Reviews

Media Therapy

We reviewers regularly exceed our word counts by begging Canadian fiction writers to up the literary ante. Enough already with the rural incest weepers, the featherweight urban satires, the well-worn immigration stories, we rail. Where ... Read More »

February 23, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

★ Swing Low

By Miriam Toews

How well – no, make that how unwell – do we know our parents? Ten years ago, when my grandmother died, after the estate had been lawyered at and tidied away, a bequest of her ... Read More »

February 23, 2004 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography

The Lagahoo’s Apprentice

By Rabindranath Maharaj

As a schoolboy in Trinidad, Stephen Sagar was fascinated by lagahoos: shape-shifters, haunted creatures who sought the solitude of the woods. During 16 years in Canada, in a loveless marriage, he has sustained himself with ... Read More »

February 23, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Truth Teller

By Katherine Govier

Katherine Govier’s ambitious sixth novel is so rich in literary allusions that tossing another reference into the mix seems unwarranted. Yet I’m tempted to read this book as a fictional variation on the themes of ... Read More »

February 23, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Devil’s Cure

By Kenneth Oppel

Kenneth Oppel produced his first novel for children at the age of 15 and, having published an average of one a year for the last 16 years, is clearly looking for new areas to conquer. ... Read More »

February 23, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

★ Sisters of Grass

By Theresa Kishkan

Writing successful fiction that relies heavily on a specific setting can be tricky. The writer must either count on the reader’s knowledge and experience of the locale (and thus feature recognizable landmarks and scenes set ... Read More »

February 23, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

★ The Hero’s Walk

By Anita Rau Badami

A heavy heat hangs over The Hero’s Walk, Anita Rau Badami’s follow-up to her successful debut, Tamarind Mem. Toturpuram, in India, shimmers under the oppressive heat of an unusually long pre-monsoon season, while Sripathi Rao, ... Read More »

February 23, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Canadian Children’s Books: A Critical Guide to Authors and Illustrators

By Raymond E. Jones,Jon C. Stott

I recently received an inquiry from someone asking for current information on Canadian writing for young adults. My suggestions were cumbersome. Sheila Egoff’s The New Republic of Childhood and Judith Saltman’s Modern Canadian Children’s Books, ... Read More »

February 23, 2004 | Filed under: Reference

The Border Surrounds Us

By Karen Connelly

In The Border Surrounds Us, her fourth book of poetry, Karen Connelly has found a subject that coheres perfectly with the thrust of her poetic imagination. Her new work testifies more clearly than ever to ... Read More »

February 23, 2004 | Filed under: Poetry

His Life: A Poem

By George Bowering

On the surface it seems so simple: His Life, the new book by two-time Governor General’s Award-winner George Bowering, is a poetic memoir, a book-length poem drawn from over 30 years of journal entries. Almost ... Read More »

February 23, 2004 | Filed under: Poetry

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