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Here the Dark: A Novella and Stories
From the streets of Danang, Vietnam, where a boy falls in with a young American missionary, to fishermen lost off the islands of Honduras, to the Canadian prairies, where a teenage boy's infatuation reveals his naivet� and an aging rancher finds himself smitten, the short stories in Here the Dark explore the spaces between doubt and belief, evil and good, obscurity and light. Following men and boys bewildered by their circumstances and swayed by desire, surprised by love and by their capacity for both tenderness and violence, and featuring a novella about a young woman who rejects the laws of her cloistered Mennonite community, Scotiabank Giller Prize-winner David Bergen's latest deftly renders complex moral ambiguities and asks what it means to be lost--and how we might be found.
224 pages, Paperback
Published March 10, 2020
31 people are currently reading
587 people want to read
About the author
David Bergen
24 books99 followersBorn in Port Edward, British Columbia, author David Bergen worked as a writer and high school English teacher in Winnipeg, Manitoba, before gaining a great deal of recognition in Canada when his novel The Time In Between won the 2005 Scotiabank Giller Prize, one of Canada's most prestigious literary awards. The novel also received a starred review in Kirkus Reviews and was longlisted for the 2007 IMPAC Award.
Bergen's debut novel, A Year of Lesser, was a New York Times Notable Book, and a winner of the McNally Robinson Book of the Year award in 1997. His 2002 novel The Case of Lena S. was a finalist for the Governor General's Award for English language fiction, and won the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award. It was also a finalist for the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award and the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction.
Additionally, Bergen has received the 1993 John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer, and the 2000 Canadian Literary Award for Short Story.
In 2008, he published his fifth novel, The Retreat, which was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and which won the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award and the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction.
Bergen currently resides in Winnipeg, Manitoba with his family.
Bergen's debut novel, A Year of Lesser, was a New York Times Notable Book, and a winner of the McNally Robinson Book of the Year award in 1997. His 2002 novel The Case of Lena S. was a finalist for the Governor General's Award for English language fiction, and won the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award. It was also a finalist for the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award and the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction.
Additionally, Bergen has received the 1993 John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer, and the 2000 Canadian Literary Award for Short Story.
In 2008, he published his fifth novel, The Retreat, which was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and which won the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award and the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction.
Bergen currently resides in Winnipeg, Manitoba with his family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews
November 12, 2020
It's another collection of stories shortlisted for the Giller Prize that seems an unlikely choice given the opening stories...
Distraught over the growing separation with his travelling girlfriend, guy organizes a Day Camp for tweens and falls for one of them. Followed by day drinking teacher cuckolded by his wife finds solace in "ample" coworker. Followed by grizzled cowboy in danger of losing his ranch screws rich paraplegic.
Do I really need to read about this sad parade of hand-wringing white guys?
But Bergen manages to nail the tone. There is this minor chord of entitled obliviousness that thrums in the background and the early cringey behaviour soon takes a darker turn with subsequent stories. Each unique and malevolent in their own way.
And then the titular novella about a Brethren girl questioning her faith and her place in the community. Coming to terms with her own feminist awakening and a stubborn refusal to merely submit to the ways of the patriarchal church. It feel like a stark turn from the previous stories and yet it's also faith, sex and being trapped within the narrow confines of our own histories but from a more traditional gendered lens.
Ok, maybe a bit of a stretch there - but nonetheless this collection is a polished effort with a high level of difficulty that Bergen manages to pull off.
Distraught over the growing separation with his travelling girlfriend, guy organizes a Day Camp for tweens and falls for one of them. Followed by day drinking teacher cuckolded by his wife finds solace in "ample" coworker. Followed by grizzled cowboy in danger of losing his ranch screws rich paraplegic.
Do I really need to read about this sad parade of hand-wringing white guys?
But Bergen manages to nail the tone. There is this minor chord of entitled obliviousness that thrums in the background and the early cringey behaviour soon takes a darker turn with subsequent stories. Each unique and malevolent in their own way.
And then the titular novella about a Brethren girl questioning her faith and her place in the community. Coming to terms with her own feminist awakening and a stubborn refusal to merely submit to the ways of the patriarchal church. It feel like a stark turn from the previous stories and yet it's also faith, sex and being trapped within the narrow confines of our own histories but from a more traditional gendered lens.
Ok, maybe a bit of a stretch there - but nonetheless this collection is a polished effort with a high level of difficulty that Bergen manages to pull off.
