Singer Sexsmith’s first fairy-tale foray fun
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/10/2017 (3260 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The best word to describe fairy tale Deer Life, the debut literary work written and illustrated by adored Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith, is charming.
As the title suggests (as well as the stunning cover art), this is a story about a deer, or rather, a boy who is turned into a deer by a witch, who had also been covertly wreaking havoc on the people of the tiny town of Hinthoven for years.
In true fairy-tale fashion, there are heroes and villains, life lessons and kooky characters.
A particularly hilarious one is Jacques Tourtière, local hunter and bully extraordinaire, reminiscent of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast.
It’s a bit Disney and a bit Dickens, and in the end, love conquers all.
And at only 120-plus pages, Deer Life can be read in just a couple of hours.
“It’s a total fairy tale, but in a classic sense. It’s not a new spin on a fairy tale, it’s very old-fashioned,” Sexsmith said of Deer Life when he spoke about the project briefly a few months ago.
“It’s not written down to kids, either. I think kids would like it, but it’s written in grown-up language, not dirty language… it’s very old-fashioned, it’s romantic and maybe a little scary in places.
“I just really had fun writing it because it’s so different from songwriting.”
Not to mention it’s packed with puns; if you follow Sexsmith on Twitter, you’ll know he favours this literary device.
Where Deer Life is less successful is in the tone of the narrative.
The story is told by a third-person narrator — a strong example of Sexsmith’s classic fairy-tale influences — who often breaks the fourth wall, which is jarring only because it isn’t used consistently enough.
In addition, on more than one occasion, the tense changes multiple times within one sentence; it’s hard to tell if this was intentional, and if so, why this specific style was implemented.
There are also a lot of exclamation points!
Sometimes in very odd places!
This makes Deer Life feel more childish than Sexsmith seemingly intended.
There’s an air of The Princess Bride in the casual-humour-meets-heartfelt-storytelling combination here.
It’s clear Sexsmith is trying to straddle a similar line with the appeal to both youth and adults, but doesn’t quite hit the mark.
Deer Life is, however, a fun, quick read that could well become a classic in its own right — if not in print then onstage, as the tale certainly would lend itself to a theatrical adaptation.
Erin Lebar is the music reporter for the Free Press and an avid fan of Ron Sexsmith.
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Deer Life: A Fairy Tale
By Ron Sexsmith
Dundurn Press, 129 pages, $17
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Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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