I’ve been wanting to read The Sleeping Car Porter for a while now. When I spotted a used copy of the book, I snatched it up and devoured over the next few days.
It wasn’t just because it was railway related, although that helped. I liked that the main character was Black, and gay, and I’d heard good things about the book. That was enough for me.
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I was browsing through books at Willow Press, a unique little local bookstore at Confusion Corner in Winnipeg that features a lot of LGBTQIA2S+ content. They are a little gem and I do love bookstores of all kinds.
Anyway, back to The Sleeping Car Porter. The book is set in 1929, and the main character, R.T. Baxter, is a porter on a transcontinental train running from Toronto to Vancouver. I don’t think the railway is named in the book, but it’s clearly the Canadian Pacific Railway based on the towns they roll through.
Baxter is saving money to become a dentist. Between his meager wages and the tips he collects, he is growing close to the amount he needs – assuming he doesn’t get fired first at the whim of the railway. Porters worked at the pleasure of the railways and could face arbitrary demerits or firing for the slightest of transgressions, real or perceived.
In addition to the stress of saving money, he also has to deal with the almost round-the-clock service he is expected to provide, no matter the hour, always with a smile – not too much and not too little.
I really enjoyed looking into Baxter’s very fatigued mind, and I especially enjoyed his interactions with his fellow porters, the conductor Mad Mary, and the eclectic and sometimes mysterious passengers. The writing is spot on.
If you want to learn more about railway porters, check out They Call Me George by Cecil Foster. I wrote about that book here.
Steve, Thank for the review and suggestion. I quite enjoyed the Kindle version. Hopefully you received the Amazon commission as I followed your link however as I’m buying through the US .com site it may not have come through.
Keep up the good work here and your contributions to the viahistory.ca site. Both much appreciated! Cheers, Peter