October 11, 2020
How deeply upsetting to find this collection find its way onto a prestigious literary prize's Shortlist.
At a time when female authors have been facing incredible amounts of hatred and threats online for their books, but something filled with toxic masculinity gets a pass and praise for a literary prize. Disturbing.
At a time when female authors have been facing incredible amounts of hatred and threats online for their books, but something filled with toxic masculinity gets a pass and praise for a literary prize. Disturbing.
October 22, 2020
If reading about toxic masculinity and/or male antiheroes isn't your thing, stay away from this short story collection. Lol. I was really into this. Damn, Bergen is a great prose writer, no denying that. He knows how to create a mood.
All of these men are dangerous, either to others or to themselves. Self-destructive is an understatement. Then the collection switches gears and ends with a great female-centric novella. Most of these stories discuss this need of wanting to be saved; our need to escape from our own self-destructive selves. Topics on faith, gender, and violence. Loved it.
Oh, and I wanted to say my favorite story is "How Can n Men Share a Bottle of Vodka?" It's about an alcoholic teacher, who uses unconventional ways of teaching math. I think my eyes grew three sizes out of my head while reading this one. It was pretty wild and unexpected.
All of these men are dangerous, either to others or to themselves. Self-destructive is an understatement. Then the collection switches gears and ends with a great female-centric novella. Most of these stories discuss this need of wanting to be saved; our need to escape from our own self-destructive selves. Topics on faith, gender, and violence. Loved it.
Oh, and I wanted to say my favorite story is "How Can n Men Share a Bottle of Vodka?" It's about an alcoholic teacher, who uses unconventional ways of teaching math. I think my eyes grew three sizes out of my head while reading this one. It was pretty wild and unexpected.
October 3, 2020
The novella is the strongest story in this collection of short stories, which varied between 3 and 4 stars so overall I would give this book 3.5 stars. I never know if I should round up, or round down but I don't quite feel this book as a whole is a 4.
October 28, 2020
I really liked some of these short stories and the novella would be great fleshed out as a novel. Stories centred around churches that behave more like cults are always interesting.
September 25, 2020
I didn't connect with anything, not the characters, the writing or the imagery. It seemed like each short story had one flat female character who's only quality was based souly on physical appearance and the male characters got a trophy for loving them anyways... Overall, all the short stories were forgettable. The novella I also thought suffered from poor characters. There were moments where the author was on the cusp of saying something more and of value and then it would completely fall off.
I don't think this will make the Giller Short List to be honest and I'm glad I still have 10 others to read still which I feel will be an improvement.
I don't think this will make the Giller Short List to be honest and I'm glad I still have 10 others to read still which I feel will be an improvement.
October 27, 2021
this guy is a writer, no doubt. tells a great story and turns a phrase sweet as pie - but he’s easily the horniest author on the Giller list. every story is about sex! that’s fine but imma call him the weeknd of books.
October 26, 2020
I often feel like the books that have spoken to me in the strongest ways are often not the most popular books. Often, I feel like books that are popular are too universal, or have too broad an appeal to spark a strong and lasting connection. Of course there exceptions to this rule, but that's usually how I feel.
So this is a tough one, because I suspect this really spoke to someone out there, but it wasn't me. There's one short story I quite liked, a few that left me cold, and a novella that I found partly good and partly infuriating. I am surprised, to be honest, that this made it onto the Giller shortlist. It's not bad, it's certainly not poorly written, but none of it felt outstanding to me. Clearly, however, this did speak to the jury, and they connected it in ways that I did not!
My favourite story was the one about the widower rancher, the mute dog and the woman in the electric wheelchair. I felt like Bergen wasn't totally fair to his main character in the novella, sometimes giving and sometimes taking her agency. The other short stories were fine, but not really my deal. If you want to read the whole Giller shortlist, you'll probably end up picking this up, but I'm having a hard time thinking of who I'd recommend it to otherwise.
So this is a tough one, because I suspect this really spoke to someone out there, but it wasn't me. There's one short story I quite liked, a few that left me cold, and a novella that I found partly good and partly infuriating. I am surprised, to be honest, that this made it onto the Giller shortlist. It's not bad, it's certainly not poorly written, but none of it felt outstanding to me. Clearly, however, this did speak to the jury, and they connected it in ways that I did not!
My favourite story was the one about the widower rancher, the mute dog and the woman in the electric wheelchair. I felt like Bergen wasn't totally fair to his main character in the novella, sometimes giving and sometimes taking her agency. The other short stories were fine, but not really my deal. If you want to read the whole Giller shortlist, you'll probably end up picking this up, but I'm having a hard time thinking of who I'd recommend it to otherwise.
