Closer to 3.5 stars.
Really good read, and surprisingly fast for its size.
There isn't really a main character, but Lilah Kemp is sort of a main protagonist, who lets out Kurtz from Heart of Darkness, and needs to find her Marlow. The book follows many characters, including Kurtz and Marlow, both of whom are psychiatrists in Toronto. Marlow's quest down the 'amazon' into darkness reveals the horrors of a Club of Men doing terrible things to children and somehow Kurtz is all behind it. Super fun read. ( )

This is not my favourite of Findlay's books as I found it quite dark and depressing. I suppose that one should read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad before one reads this book in order to truly understand it. However, I was permanently turned off Conrad's work by having to read Victory in Grade Twelve and I never wanted to read anything more. And, unlike other books that refer to literature, this book doesn't incline me to read Heart of Darkness. I think I understand enough about that book to get the gist of Headhunter. I was encouraged by this book to pick up a copy of Susanna Moodie's seminal work, Roughing it in the Bush, so Headhunter has had some effect on my future reading.

This book is populated by mad (i.e. insane) people. There is Lilah Kemp, a former librarian, who has paranoid schizophrenia and believes that she releases book characters from the books she reads into real life. Some of them are benign, like Susannah Moodie and Peter Rabbit, and some of them are horrendous, like Rupert Kurtz from Heart of Darkness. Amy Wylie also has schizophrenia but her delusion is that she can save all the birds that are being killed because they are believed to carry a disease called sturnusemia. There's her sister Emily who is pregnant and believes her fetus is talking to her. And even the doctors who are supposed to be treating them are not immune. Austin Purvis is under a great deal of stress because the director of the institute is stealing his clients. And the director himself, Rupert Kurtz, probably suffers from a number of disorders, chiefly megalomania.

Austin's good friend, the aptly named Charles Marlow, arrives in Toronto with his dog to take up a job at the psychiatric institute where Purvis and Kurtz work. When he moves in next door to Lilah Kemp she believes he is the answer to her problem with Kurtz.

These are only a few of the subplots in this book. One of my main criticisms is that I felt there were too many characters with too many things going on. It was hard to remember who was who. I also found one of the subplots very disturbing as it involved sexual exploitation of children.

Despite my reservations about this book I did find the writing wonderful as usual. And the following quote is an example:
A book is a way of singing. ..A way of singing our way out of darkness. The darkness that is night--and the darkness that is ignorance...(p.138) ( )

Findley est toujours aussi richement imaginatif, mais là, un peu confus. ( )

Epidemic in Toronto; Kurtz has escaped from The Heart of Darkness; Marlow must stop him before it's too late.

It's hard to describe this book. It is very entertaining, yet explores somber and difficult themes. I've been turning it over in my mind since I finished it.

The setting is near future Toronto, beseiged by an epidemic of sturnusemia. Since the disease is believed to be caused by birds, patrols roam the streets of the city exterminating birds.

The action begins when a former librarian and current schizophrenic believes that she has released the evil Kurz from p. 92 of The Heart of Darkness. She determines she must find Marlow to help her return Kurz to his proper place before he wreaks havoc on the unsuspecting city. Marlow arrives in the form of a new neighbor, a staff psychiatrist at an institute headed by a Dr. Kurz.

All kinds of characters are introduced. Who is evil, who is good? Who is sane, who is insane? Is the epidemic real or invented? ( )

definitely one of the best books i've read. findley's style reminds me of kurt vonnegut with a weirder and more vulgar sense of humor but it's definitely his own. he is very canadian. you can tell. i bet you could tell even if he didn't reference toronto every third sentence. it's just the way he writes! the concept is incredible. it involves magic powers, the plague, pedophiles, schizophrenia...man, it has everything! it has a lot of heart of darkness references in it, which i haven't even read yet so i read the spark notes before i read this and it certainly didn't diminish my love for this book. i bet if i read heart of darkness this book would be EVEN BETTER. i will read it again after i read heart of darkness and report back.

the only thing wrong with this was that it could have been dragged out a bit longer. i guess that's a strange wish but when i finished it i wanted it to go on and on and on and on. oh, there was also 3/4 of a page with a bit of self insertion that had my eyes rolling but it was over and done with rather quickly, thank goodness!

this was my first book by findley and if there is any goodness in this world it will not be my last. i tried reading him when i was 11 when i found my mom's copy of not wanted on the voyage but she wouldn't let me read it because it was for grown ups or something like that. i am happy we were reunited.

sleep well you crazy old man. RIP and such ( )