Book Read
37. The End We Start From – Megan Hunter
Kilometres Ran
week thirty eight – 68.1
2019 to date: 1,885
This is Megan Hunter’s first novel (more of a novella but who cares) and I thought it was pretty good. I generally have a good time when poets turn out fiction (Nick Flynn and Meredith Quartermain come to mind). The End We Start From tells a dystopian story of a young couple who along with their newborn are displaced when London floods (I don’t recall being told why but I think rising seawaters). The story is told in first person by the unnamed new mother, and it reads a bit abrupt and sharp, as if we are reading her diary. Other character’s names are only initials; the newborn is Z and the father (I assume father) is simply R. Maybe Hunter had read Roger Farr’s IKMQ. I guess it’s possible. It’s a good first book that plays pretty well with a couple interesting ideas, though I could have done without all the baby stuff.
A couple hours after I got home from racing the Eastside 10K and then taking a 12 KM cool-down jog around Stanley Park I found out that immediately following the race the Lower Mainland Road Race Series handed out their annual awards and not only did I not know anything about the race series (run a minimum of four of the nine races), I had no idea that I had placed 5th in my age group having raced five of the series this year (St. Patrick’s Day 5KM, April Fool’s Half Marathon, Scotiabank Half Marathon, Summerfast 10K, Eastside 10K). I’m a bit sad that I missed the awards, but I did get my 5th Place award in the mail this week. Thanks Lower Mainland Road Race Series! I’m definitely going to keep this in mind for 2020.