An Ottawa Citizen Best Book of the Year. Nominated for the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour
. "The best and funniest book about growing up in Canada and playing hockey. Period."
 —Ray Ferraro, Former NHL All-Star "...Destined to become a classic." 
—Bill Richardson, CBC "...McCormack has captured not only the spirit of a magical time in our nation's game, but the magic and innocence of childhood itself." 
—The Toronto Star Understanding Ken is the hilarious, heartbreaking story of a hockey-mad ten-year-old incapable of dealing with the recent, bitter divorce of his parents. The target of his frustration becomes the boy’s hero, hockey legend Ken Dryden—greatest goaltender in the history of the world—who, after three brilliant seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, inexplicably retires from the NHL. Set in the deep, cold winter of small town British Columbia, Canada, our young hero escapes into a fantasy world of getting his parents back together, made up statistics and the futile construction of a backyard rink. When the boy is with his mother, moments of peace are squashed by her hatred of hockey and the menacing presence of her boyfriend. When the boy is with his English father—an angry, hockey-obsessed doctor who loves to be naked—chaos reigns in the form of snowdrifts and sawdust all over a house that is missing walls, a lot of shouting and general parental dysfunction. But at least the two share that one binding, all-consuming Canadian dream: for the boy to one day play in the NHL. The season progresses with a tumultuous mixture of exhilarating on-ice triumphs, humiliations at his father's public tirades, and desperate hopes that all will lead to the one big game that could make everything right. "Pete McCormack’s novel about a boy’s obsession with an NHL goalie cuts deep into the sinew of our national obsession." 
—Tim Wynne-Jones, The Globe and Mail "...very energetic and extremely funny." 
—The Ottawa Citizen "…a tiny tour de force." 
—The Georgia Strait "This is a marvelous book…Understanding Ken is a truly funny book about a time when hockey could more completely capture a young boy's imagination. More than that, Pete McCormack has produced simply the best novel about childhood to appear this year." 
—David Bright, The Fast Forward, Calgary

Categories:

• Literature & Fiction
  
  
  • Genre Fiction
    • Coming of Age