In Charles Demers's darkly comic debut novel, Daniel — an East Vancouver obsessive-compulsive — is forced to evaluate his self-absorption against the trials and traumas of others. As he tries to submerge himself in a solitary, Karl Marx-inspired research project in the basement archives of the medical library, Daniel watches his family flounder at the centre of a free-speech fight for a children's book about a same-sex relationship—between turtles.
Whether you read this book for Demers's razor-sharp prose — he is a master of observation and a deft purveyor of contemporary vernacular — or simply to be dazzled by one hell of a story, prepare yourself: here's a brave new voice that is both fresh and brash.
Praise for The Prescription Errors
"Charles Demers writes wittily, unguardedly, and often downright scandalously, until he arrives, in The Prescription Errors, with a novel that is as much about an individual's uneasy condition as it is about a society's deeper illness. Read this book if you're prepared for fiction's equivalent to a raucous stand-up performance, if you're prepared for a merciless send-up of social pieties, and most of all, if you're prepared to confront and enjoy the strangest of symptoms."
— David Chariandy, author of Soucouyant
"The Prescription Errors is a thoughtful, hilarious and deeply engaged novel. Charles Demers' many obsessions make for compulsive reading."
— John K. Samson
"An impressive debut in fiction."
— George Fetherling
"With this book, Charles Demers has written a complicated love letter to Vancouver. The Prescription Errors is as filled with debilitating insecurities, troubled relationship histories and affirmation of the power of community as the city itself. I read it on a trip and it made me homesick for the city I so love/hate."
— Morgan Brayton
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for our publishing activities
