BookView Review

Palmer’s dense, unruly novel that follows one man’s long, looping attempt to make meaning out of personal and historical wreckage. Beavan Broderick known as BB grows from a neglected Canadian teenager into a self-made philosopher obsessed with systems: familial, ecological, economic. Along the way, he uncovers a lineage that ties him to Nixon-era skullduggery, pawnshop gun sales, and the slow, entropic unraveling of the American dream. 

Palmer’s style is sprawling, laced with digressions, rants, metafictional nods, and bursts of lyricism. His tone shifts continuously; one moment slapstick, the next elegiac, as BB barrels through Vancouver’s pawnshop underworld, Edmonton dive bars, and the detritus of Cold War ideology. There are unforgettable characters: Sam, a hoarder-mentor who survived Auschwitz; Rick, a bourbon-soaked Texan with potential CIA ties; and GK, BB’s absentee father turned imperial apologist. The story’s scope is panoramic, yet its emotional beats (BB’s longing for recognition, his grief for his lost childhood, his fascination with beavers as ecological symbols) feel deeply intimate. The book is not without its challenges. Its density, non-linear structure, and frequent shifts in style demand patience and engagement. Yet for those willing to immerse themselves, the novel offers rare rewards. 

An intellectually rich, emotionally resonant, darkly funny chronicle of one man’s journey to make sense of the world and his fractured place in it.

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