Rising out of the ground like early wheat…

Word count: 229 words

Reading time: Less than 1 minute

I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a simile by Canadian author Don Gillmor.

When I heard the title of the latest novel by Don Gillmor, Mount Pleasant, I immediately wanted to read it. Mount Pleasant is an up-and-coming community in Vancouver with a rich character, historical houses and great restaurants. ‘That book sounds like fun,’ I thought.

Little did I know that there’s a Mount Pleasant in Toronto as well, and that is where this book was set. Regardless, it’s a rousing read. A satire looking at the troubles of the middle-aged and middle-classed, it takes a black-humoured approach to finances. The principal character, Harry, is swimming in debt — and disappointed when his “wealthy” father dies, leaving Harry only $4,200, not nearly enough to retire his own debt.

The image I liked best in the book, has little to do with finances, but plenty to do with death. Here it is:

Harry stared out at the granite markers rising out of the ground like early wheat. 

Have you ever stood in a graveyard and pondered the visual curiousness of all those vertical tombstones, standing upright like little soldiers? I like the way Don Gillmor compares them to wheat — a rich image in so many regards. Canadian. Organic (fed by the decomposing bodies?) Upright. Nurturing.

It’s a riveting image.

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