June 5, 2021
4 stars for the concluding novella, which if not a unique subject, felt true and original. The prior stories were a mixed bag and a bit too churchy for me. “Saved” is a superb story, though.
June 26, 2021
i've heard people say this book is hemingway-esque. i agree, but that's coming from someone who kind of hates hemingway.
it's...fine. the short stories are full of manly men doing manly things and having sex with women who are described in ways that often made me cringe a little. some i really enjoyed, like "man lost"; some i could not get into at all, like "april in snow lake." i liked most of the novella but the ending was incredibly unsatisfying.
i struggled on whether to give this 2 or 3 stars and ultimately i think my view of it is a little more charitable because i read it for the same class as gil adamson's ridgerunner and was comparing it to that. i have similar problems with both of them (manly-man-centric narratives featuring problematically portrayed female characters who just exist to further the men's character development) but at least i was actually somewhat engaged by this book instead of struggling to turn the pages. i do actually quite like the writing style in some places, and the character work is compelling when it's not being overshadowed by icky tropes.
know what you're getting with this book, i guess. there's a fair bit of misogyny, toxic masculinity, fatphobia, and weird christian themes i didn't connect with, but if you can get past that (and it's 100% understandable if some people can't) it's not a bad read.
it's...fine. the short stories are full of manly men doing manly things and having sex with women who are described in ways that often made me cringe a little. some i really enjoyed, like "man lost"; some i could not get into at all, like "april in snow lake." i liked most of the novella but the ending was incredibly unsatisfying.
i struggled on whether to give this 2 or 3 stars and ultimately i think my view of it is a little more charitable because i read it for the same class as gil adamson's ridgerunner and was comparing it to that. i have similar problems with both of them (manly-man-centric narratives featuring problematically portrayed female characters who just exist to further the men's character development) but at least i was actually somewhat engaged by this book instead of struggling to turn the pages. i do actually quite like the writing style in some places, and the character work is compelling when it's not being overshadowed by icky tropes.
know what you're getting with this book, i guess. there's a fair bit of misogyny, toxic masculinity, fatphobia, and weird christian themes i didn't connect with, but if you can get past that (and it's 100% understandable if some people can't) it's not a bad read.
May 10, 2021
Tonight on zoom, the Giller Book Club will hold a conversation with this author about this book, and I have finished reading it just in time to be part of an informed audience, although I am still digesting these stories. Bergen was nominated for the Giller for this collection; the title of the collection and of the novella "Here the Dark" captures the "dark" tone of most the stories, embodying toxic white male masculinity and violence (at worst) or casual disdain for lives of others (at best), which is perhaps part of what makes the writing provocative. The settings of the stories range from Manitoba to Honduras to Vietnam. The novella is written from the point of view of a young woman who is shunned by her restrictive faith community (the Brethern) for reading books and for exploring her own ideas of independence. She was told to pray. "She said that to pray was to ask for what was already evident. Prayer was the absence of knowledge". I made note of that quote - but it is the characters who will stay with me for a while I think.
January 9, 2022
David Bergen is a Canadian novelist who has published nine novels and several short story collections. His 2005 novel The Time in Between won the Scotiabank Giller Prize and he was a finalist again in 2010 and 2020. it was just the subject of some of these stories that were a bit mundane and disturbing at the same time. Mystery writers seemed to be fascinated with writing about drug dealers that live in mobile homes, and I don't find these types at all interesting. The other subject he seems to dwell on is Christian fanaticism, which loses my interest pretty quickly. I would like to read more by this author as he is very good at developing characters and keeping a tight story line, he just needs to expand his subject matter in my opinion.
September 23, 2020
Really enjoyed the novella! A few of the short stories weren’t what I usually gravitate to but could appreciate the vivid imagery & writing style.
October 31, 2020
3.5 stars
June 13, 2021
I love the way David Bergen writes. And I was impressed by his ability to capture so many voices and to write about so many different characters.
November 1, 2022
One sentence takeaway: Everyone has illusions that keep them in the dark. What are yours?
March 17, 2021
I really enjoyed the short stories in this collection. In each, the main character is grappling with a moral dilemma. I found the writing crisp and unfussy. I wanted the novella, Here the Dark, to continue, I was so wrapped up in the character of Lily who is torn between faith and doubt. Deserving 5 stars in my opinion.
