CW: drug use (smoking, alcohol), death (including death of a child off page), cheating/adulteryThis book was a gentle 5, a 5 I never saw coming. It took my hand and led me through a slow and quiet journey of one man's grief and loss after an unexpected divorce, and how he finds his way through it.This journey involves our main character Joey learning to come out of his shell, learning how to make real connections with others, getting in touch with his emotions, picking up the cello as a hobby, a...

rating: 5/5What I absolutely loved about this novel was the wonderful character exploration. They seemed real, like people that I actually could have known. They were vividly drawn, complete down to every virtue and fault, and Joe had an amazing inner dialogue.It is so easy to sympathize with Joe Cooper, a man who a year after his wife left him for a woman is still trying to put his life together. His mom and sister are pushing for him to get a hobby. Into his mechanic shop walks in the town her...

A really quick sweet read with great characters! I grabbed it off an LGBTQ shelf so it ended up rather different from what I was really expecting but i loved it nonetheless. A great balance of dry wit and heartwarming stuff thats not spelled out in a condescending self help book kinda way. If I were to complain, all I can say is I’d appreciate a little sequel since this really only covers about a week and lots of interesting stuff had just started happening.

Bow Grip takes place in present tense, in around Drumheller and Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Joseph is a 40-something divorced auto mechanic, trying to move on with his life. His wife Allyson left him for his hockey buddy's wife, Kathleen and moved from Drumheller to Calgary.The story opens with Joseph trying to sell his car for cash but James Carson doesn't have any money. He does however have a cello and talks Joseph into a trade. Joseph figure that he can sell the cello but from the moment he op...

Ivan Coyote is a true and legitimate "storyteller." She has the unique ability to capture ordinary characters lives and make them compelling for their simple human truths. This is an honest, down to earth story, about the journey on the long road between love and loneliness.When his wife unexpectedly leaves him for another woman, Joey Cooper, a lonely middle aged mechanic begins to question his life and existence. Following his desire for changes in his condition, he trades an old car for a fine...

What shook me most about this novel was Ivan's portrayal of a gentle, loving and anti-oppressive masculinity. Living in rural Alberta, working in a small town car garage, being surrounded by misogyny, and having you wife leave you for another woman is more than enough to leave the protagonist, Joey, acting like your typical racist, sexist dude. Ivan breaks down many stereotypes with such elegance, it left me breathless. Bow Grip is a spectacular read, showcasing Ivan's gift for storytelling.

Posted at Shelf Inflicted Joey Cooper is a 40-something mechanic from a small town in Alberta, Canada who must pick up the pieces of his shattered life after his wife, Allyson, moved to the big city with another woman. Joey’s journey to self-discovery and fulfillment begins with some time away from work to return his ex-wife’s possessions, solve the mysterious disappearance of the stranger who bought a used car from Joey’s shop, and learn to play the exquisite hand-made cello he received from th...

I didn’t want to read Bow Grip. It had a tough spine, and I hate books with a tough spine. But it was a Christmas gift from my brother, and I like to read books that are given to me so I can thank the person and mean it. So I read it. And I owe my brother. Owe him something awesome, because Ivan E. Coyote hooked me from page one and held me the whole way through, and has me still I think.Bow River, Coyote’s first novel, introduces the reader to Joey a year after his wife has left him for another...

Bow Grip felt like a long sigh of relief shared with an old friend. I was sad to finish it as I will miss the gruff sweetness of Joseph’s narrative. Will definitely be checking out more of Ivan Coyote’s writing.

Bow Grip is a heartwarming and captivating novel that I read in a couple of sittings, and not because I was under pressure to finish it for a fast approaching book club meeting.It is the story of Joey, a mechanic residing in Drumheller, Alberta, who finds himself drifting aimlessly after his wife leaves him and moves to Calgary with another woman. His mother and sister are troubled by his state and encourage him to take up a hobby before he ends up on Prozac. Coincidentally he ends up trading an...

Met her last year at the Writers’Festival and loved her presentation so thought the novel should have a read. The same engaging character comes through in the writing, and although the criticism is that it is too idealized and predictable, it does make an enjoyable read. Joey has lost his father to a heart attack, his wife to a lesbian lover, his dreams of fatherhood to a less than adequate sperm count and is doing nothing. He trades a used Volvo for a cello to a very quiet man who attempts to c...

Apart from the fact most of them smoke, nearly all the on-stage characters in this book are nice. In fact Joey, the narrator-protagonist, meets several of them in the course of sharing tobacco fumes. He is a car mechanic living in Drumheller, much less of a redneck than he might be. Currently aged forty or so, he is recovering from the fact that his wife, the love of his life, has left him to live in Calgary with the wife of one of his hockey-playing acquaintances.The plot is triggered when Jame...

Book #24 completed for Book Riot Challenge 2019: "A novel by a trans or nonbinary author"For as ordinary as the characters and plot was, it was touching and made for a good read. It was as if I were looking through any one of the people I pass by everyday's life. The emotions were real, the setting was real. It was refreshing.

I really loved this book. All of the characters are likable and it was nice - and somewhat rare - to read something that had no dark edge.

3.5/5. Read it for school; it's a nice and short story of self-discovery after our MC loses his wife to another woman and ends up living day by day through the motions. However, novels like Bow Grip aren't my personal taste, so I found it boring, especially in the beginning when the MC lacks a lot of life (understandable). A few proofreading errors here and there especially at the beginning as well.

This book was so delightfully bittersweet, and by the end, just sweet. I grabbed my heartstrings from the get-go in all the right ways.Bow Grip is the story of a 40-year-old mechanic from rural Alberta whose wife has left him for another woman, and who's been in a slump for about a year since she left, but then a stranger trades him a cello for a volvo he's fixed up, and that starts him on a small and quiet but life-changing adventure. This is the first of Coyote's books I've read and their writ...

I loved watching Ivan E Coyote's open mics on youtube, and reading her novel was no exception. I enjoyed the plot and I liked how she wrote the characters. It made me super nostalgic about Alberta, and I think she did an excellent job of capturing the Alberta vibes. -le sigh- I also liked how she handled the main character's attitude of his ex leaving him for a woman, it was handled in a way that showed his pain but with no homophobic slurs. My one little nit-pick was that it felt like he got be...

Tried passively to track this down in used book stores for years, finally just bought it through thriftbooks, and I am SO GLAD I have my own copy, to re-read as necessary. The most Alberta book I could ask for, as queer as it can be, and still be about a straight guy. Gentle, insistent, made me homesick as hell. Endearingly dated in its references to flip phones, bar bans for smoking, and VCR's, but in a nostalgic rural kind of way. A reflection on family and healing and masculinity from Ivan Co...

I guess it was Okay, but listen, if ever it should come to your attention that I've tried to kill myself and then skipped town, and if you then take it upon yourself to go looking for my family to give them the heads-up, if it turns out that you're the kind of person who'll spend several days in my family's town just such as eating crepes and taking cello lessons and babysitting for strangers and even having sex with my family before you ever even think about telling anybody what's happened to m...

This book was alright, it was like stepping into a random part of a man's life and then taking a little journey with him. It didn't grab too much of my attention, but it wasn't completely miserable to get through either.