“In RENOVATING HEAVEN, Schroeder writes like Garrison
Keillor when Keillor’s hot. He’s got the American humourist’s wonderful knack
of combining love with ridicule, and joy with hints of the dark side of family
life. This is just a beautiful piece of work!” Harry Bruce, author,
journalist.
“A fine novel about trying to love, trying to forgive, and
trying to build something perfect; a trapeze glide from the comic into the
tragic and back, to a place of balance in between. A pleasure in three
sure-handed parts.” Fred Stenson, novelist/screenwriter.
“As the title suggests, this book is about making things new
– a new life in a new country, a new house in a new city, a new way of life for
the son who grows up an artist in a culture that frowns upon art. This is an
important story, beautifully told.” Jack Hodgins, novelist.
“At first, RENOVATING HEAVEN lulls the reader into the
nostalgic comfort of hilarious family memories, but the accumulated gathering
of comic events adds up to a tragic portrait of people displaced by history,
stifled by exaggerated belief systems, buoyed up and crushed by faith and
love.” Armin Wiebe, novelist/satirist.
“Schroeder
pitches his novel between apparent irreconcilables: humour and tragedy, past
and present, fiction and autobiography, Old World and New World. The
perceptions here ring fresh and true. It is a deeply felt, funny, moving and
rewarding book.” Alex Ramon, in Canadian Literature Magazine, #205, Summer
2010. (www.Canlit.ca)