May 5, 2024
Please don’t waste your time. The short stories were pointless, they simply started and after 20 pages of bullshit they ended. Not to mention the inclusion within every story of at least one flat female character with one notable, oddly sexualized feature. The premise of the novella could have been an intriguing read if further developed. But at the end of the day the last thing the world needs is another tortured and horny female protagonist written by a man. I have no idea why this was ever nominated for anything.
October 3, 2020
I wanted to like this collection more than I did. I have read a few narratives recently about Mennonites and similar communities and maybe I have lost some sympathy for these groups. I am an atheist and issues of faith and religiosity do not garner much sympathy from me either. My favourite story was about the math teacher and his Greek chorus of a classroom. “Hungry” is good too.
November 27, 2020
This was my first encounter with Bergen's work, and these are just the kind of stories I most enjoy--complicated characters navigating impossible situations in unexpected ways. Highly recommended.
May 10, 2021
I've never read a book of short stories that also contained a novella before; the short stories I would collectively give 2/5 and the novella I would give 3.5/5. David Bergen's taut prose is evocative and powerful but the stories were horribly bleak and tediously deluged with sexual dalliances. 'Here the Dark' is the concluding novella; it chronicles Lily's progressive rebellion against the strictures of her traditional Mennonite community as she gradually abandons her church and her marriage. In the character of Lily, Bergen follows the typical trajectory of Mennonite authors (Rudy Wiebe, Miriam Toews, etc...) who critique the restrictive and rigid traditionalism of old-fashioned Mennonite communities, which is fine I suppose but the story of "liberation" is so common it's a trope. Many of the characters in the short stories and the novella appeal to religion, particularly in the form of prayer.
October 22, 2020
These stories are vividly realized with varying tones and tenses. Some are upsetting, with frank depictions and discussions of sex and a few unexpected acts of violence. Mostly from the POV of men and boys who are lonely and feeling pain. I liked the sympathetic “Never Too Late” and the title novella best.
September 26, 2020
5 stars for the title novella.
March 31, 2022
"Here the Dark" is a decent Canadian collection of short stories featuring male protagonists of different ages, their sex lives and relationships, and a novella featuring a female religious sect member discovering sex and relationships vis-a-vis the outside world. Bergen seems to be trying to imitate Steinbeck in voice, and seems to do a somewhat awkward job at it. The titular novella, despite its plot being personally interesting to me (I randomly met members of a Manitoba religious 'group' years ago and found them fascinating), is predictable until the end and not that great -- though it does shed some light on the world in question. The short stories are stronger, though none of them wowed me.
3.3 Stars
Some notes on the short stories, hidden due to light spoilers
October 25, 2020
This is a stunning collection of stories. I will be taking a deep dive into all things Bergen in the years to come.
The stories in this collection explore the darkest moments of these characters’ lives. What we do with darkness, how it shapes us or how we resist its moulding, seem to be the core questions of each story.
“April in Snow Lake” depicts a nineteen year old who begins his own Sunday camp and falls in love with one of the campers while his girlfriend is away. This story takes a surreal twist at the end which starkly contrasts to the realism of the rest of the story. This twist seems to serve the story’s thematization of nature’s indifference to the main character’s plans; the creatures he sees don’t care that he’s lost, find your own way.
This opening story sets tone for the individualistic battles against darkness we see all across the collection. For instance, in “Man Lost,” a true standout in this collection, we see poor fisherman take a spoiled American car-sales man out to sea. The sales-man has left humble fisherman Quinn’s sister pregnant and raising the baby himself. How Quinn handles this confrontation out on the vast open sea is sparked with arch ambiguity and engaging tension.
Other standouts include the title novella, and the CBC Short Story Prize winner, “How Can n Men Share a Bottle or Vodka?,” and “Hungry.”
Overall, I can actually imagine this short story collection winning the Giller Prize due to its clear yet masterly constructed and unpretentious prose and intriguing characters.
The stories in this collection explore the darkest moments of these characters’ lives. What we do with darkness, how it shapes us or how we resist its moulding, seem to be the core questions of each story.
“April in Snow Lake” depicts a nineteen year old who begins his own Sunday camp and falls in love with one of the campers while his girlfriend is away. This story takes a surreal twist at the end which starkly contrasts to the realism of the rest of the story. This twist seems to serve the story’s thematization of nature’s indifference to the main character’s plans; the creatures he sees don’t care that he’s lost, find your own way.
