The Instructor - Softcover

And they say the art of letter-writing is dead. In her second novel, The Instructor, Ann Ireland resurrects the practice by craftng her book as one long letter that recounts the unhappy love affair between Simone Paris and her art instructor, Otto. The letter, written by an older, wiser Simone, has the benefit of perspective--a quality that this book examines both in life and in art. Simone is writing to her ex-lover six years after their liaison; she is now the director of a summer arts festival, and Otto has asked her for a job. Under the circumstances, a simple yes or no is not so simple--hence the letter.

Simone was 19 when she met Otto, a man old enough to be her father, but intriguingly everything her own father is not. She is attracted by his aesthetics, his persona as an artist, and so she seduces him, then follows him to Mexico. It isn't long, however, before Simone discovers that Otto still loves his ex-wife, and her carefully constructed idea of love begins to unravel. Simone's painfully garnered perspective--on herself, on Otto, on the nature of love and need gives The Instructor depth, making for an interesting read.

In Ireland's charming debut (A Certain Mr. Takahashi, 1986), two Toronto teenagers come of age over a crush on the glamorous new symphony conductor. Her new novel is less winning. The heroine, Simone Paris, addresses this memoir to her former art instructor and lover, Otto Guest. Now the director of a summer arts festival, Simone believes that she has at last become her own person. But Guest's reappearance on the scene after a six-year absence provides a catalyst for revisiting the past. Simone recalls how Guest, fleeing a failing marriage and a troubled son, persuaded her to run away with him to Mexico when she was only 19 years old. As soon as they arrived in the sleepy backwater town of San Patricio, it became all too clear that Otto had been this way before. As he fell back into old habits, their affair quickly played itself out. A competently written but unremarkable novel; purchase where Ireland has a following.?Barbara Love, Kingston P.L., Ontario, Canada
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.