Set in modern Toronto, Helpless is a tense mix of plot and character, telling the story of an abducted child, the people who are looking for her and the people who have taken her. Gowdy's success stems from her willingness to imagine what most would rather not think about - what it is like to be held captive, to lose a child, to face desires you know are wrong - and create believable characters who must face these darker aspects of the world and themselves.
The Story
Her own parents long-gone from her life, Celia Fox works two jobs to provide the best life she can for her daughter Rachel. At nine years old Rachel is beautiful and talented, often leaving Celia wondering how she got so lucky. But that small, charmed part of Celia's life falls into as much disarray as the rest when Rachel disappears during a blackout. Rachel has been taken by Ron, a man who loves young girls but has previously only let his urges take him to parking outside schoolyards. The sight of the stunning young Rachel created a new desire in Ron - a desire to claim and protect - and that desire allowed Ron to convince himself that Rachel was living a life of neglect and abuse she would be unable to escape without his help.
The Telling
Gowdy is a skilled writer in every sense. The plotting and pace of
Helpless keeps tension running through what could have easily become meandering character moments and backstory, while her careful observations of people and their psychology keep the plot turns properly motivated. The prose is poetic in its simplicity and Gowdy handles both dialogue and description flawlessly. Her greatest strength in this novel is her ability to create a whole world of people who are fully fleshed out, from the main characters to the cops, customers, employers and neighbors who touch their lives.
The only questionable element of Helpless is the "best case scenario" feel of the abduction. Ron's ability to convince himself that he is doing the right thing by taking Rachel and his attempts to treat her well contrast sharply with the sense readers will have of the reality of pedophilia and children who are held captive. The scenario Gowdy has created is driven by moral conflict, and Ron's self-delusion about his motivations are made even more compelling by his ability to convince his girlfriend Nancy to go along with his plan. In this way Gowdy has made a strong narrative choice. But that doesn't completely do away with the feel that tragedy has been glossed over. Any reader looking for stark realism will be disappointed; but hopefully any reader more interested in character will be able to simply suspend their disbelief.
About the Author - Barbara Gowdy
Although she started her career as an author later in life than many, Barbara Gowdy has already been nominated for numerous honors and won the 1996 Marion Engel Award. Born in Windsor Ontario, she now lives in Toronto.
Her other works include:
- The Romantic
- The White Bone
- Mister Sandman
- We So Seldom Look on Love (short stories)
- Falling Angels
- Through the Green Valley
...all of which are available from the Toronto Public Library.
Where in Toronto?
Most of the action in
Helpless is set in the east end of Toronto. Celia and Rachel live on the top floor of a Victorian house on Carlton Street in Cabbagetown. They visit the stores on Parliament and Gerrard Street, and Rachel has been to Riverdale Farm both with her mother and her class from Sprucecourt. Ron lives and works in an industrial area in East York where he and Nancy visit burger joints and convenience stores and seem much further removed from any sense of community.
But Gowdy doesn't limit her characters to their neighborhoods, creating in them cross-city memories and experiences that will ring true to most Torontonians. Nancy visits Gerrard Square to shop and Cherry Beach to be alone. There are remembered encounters at the Lava Lounge, friends in Regent Park, drives up Yonge Street, hesitant visits to a clinic in Parkdale, dark thoughts about the Bloor Viaduct and the seemingly obligatory references to the CN Tower.
Gowdy's novel is more a story set in Toronto than a story of Toronto. Focused on how the past creates character, Helpless could have played out much the same way in any large city. In this way the book holds a special interest for locals who will recognize the tone of the neighborhoods and individual corners they've visited, but still allows Helpless to have a universal appeal no matter where you live.
