"Canada" by Richard Ford

I read my Best Fiction of 2012 this week.   Canada by Richard Ford is an outstanding work of art, made more so by the gentle, unhurried unfolding of its terrible tale. It begins:

“First, I’ll tell about the robbery our parents committed. Then about the murders, which happened later.”

So fifteen year-old Dell Parsons tells about the robbery that tore his family apart, dividing his life into “before” and “after”, and how his mother, his father, his twin sister and he each found their way into new lives. Told with Ford’s signature internal dialogs by the now-adult Dell, this is a haunting story of loss, broken trust, rebellion, the occasional kindness of strangers, and the shocking life decisions made by seemingly reasonable people.

There is nothing else to say: This is Ford’s masterpiece, a huge story, told by a heartbroken boy in a quiet, calm voice.  Fiction doesn't get much better than this.