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Arts

A "Monument"-al debut

Jessica Scharien - Entertainment Editor

It has taken author Patrick Blennerhassett three years, countless rough drafts and many rejection letters to finally see his debut fiction novel, Monument, come to life.

The Kamloops-born writer and former TRU student says he even gave up on the idea of publishing his work, which officially hits bookstore today and can also be found online.

“Getting it published sucked” Blennerhassett said.

“I totally hated it. You kind of have to self-whore out your writing skills, and as a young writer, my ego [took] a licking.”

Blennerhassett’s book centres on main character Seth Wilhelm, a talented hockey player who falls on extremely rough times in his young life after suffering an injury. Throughout the novel, the character goes through a series of traumatic and life-altering experiences, all the while trying to maintain some type of sanity.

The book is set primarily in Vancouver and paints a vivid and imaginative picture of the mean streets of the big city, complete with sex, drugs, fights, a lot of hockey and even more alcohol.

Blennerhassett said the book is targeted at young men like himself.

“I’m not sure many other demographics [would] like it or totally understand it. It’s not a literary novel. I wanted to keep the language simple and straightforward so it could be digested easily, but I also wanted Seth to have searing moments of literary clarity.”

Blennerhassett graduated from the journalism program at Vancouver’s Langara College in 2005 and has been a reporter/columnist for the Victoria News ever since. He said the motivation for writing the book was somewhat arbitrary and unplanned.

“I quit drinking for about 10 months in 2006. I needed to give my liver a break, so I had a lot of free time on my hands. I couldn’t go out and party with my friends, so I sat at home and wrote and started collecting some stories. Then one day I realized they were all pretty similar, so I got serious about joining them together into a cohesive plot and it just kind of came together.”

Blennerhassett said he has uneasy feelings now that the book is fully in the public realm.

“I never really thought about getting this book published until I was well into the process, hence it’s pretty autobiographical, uncensored and personal,” he said. “I figured a lot of the things I wrote would never see the light of day and, now that they are, it’s something that still makes me very hesitant and squeamish knowing my friends and family will be reading it.”

As for the plot of the novel and the characters that punctuate it, Blennerhassett said the majority of the content came from personal experiences or stories from friends. But he said he didn’t want to get into specifics.

“In terms of specific passages, I think if I told people what was drawn from real life and what I dreamed up as a writer, it might take away from the book.”

The language of the novel is penetrating and real and the tone is brash. Racism and sexism seep into passages, but Blennerhassett said he feels those elements are an important part of conveying the lifestyle and attitude of the men in the book.

He explained Wilhelm’s view of women and how he justifies his actions in dealing with them.

“The women seem one-sided for a reason,” he said. “Seth doesn’t understand women. Therefore he only understands how they revolve around his life and how they accent his own making. These women are nothing like how Seth describes them. However that’s his skewed view of them, and that’s how he sees them.”

Come out and support the extremely talented local author on Saturday at the The Commodore for the Monument launch party from 3 to 5 p.m. Blennerhassett will be doing a short reading of his book, and if that hasn’t convinced you yet, a free drink and appies will be supplied.