Film Society

Thousands of women regularly haul themselves off to small book club meetings; some, like the ones in Film Society, opt for video-watching gatherings. This is a sort of cultural phenomenon. It’s also a resource: so ... Read More »

February 23, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Accidental Indies

By Robert Finley

The Accidental Indies, by Robert Finley, bears reading at least twice, although in description it sounds very straightforward. It is about Christopher Columbus and his first voyage toward what we now call the Western Hemisphere. ... Read More »

February 23, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

★ A Message for Mr. Lazarus

By Barbara Lambert

With the publication of A Message for Mr. Lazarus, Barbara Lambert joins the growing throng of first-rate female short story writers in Canada. In her debut collection – following a novel, The Allegra Series – ... Read More »

February 23, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Short

★ Getting Lucky

By Matt Cohen

Critical Etiquette Rule # 96: Ignore the book’s author. Get rid of him.We became intimate with Matt Cohen last fall when he won the Governor General’s Award for Elizabeth and After. We saw him ridicule ... Read More »

February 23, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Short

Media Therapy

By Larry Gaudet

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

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