Reviews

★ Skid Dogs

“Sugar, and spice, and everything nice; / That’s what little girls are made of.” So goes the old verse that, in spite of its antiquated views on gender, remains a popular nursery rhyme. Girls have ... Read More »

August 16, 2023 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography, Reviews

★ Avalanche

By Jessica Westhead

White people’s anxieties, anger, fear, and self-doubt regarding race and racism are placed centre stage in Avalanche, the provocative and illuminating new collection of short fiction by Toronto-based Jessica Westhead, the author of two books ... Read More »

August 9, 2023 | Filed under: Fiction: Short, Reviews

★ Not That Kind of Place

By Michael Melgaard

Based on a brief description, a reader might think they know what to expect from Not That Kind of Place, the stunning debut novel by Toronto-based writer Michael Melgaard. The background is simple, but harrowing: ... Read More »

August 2, 2023 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

Gin, Turpentine, Pennyroyal, Rue

By Christine Higdon

Near the end of Christine Higdon’s evocative and provocative novel Gin, Turpentine, Pennyroyal, Rue, Isla McKenzie wonders how different things will be for the next generation, who “could live through the twentieth century, and even ... Read More »

July 26, 2023 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

Brown Boy

By Omer Aziz

In his memoir Brown Boy, journalist, lawyer, and recent Radcliffe Fellow Omer Aziz delivers a compelling account about growing up in Canada, struggling to find his way in life as the son of Pakistani immigrants, ... Read More »

July 19, 2023 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography, Reviews

★ Lump

By Nathan Whitlock

Cat, a middle-class wife and mother, has largely accepted the typical expectations both roles entail. Just shy of 39 and largely dissatisfied, Cat dutifully soldiers on, trying to rebuild a lost career, enduring the indignities ... Read More »

July 12, 2023 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

★ What Comes Echoing Back

By Leo McKay Jr.

The kids aren’t alright in What Comes Echoing Back, the long-gestating third novel of Nova Scotia’s Leo McKay Jr., the author of the Giller Prize–shortlisted Twenty-Six. On the cusp of adult responsibilities and quandaries, they’re ... Read More »

July 5, 2023 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

Dreaming Home

By Lucian Childs

Coming out isn’t always easy. And it isn’t always by choice. One encounter on a fateful afternoon leads to a lifetime of alienation and discontent for Kyle Turner, the central character in this debut novel ... Read More »

June 28, 2023 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

Much Ado About Nada

By Uzma Jalaluddin

Nada Syed, the titular character in Uzma Jalaluddin’s new novel Much Ado About Nada, is nearly 30, not flirty, and certainly not thriving. Nada works a job she hates, lives with her overprotective parents in ... Read More »

June 21, 2023 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

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