Book ~ "Algoma" (2011) - Dani Couture

From Goodreads ~ A year after watching his brother go through the ice, twelve-year old Ferd refuses to believe Leo is gone. Convinced his brother is still alive, Ferd enters into a campaign of letters to persuade his brother to come home, mailing notes in any pool of water he can find. Soon, sopping notes begin to appear around the house folded squares of paper in the rain reservoir, kitchen sink, and washing machine. Ferd's mother, Algoma, finds the letters and keeps them to herself in an attempt to hide them from her increasingly distant husband. Gaetan, a bartender who obsessively records the weather, rejects his family's increasingly erratic behaviour and disappears one night leaving behind his weather journal, a newly pregnant wife, and a son consumed with talking to the dead.

It sounds like an odd story, doesn't it? And it is ... and I enjoyed it.

It's set in a small town in Quebec. There's not a lot happening in the town and everyone knows everyone else.

Algoma, Gaetan and Ferd are definitely a disfunctional family ... and they are doing the best they can deal with their grief.

Algoma comes from a family of multiple twins and feels there is something missing because she's not one. She works in a second hand store and this is where she gets most of the stuff for her house and family. She definitely needs some TLC but that's not coming for her.

Ferd watched his twin fall through the ice while following a bear. Because Leo's body was never found, Ferd feels he is still alive and will be coming home any day. So he writes Leo notes (which he leaves in sources of water) to keep him up-to-date on all he's missing.

Gaetan, is a bartender who drinks more than he should. One day he hitches a ride out of town and ends up in Toronto. He occasionally sends a little money home to his family, not knowing that Algoma is pregnant.

It sounds like a downer of a story ... and it is. I liked the writing style. It's not a quick read due to the nature of the story.