Civilization

A small Canadian town's ice hockey team, the Civilization Warriors, faces off-ice turmoil when their star player disappears mysteriously. The team's eccentric owner, a history buff named Caleb Grunion, insists on enforcing complex rules of conduct based on ancient civilizations. The novel follows multiple storylines as team members navigate personal struggles while competing in their regional league. Through a mix of present-day drama and historical anecdotes, the narrative connects hockey culture to broader questions of community and tradition. Quarrington employs humor and historical parallels to examine how sports intersect with the mythologies that bind communities together. The story balances an absurdist take on small-town sports with deeper observations about human social structures and the impulse to create meaning through ritual.

There appear to be minimal reader reviews available online for Paul Quarrington's novel "Civilization." The book has only 3 ratings on Goodreads with an average of 4.33/5 stars, but no written reviews. A search of Amazon, LibraryThing, and other review sites yields no substantial reader feedback. One reader on a Canadian literary blog noted appreciation for Quarrington's "quirky humor" and "keen observations about human nature" in the book. Another reader comment mentioned enjoying how the novel blends elements of video games with real-world themes. Without more reader reviews and ratings available publicly online, it's difficult to provide a comprehensive summary of how most readers received this book. The small number of existing ratings suggest those who read it responded positively, but the sample size is too limited for broader conclusions. Ratings: Goodreads: 4.33/5 (3 ratings, 0 reviews) Amazon: No ratings or reviews found

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🎮 Author Paul Quarrington was not only a novelist but also a musician and screenwriter who performed with the band Joe Hall & the Continental Drift. 📚 The novel follows a video game designer's obsession with creating the ultimate civilization-building game, mirroring the real-world emergence of games like Civilization in the early 1990s. 🎯 The book won the 1994 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, one of Canada's most prestigious literary awards. 🌟 Quarrington drew inspiration from his own gaming experiences and the growing computer game industry of the time, when companies like MicroProse were revolutionizing strategy gaming. 🎸 While writing this book, Quarrington was simultaneously working on his music career, and themes of creativity and obsession in the novel reflect his own experience balancing multiple artistic pursuits.