Property Values
Property Values by Charles Demers
Published: 2018
Length: 176 pages
This takes place mainly in Vancouver, and I don’t often read novels that are set anywhere near me, so this was a treat in that regard. I was excited to see that the first chapter took place in my hometown, Kamloops. I think the only other time I’ve seen it mentioned in a book was in the introduction to The Best of Robert Service, as he lived there briefly. The characters described the town as redneck buttfuck nowhere, which I think is fair.
Scott Clark has broken up with his girlfriend and is currently living alone in the house they shared. It’s his childhood home, which he bought with the help of his former father-in-law, and he either needs to sell the house or buy his girlfriend’s dad out. He feels like the house is his only connection to his dead mother and refuses to sell, so the only option is to buy out. Vancouver, for those who don’t know, is going through a housing crisis at the moment, with skyrocketing property values, and there’s currently no way he can afford to do this. He decides that he needs to find a way to lower the value of the property and doing so eventually places him in the middle of a gang war.
This was a fun read, but the plot and characters were a bit silly. I found myself really liking the dynamic of the core friend group by the end of the novel, although the individual characters did feel woefully underdeveloped. Their actions, as well as the overall plot, seemed disconnected from reality. If you ignored that, and just went with the flow of the story, it was enjoyable and quite funny. Charles Demers is a stand-up comedian, and that humour did come through in the quick dialogue.
6 Comments
Ruthiella
Some times those quick fun reads do hit the spot. I like how you got a kick out of your home town being included. I like that too. It think all readers get a kick out of that. Poor New Yorkers never know that feeling! Ha ha.
Rob
Hah, that’s true! I suppose it would be like your specific block being mentioned in their case.
Bookstooge
The more nowhere a town is, the better as far as I’m concerned. As long as amazon delivers in a timely manner that is…
Rob
Yes, that’s definitely key! And good Internet speeds, obviously.
Jane
My daughter went through Kamloops on a Greyhound bus and talks about it often!! She may have stayed in a hostel, I must tell her that description!! This all sounds quite fun in a silly way!
Rob
I’m hard on the town having grown up there, but it’s not so bad. I think it’s closed now, but the downtown hostel used to be in an old courtroom or something and was actually quite impressive!