Book Review: White Coal City: A Memoir of Place and Family by Robert Boschman

Book Review - White Coal City: A Memoir of Place & Family

By Robert Boschman
Published by University of Regina Press, 2021
Price: $21.95

A Dedication to First Nations & Metis; a Kinship Chart; a partial transcript of a Coroner’s Inquest; a Prologue briefly describing a hit-and-run accident in 1940 in Saskatoon; and a cruel assault by an older boy on the author Robert Boschman, then a young boy! So begins White Coal City – a tale at times autobiographical, at times a family memoir, and at other times the story of a city of “missed chances and dying ends”, to use Boschman’s words. But lest you get the impression that this is a story of anger, hurt, and disappointment, let me assure you that it is not. Granted, those qualities are all there, but so, too, are family life, love, humour, and achievement.

Beautifully written in what has been described as dislocated prose [1], much of this narrative is centred at the King Koin Launderette on Second Avenue South (Highway #2) in Prince Albert. Not only was this the Boschman family’s 24-hours-a-day place of business, this was also their home. Granted, in time the family moved to a house nearby, but the launderette and its surrounding area continued to be central to much of what the family experienced as residents of this northern city.

Central to much of the narrative is the hit-and-run accidental death in 1940 of Margaret Boschman, Robert Boschman’s grandmother. Then a 29-year-old woman, pregnant with her fourth child, she was killed in a northern area of Saskatoon on what used to be Avenue A, now Idylwyld Drive. As Boschman states, that tragedy affected the future of his family for years to come, even though he was unaware of it having occurred until he was 10 years old.

White Coal City is not an easy read. Boschman, a professor of English at Mount Royal University in Calgary, tends to move from one subject to another in this narrative. At times he describes family matters, or he refers to activities on the family farm near Langham, or he describes events related to hockey-mad Prince Albert. He talks about walking past the provincial jail on his way to school, or attending a hockey school as a young teen, or learning about the history of his family. And he describes at length the funeral of his grandmother Margaret Boschman in 1940 in the rural Saskatchewan community of Aberdeen. As one who knows Boschman’s parents, as well as other people mentioned in the narrative, I had an advantage that other readers may not have. However, such fore-knowledge was also a hindrance of sorts in that I found myself re-reading portions of the book, not because these passages were in any way incoherent or troublesome, but rather because I wished to experience yet again what Boschman had just described.

I highly recommend White Coal City, first, because it is a captivating account of a boy growing up in Prince Albert. Not only do we learn about the experiences he had, but also how he dealt with them. But White Coal City is much more than that. It is also an interesting account that shows us, the readers, how one family coped with a tragedy that took the life of a wife, a young mother, a daughter, a sister, and a close friend. And, finally, this tragedy may well be unique to our province by the manner in which it was investigated. No, White Coal City is not a light read, but it is a very good read.

CARL A. KRAUSE is a product of Saskatchewan. He spent his years working in education and more recently has given his attention to researching projects in local history. He is a frequent contributor to Folklore. He and his wife Lily live in Saskatoon.

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Reference:

1. Matt Henderson. “Author traces colonial trauma through Prairie city”. Review, March 20, 2021. Website: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/ entertainment/books/author-traces-colonial-trauma-through-prairie-city-574024842.html. p. 2.