- King Leary
Infobox Book
name = King Leary
title_orig =
translator =
image_caption =
author =Paul Quarrington
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country =Canada
language = English
series =
subject = Ice-Hockey
genre = Fiction
publisher = Doubleday Canada
pub_date = 1987
english_pub_date =
media_type =
pages = 232 pages
isbn = 978-0385251389
oclc =
preceded_by =
followed_by ="King Leary" is a novel by Canadian humorist
Paul Quarrington , published in 1987 by Doubleday Canada. [ [http://www.quarrington.org/king.htm] The Works of Paul Quarrington]Plot
The novel's protagonist is Percival "King" Leary, a legendary retired
ice hockey player living in a smalltown nursing home, who is invited to Toronto by a young hotshot advertising executive to record aginger ale commercial. The novel tracks his experiences on the trip, as well as exploring his past career through flashbacks. Included amongst these reminiscences are his times at a juvenile reformatory as well as his years with several hockey teams. The book's cast is comprised of various hockey players; an aged journalist, ‘Blue’ Hermann, who chronicled Leary’s professional life; and members of Leary’s family. In addition to chronicling his experiences on the trip, the novel explores his emotional life, as ghosts from his past come to confront him about his virtual withdrawal from any kind of life outside of the nursing home. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/canadareads/books-kingleary.html] Canada Books 2008 - King Leary]Awards
"King Leary" won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour in 1988, and was shortlisted for the
Trillium Book Award . It also won the 2008 edition ofCBC Radio One 's "Canada Reads " literary competition, in which it was championed by musician and writerDave Bidini . [ [http://www.cbc.ca/canadareads/books.html] Canada Reads 2008 - CBC.ca]The novel, which had previously been out of print for a number of years, was republished by
Anchor Canada in 2007 shortly after its selection for "Canada Reads" was announced.References
External links
* [http://www.cbc.ca/canadareads/books-kingleary.html "King Leary"] profile at "
Canada Reads "
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
