Everyone has a story to tell. But not everyone is an author.
The thing is: authors have harnessed their creative energy to write stories and according to Canadian author Wayne Ng, writing isn’t necessarily about inherent ability. It’s just hard work, according to Ng, who spoke to members of the Hawkesbury Library English Book Club recently.
Members of the book club read Wayne Ng’s ‘Letters from Johnny’ recently, then many delved into two of his other books: ‘Johnny Delivers’ and ‘The Family Code’.
It was a fitting turn of events that–just as Ng’s characters become real–more than just words on a page–the author and his work came to life recently when he spent an afternoon with members of the book club, discussing each of his books.
Ng is a modest and reflective person, moving easily from sharing details of his personal life, to discussing his social work career and his life as an author.
Ng had stories to tell.
Ng related that like many people, he turned to writing during the pandemic. While being a social worker means listening to people’s stories, Ng believes that writing is about you and can be kind of self-absorbed.
“Writing is great therapy; it’s good for you,” he told the group.
‘Letters from Johnny’ takes us inside the mind of 11-year-old Johnny Wong, who shares his thoughts in letters written to Toronto Maple Leafs Captain Dave Keon (if only the letters had had stamps on them). Written with the curiosity and simplicity of an 11-year-old trying to make sense of the world, the book captures the essence of pre-adolescence, when all things are possible, despite all that we do not yet understand.
Fun fact: As an adult, Wayne Ng wrote to his childhood hero to explain that he had made Keon a central figure in his book and sent him a copy. One day, Keon called Ng and said he had loved the book. Ng continues to send Keon postcards from his travels. (Ng loves to travel.)
In ‘Johnny Delivers’, Johnny’s hero has become Bruce Lee. Cultural tensions are at the core of this novel, in which 18-year-old Johnny delivers illicit drugs along with egg rolls, believing that the money he earns will save his mother from debt and losing the family restaurant. The story leads to family secrets being revealed and for Johnny, sympathy and understanding for what his mother has endured.
Both of these books resonate with 1970s culture, but also with the Chinese Canadian experience. In his writing, Ng acknowledges the feeling of being tied to the trauma of the past and wanting to honour past generations, even while wanting to be just like everyone else.
‘The Family Code’ is a departure from the previous two novels. It is an in-your-face story of a young, white female protagonist, so easy to dislike, especially as her story is countered with that of her young son. We again have a child trying to make sense of their world, based on what they are being told by their parents. The reader’s perception of the self-centred Hannah, whom we judge early on to be a failure as a mother, changes as we learn more about her.
The outward-facing story is not the only story, after all. This book is one long character-reveal, told in the characters’ voices in alternating chapters. This creates a page-turning kind of read, where one wants to get back to Hannah’s story, then back to the hardships being faced by six-year-old Axel.
CBC All in a Day host Alan Neal has chosen Ng’s ‘Johnny Delivers’ as its October read. Find out more here.
Ng lives in Ottawa and is the author of THE FAMILY CODE, shortlisted for the Guernica Prize; LETTERS FROM JOHNNY, winner of the Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best Crime Novella and a finalist for the Ottawa Book Award; JOHNNY DELIVERS; and FINDING THE WAY: A NOVEL OF LAO TZU.
