Fiction: Novels

I Am Ariel Sharon

By Yara El-Ghadban; Wayne Grady (trans.)

In Letters to a Young Novelist, Mario Vargas Llosa writes, “It is rare and almost impossible for a novel to have only one narrator.” Palestinian-Canadian novelist Yara El-Ghadban’s I Am Ariel Sharon both takes and ... Read More »

January 14, 2021 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

★ The Centaur’s Wife

By Amanda Leduc

In her 2020 non-fiction book, Disfigured, writer Amanda Leduc explored the powerful, near-subliminal force of fairy tales, in particular “how the allure and the potency of these stories has continued to influence the perceptions of ... Read More »

January 7, 2021 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

A Family Affair

By Nadine Bismuth; Russell Smith; trans.

Montreal author Nadine Bismuth’s previous works established her ability to artfully pick apart the intricacies of relationships. Notably, her 2009 short-story collection, Êtes-vous mariée à un psychopathe? (which was nominated for a Governor General’s Literary ... Read More »

December 17, 2020 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

Forgotten Work

By Jason Guriel

Trolling Twitter, I find a quote from poet Kay Ryan on Jason Guriel’s feed: “When I started writing nobody rhymed – it was in utter disrepute. Yet rhyme was a siren to me.” Forgotten Work, ... Read More »

December 14, 2020 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

★ Consent

By Annabel Lyon

At first it seems like a mistake, or a moment of authorial laziness. The opening sentences in Annabel Lyon’s third novel for adults contain what appears to be a series of unconscious repetitions: “The baby ... Read More »

December 10, 2020 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

One Madder Woman

By Dede Crane

It’s hard to imagine from today’s vantage that some of Édouard Manet’s most celebrated paintings, including Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe, with its female nude picnicker gazing defiantly at the viewer, were decreed artistically worthless when ... Read More »

December 3, 2020 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

Written in Stone

By Peter Unwin

Linda first meets Paul at the cast party for a no-budget production of Beckett’s Happy Days in which Linda stars. Paul approaches Linda and asks if she’s any good with a canoe. When Linda begs ... Read More »

November 30, 2020 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

Blaze Island

By Catherine Bush

Coming into Catherine Bush’s Blaze Island is akin to entering a world with a large cast of characters, not unlike a Charles Dickens novel. While Dickens’s novels are cultural artifacts of their time, Bush’s book ... Read More »

November 26, 2020 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

Waiting for a Star to Fall

By Kerry Clare

Toronto writer Kerry Clare’s sophomore novel begins with the fall of superstar politician Derek Murdoch. Standing accused of sexual assault, Derek denies the anonymous allegations at a press conference, viewed via livestream by his most ... Read More »

November 19, 2020 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

A Russian Sister

By Caroline Adderson

When The Seagull premiered in St. Petersburg on October 17, 1896, it was received so poorly playwright Anton Chekhov is reported to have fled the theatre to escape the boos and hisses that greeted the ... Read More »

October 29, 2020 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

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