Cameron Dodds is a 31-year old writer whose work has appeared in crappy little magazines that pay in comp copies. He’s a former drug addict who is now working nights at a Salvation Army Drug and Alcohol Treatment Centre – and he’s gay. Cameron thrives on pillaging other people’s personal histories, trying to find in them something that will trigger a story idea. When one of his clients, Darrel, a thirtysomething cokehead, commits suicide, Cameron becomes obsessed with the details of Darrel’s life. He even begins visiting Darrel’s sister June, a Down’s Syndrome patient who is permanently committed in a downtown care facility. Cameron’s growing involvement with June becomes part of a personal quest into his own past, a journey that leads both Cameron, and the reader, to a surprising conclusion.

Darren Greer’s Still Life with June is, on one level, a poignant exploration of a remarkable friendship between a lost young man desperately searching for a sense of self and a young woman with Down’s Syndrome whose world appears totally constricted by the rare genetic condition. When Greer focuses on the connection that develops between Cameron and June, and the tragic story that lurks in the background that they ultimately share, he’s a writer of great sensitivity. Greer makes June so much more than merely a character who suffers from Down’s Syndrome – a real achievement.

But Greer tries to tackle too much in this novel. He wants Still Life with June to also function as a clever commentary on consumerism, the foibles of the writing life (particularly writing groups), and the pretentiousness of modern art, but ends up sounding like someone who enjoys a rant for its own sake. Greer’s voice gets lost in his own manic efforts to guide the reader through the novel’s narrative strands and an array of literary devices – short chapters, lists, e-mails, excerpts from short stories and magazine articles – that bog the novel down. Greer does manage to end the novel on an almost perfect note, but it’s the story of Cameron and June that will linger with readers.