technically accurate representation of Smallwood's life. This is not a biography.

What COLONY is, is a vastly entertaining look at the twists and turns that can occur in the life of one man. As in John Irving's best novels ( I kept thinking of THE CIDER HOUSE RULES as I read along), COLONY is an epic view of a tiny subject. As Smallwood's life progresses, the story becomes more and more enriched with characters and themes and regrets and promises. What Smallwood does with his life is miraculous, and sometimes awe-inspiring. I don't mean to imply that Smallwood is a saint. But his flaws and delusions only serve to heighten his triumphs and failures.

As I said, I don't know how much of COLONY is factually true. Did he have an ongoing unrequited love affair with his childhood friend and nemesis Fielding? Are the motivations behind his actions accurate? In the end, it doesn't matter. This isn't meant to be a treatise on the political background of a premier. This is a story, and a damned fine one. And it is obvious after reading it why, for all his mistakes, Joey Smallwood is a widely beloved figure in Newfoundland.

I don't know why I expected to read about the way of life in small Newfoundland communities, but I certainly didn't expect to read about the nationalist dreams of the people of the Avalon peninsula. This may be a good topic for a book, actually, but it would have to be better organized and more clear in its purpose than this aimless memoir. The main problem is that the author constantly laments Newfoundland's loss of independance, but never explains how or why Newfoundlanders would be better off as an independant country, or, failing that, why we should care.

An elegy for a country, a place, and a family - which can describe much of Maritime Canadian writing, but Johnston is such a gifted writer this one really stands out. Read it for the description of the horse leading the way home in blinding snow, read it for story of blacksmithing, just read it. And if you like this, you'll love "the Danger Tree" by David MacFalane - a different part of Newfoundland, a different family, another incredible writer.

Just wanted you to know that your review of this book has a factual inaccuracy.

The Avalon Peninsula ISN'T the most remote part of Newfoundland.Quite the opposite - its by far the most developed, densely populated part of the entire province. St. John's is on Avalon, as are most of the province's towns. Your reviewer was thinking of the Great Northern Peninsula (where Shipping News takes place) - although the most remote part of the province is certainly Northern Labrador.

And I expected great what with Catholic guilt and hockey and comic writing all in one novel. There are some very funny moments -- for example, a devastating take on tap dancing and the poor starving children of -- in this case -- Latin America. The memories of the Canadiens and the other original NHL teams before expansion, and the frigid days and nights of street hockey are exactly right. Plus, Uncle Reginald and Draper Doyle are consistently engaging and give the book most of its considerable energy, although it stretches credulity that a nine year old boy should so completely recall over several detailed pages a dream absolutely crucial to the novel's climatic moments. Bigger problems: Draper's mother is too peripheral, as ethereal as the ghost father, and Aunt Phil and Uncle Seymour are so unremittingly mean-spirited that they become more parody than human. Finally, the twist as Draper Doyle begins to recall the lost week of his father's death is unexpectedly nasty, and leaves this novel uneasily perched between the comic and terrible personal discovery. Still, while The Divine Ryans is not a must read, it is the work of an author with talent clearly under development.

I picked this book up mainly for the name and intriguing cover (yes, you can pick a book by the cover!). Inside was a look into a child's life, reminding me of Angela's Ashes... this poor child suffered at the hands of his relatives and lineage. I probably wouldn't read it again, but I will pass it along to my friends who read.

I found this book quite intriging. In the spirit of "American Beauty", it is a tale about a dysfuntional family. It is told as almost a bitter sweet memoir of a real person's childhood in Newfoundland in the 1960's. You learn to dislike and like the different characters in the childs eyes and see how his divine family has truely fallen from grace. The characters in the book that should be the most devout and true are the most ignorant and irritating, these people being the preist and nun in the family. The leader of their Irish-Catholic, you could almost say cult, is the aunt of Draper Doyle (the young child). She is the most nauseating character I have yet to come across. She is filled with Hipocrisy and all the things that she is against. She also threatens the safty of Draper Doyle's newly widowed mother. Their entire future depends on Draper Doyle's recognization of his nightmares which cause him unbelievable embarassment in the face of his relative. His only refuge from his devout aunts and uncles is his uncle reginald who is one of the most endearing and genuinly funny characters I have come across. This book is fantasticly written (unlike this review, I have need of spell check) and keeps your attention from one paragraph to the next which is always a Divine thing in a book.

This fictionalized version of the Cook debacle is exactly what congressman S. D. Fess was talking about in 1915. He said then, before congress "A group of people, some of them innocent and misled and others not classifiable in polite terms, have been busily engaged in trying to filch from Peary the credit due him as discoverer of the North Pole in the interests of Dr. Cook. Most Americans supposed that the Cook issue died a natural death years ago. The time will undoubtedly come when... the activities of this man and the press of the country will ultimately do its part against the circulation of perversions of history with respect to the great feat that Admiral Peary achieved, an honor of which through all future ages no nation can rob us."

Fess would undoubtably kick about in the grave to read this novel! As unbelievable as it seems, some people are still back in 1915 "filching" from Peary. If that is your cup of tea, this is your kind of history-fiction.

Some of the reviews here have been focussing on this book as a "revisionist history" re Peary and Arctic exploration, but that part of this book is secondary. The real focus of the book is Devlin Stead's life and discoveries about his family, whose story changes through several revelations throughout the book (maybe too many times would be one criticism of this book). Generally well-written and a good description of turn of the (20th) century New York and pre-Canada Newfoundland, recommended if you like a good historical read.

Johnston's latest novel is an excellent reconstruction of the era of the great explorers -- with all its back-biting and egotism -- as well as a very fine description of New York as it turns into a world capital. Add to that is usual sensitive account of small town Canada and you get a wide-ranging, subtle and fascinating taleof hope and loss. recommended