This opening story sets tone for the individualistic battles against darkness we see all across the collection. For instance, in “Man Lost,” a true standout in this collection, we see poor fisherman take a spoiled American car-sales man out to sea. The sales-man has left humble fisherman Quinn’s sister pregnant and raising the baby himself. How Quinn handles this confrontation out on the vast open sea is sparked with arch ambiguity and engaging tension.
Other standouts include the title novella, and the CBC Short Story Prize winner, “How Can n Men Share a Bottle or Vodka?,” and “Hungry.”
Overall, I can actually imagine this short story collection winning the Giller Prize due to its clear yet masterly constructed and unpretentious prose and intriguing characters.
February 28, 2021
Mennonite author David Bergen does a fair job of considering Mennonite (and perhaps other narrow restrictive religious sects) angst and confusion in short stories and a novella. But he seems utterly unable to finish his stories, instead just ending them. Perhaps he has reached his required page limit, perhaps he hopes to titillate aging women's book clubs, perhaps it is a carefully planned literary trope, but in any case, I don't care for it. Some good very readable story lines and he's pretty good at developing them - also a master at just ending them when you turn to the next page.
The novella, in keeping with the works of Miriam Toews (pretty much all of them, with minor variations in the theme), further expounds on the absolute mind-numbing naivety and stupidity of Mennonite women, by now an overly tedious repetitive theme for this former practicing (and still ethnic/cultural) Mennonite.
I do appreciate his literary abilities and do not mean to belittle all he has written and accomplished - I do not wish to turn potential readers away from this talented author. Just sharing my thoughts on this series of works.
The novella, in keeping with the works of Miriam Toews (pretty much all of them, with minor variations in the theme), further expounds on the absolute mind-numbing naivety and stupidity of Mennonite women, by now an overly tedious repetitive theme for this former practicing (and still ethnic/cultural) Mennonite.
I do appreciate his literary abilities and do not mean to belittle all he has written and accomplished - I do not wish to turn potential readers away from this talented author. Just sharing my thoughts on this series of works.
November 17, 2020
David Bergen is perhaps the best of Canadian male writers and this book of short stories plus a longer novella demonstrates his skills yet again. It was nominated to the short list of the 2020 Giller Prize.
But it is certainly a dark book! The stories are mostly bleak, full of failed love and death. A boy killing his brother with a bat, another man falling from a roof and a young woman being killed by a rock — these are some of the grim events.
Several of the best short stories for me were set in foreign contexts. Man Lost is particularly powerful recounting a deep sea fishing expedition in the Caribbean that unfolds disastrously. Saved is also a sharp edged story set in Vietnam built around the clash between foreign evangelicals and the local population.
The novella Here the Dark also has a religious framework. A young girl marries into a strict sect where her sexual desires and external relationships lead to her being shunned even by her husband. This is a deep and nuanced story of her struggles.
Overall another fine book by Bergen!
But it is certainly a dark book! The stories are mostly bleak, full of failed love and death. A boy killing his brother with a bat, another man falling from a roof and a young woman being killed by a rock — these are some of the grim events.
Several of the best short stories for me were set in foreign contexts. Man Lost is particularly powerful recounting a deep sea fishing expedition in the Caribbean that unfolds disastrously. Saved is also a sharp edged story set in Vietnam built around the clash between foreign evangelicals and the local population.
The novella Here the Dark also has a religious framework. A young girl marries into a strict sect where her sexual desires and external relationships lead to her being shunned even by her husband. This is a deep and nuanced story of her struggles.
Overall another fine book by Bergen!
March 16, 2021
These stories and the novella are certainly page-turners. What fascinated me was how heavily the life of each and every protagonist was circumscribed by a religious and/or moral upbringing: the fisherman who rejected money as the ruler of his life; the rancher who doesn't want to get into bed with a woman who wants a baby he can't deliver on; and Lily, the Brethren wife, who seems to be reaching for a life with fewer rules only to return to the man who is governed by them. Sex, religion and morality.
October 24, 2021
An incredible collection of short stories. I’m still not fully sure what to take from the ending novella (‘Here The Dark’) but I think April in Snow Lake is the single best short story I’ve read that isn’t by Alice Munro. Loved it. I don’t think it will be everyone’s taste - you will have to be okay with unlikeable men as lead characters with narrators that approve or even support some questionable behaviour or thoughts. But, so long as you enjoy discerning between the characters, the narrator, and what the author may or may not be intending, this is an excellent read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews