Sunday, October 26, 2008

Last Stop Sunnyside-Pat Capponi


1.)

The main character in the story is Dana Leoni, a middle-aged women with a lot of baggage. As a graduate student at University of Toronto, she was assaulted going home one day a few feet from her home. After that traumatic experience, she was admitted to various recovery centres, both physical and mental. However, she never fully recovered mentally; always feeling alone, scared, and vulnerable. To make matters worse, the police were never able to find the criminal.

To cope with this, Dana moved out of her stable, "safe" life in the Annex and into an uncertain, somewhat dangerous life in Parkdale. She moved around from various rooming houses until she found comfort at Delta Court. Dana and her neighbourhood  friends: Miss Semple (an elderly lady), Gerry (a de-institutionalized mental patient, also very obese), Diamond (a former medical student at University of Toronto),  Michael (a former street kid) and Maryanne (murdered at the beginning of the story) all make the best of life, forming a tight relationship, a family so to speak.

However, when police reports indicate that Maryanne had been killed, its up to Dana and her friends to find the person who murdered her. Dana, takes on the responsibility of gathering the crew and carrying out most of the dangerous, undercover work.

2.)

For most of the novel, the reader is kept in suspense, wondering what is going on. The author does a great job of providing just enough clues to let the reader know what is unfolding. Dana and the crew are trying to figure out how their friend Maryanne was killed so they can let her go knowing what happened. They  find out later that women from the neighbourhood had also gone missing under mysterious circumstances.

Ed, a detective working on the case informs Dana that they have to close the case as a suicide because of insufficient evidence. Dana and her friends know that Maryanne would never hurt herself and that someone must have murdered her. The only lead they get is a name and an address of the landlord of the last house she stayed in. Stephan Mallick.  Now that they have a name and address, they begin to spy on the house, trying to figure out what goes on in there.

After a few days of spying on the house, they know for certain something is up. Only three men go in, and they take shifts, coming in at routine times throughout the day and night. After this piece of evidence, we know that Mallick is the one behind Maryanne's death. The rest of the story is about Dana getting into the house, freeing the women and getting enough evidence to send Mallick to jail.

3.)

"I'm very aware how much better off I am than most people here. I make a living, of sorts, with words portraits of the neighbourhood and its inhabitants that the local alternative weekly publishes when advertising permits. Between that, and the occasional shift at the drop in for the "socially isolated" where I'm headed, I manage to feed and clothe myself." (pg.11)

- Because the story is based in Toronto, I can really relate to the poverty experienced by Dana. Also, coincidently, relating to the theme of gratitude, this piece of writing reminds me how important it is to be grateful for what we have, even if it is only enough to feed and clothe ourselves.

"Parents. Both doctors. Expected me to be one too. There's no excuse for failure. I heard that all my life" - Diamond
"High expectations can be as bad as no expectations." - Dana (pg.53)

- Especially with high school being increasingly difficult, I can relate to the dangers of high expectations. This passage is a very good example of pressure pushing someone over the edge. I especially like it when Dana says "High expectations can be as bas as no expectations." This makes a very good point of where to draw the line between having no pressure, or overwhelming pressure.

"The walls of my room are a garnish yellowy orange, the landlord probably bought the paint at a serious discount, and they bulge in places where plaster repairs were never sanded flat, but I like the odd shape of the room. It has the feel of an attic space, with a sloped ceiling and two windows, each with four tiny, cracked and milky squares of glass, staring out into King Street West. " (pg.5)

- This quote is from the beginning of the story when Dana is introducing us to her room. I found that I was really able to get good description of the room, but also the emotion. The odd shape and bulges in the room reflect Dana's colourful life.

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