**Canada (general thread)

This is a thread for general discussion of Canadian Literature. Please feel free to create more specific threads relating to Can Lit as needed but be sure to make the thread title clear so other readers can find it.

Thought I'd kick off the Canada thread with a good piece of non-fiction I read last year. Maps And Dreams by Hugh Brody. I gave it four stars. Here is my review:

A very moving examination of a way of life under threat from the continuing White settlement and commercial expansion and exploitation of natural resources in northeast British Columbia, Canada. Brody's insight is coloured by his 18 month sojourn with the First Nation bands of the area. The chapters alternate between his beautifully and respectfully written accounts of various key moments in the annual season, with relevant essays exploring in some detail the different aspects of the historic betrayals and increasing pressures and restrictions on the Indians' way of living on their own land.

An early chapter retells a hunting trip to the Bluestone area. The dreams of the hunters play their part in guiding the itinerary, and the soul of these men and women is conveyed to the reader with considerable art and delicacy by Hugh Brody.

Occasionally becomes a touch dry with some of the extensive detail covering the Indian economy , but on the whole the book is very informative and written with passion and sensitivity for the subject.

While I don't want to get into listing every Canadian author I've read, I do want to mention one author who has a lot of regional content in his books. Michael Crummey writes about Newfoundland and I have enjoyed everything of his I have read - poetry, short fiction and novels.

I'm now about to start Tom Finn's recent collection of Newfoundland stories Westsiders which I gratefully won for the Early Reviewers group. It's a very appealing small edition with the author's own artwork on the covers. I'll report back...

I've just read and enjoyed That Summer in Franklin by Linda Hutsell-Manning. It seems like it's going to be depressing but it isn't. It's well-written, subtle, and surprisingly gripping.

Westsiders -
I read this book because I like North American literature, short stories, and historic fiction - so I expected this book to appeal. Set in the late 1940s, I liked some of the early stories - 'Mouse' stood out as the best for me - the characters were very believable and had real 'voices' if that makes sense. All of the stories seemed to have a theme of wanting or needing to get away from something, or Corner Brook itself - where they were predominantly set - and Tom Finn does a good job of conveying the staidness of this quiet place where not a lot happens. But I just didn't find myself interested enough in the plots or moved particularly by the prose.

If you have a particular connection to Corner Brook, or perhaps Newfoundland in general, this humble collection will probably be of interest. Unfortunately I can't say that it was especially to me.

Jacques Poulin is a French Canadian author whose tender, thoughtful books are treasures. Vieux Chagrin, or Old Grief, oddly titled Mister Blue in the English translation, is another such gem. As always the writing is lyrical and expressive, and the action is quiet and philosophical. There is something otherworldly about Mister Blue, and yet the themes are ones with which we all must grapple.

Jim is a published author and Hemingway expert who lives alone in his childhood home on the shores of Île d'Orléans. By nature a quiet and dreamy sort, Jim calls himself the slowest writer in Quebec. Sticking to a regime, Jim tries to write a page a day, but is often distracted by the view from his window, the sound of the river, his cats. He is trying to write a love story, however, never having been in love himself, he struggles with writer's block. One day, as he and Mr. Blue the cat are walking along the beach, Jim discovers footprints leading to the cave at the end of the beach. Curious he goes in and see the remnants of a fire, a candle, a book, and a box of matches.

I went closer to look at the book: it was The Arabian Nights. I would have liked to pick it up and turn the pages, but something held me back. I had the feeling that to do so would be indiscreet. It was as if I were in some person's bedroom. I mean: in everything I could see there - the footprints, the objects, even in the air itself - there was a sense of somebody's soul. I didn't touch the book.

My full review

I also read Mister Blue by Jacques Poulin, and I loved it as well. Here's my review.

Jim, the narrator of this outstanding novel, is a writer and former professor, who lives in his isolated childhood home alongside the St. Lawrence River, close to Quebec City. He lives alone, save for his old feline companion Mister Blue, as he attempts to write a "the most beautiful love story in the world." However, he has never been truly in love, and he struggles to provide a face and a voice to the woman in his novel.

One day Jim walks on the bank of the river, and he is surprised to see footsteps in the sand, leading to a nearby cave. He enters, and finds evidence that someone is living there. A copy of The Arabian Nights is alongside remnants of a campfire, which has been inscribed with the name "Marie K." The novelist changes her name in his mind to "Marika", and she serves as the inspiration for the woman in his novel.

He later meets a matronly woman, who knows Marika and gives him an enticing description of her. As he is befriended by the matron and a young woman, referred to as La Petite, Jim's heart is filled with Marika's presence and his growing love for her, while he awaits a reply to his letters of invitation. His friendship with La Petite deepens, as the two damaged souls find kinship and draw each other out of their emotional shells:

In spite of the difference in age and the other differences, which were many, La Petite and I had several things in common. And the most important of these common points, at least the one that brought me closest to her, was perhaps this: most of the time we were, both of us, walled up inside ourselves and busy trying to stick back together the fragments of our past.

Jim continues to search for the elusive Marika, as his heart progressively fills with love, longing and despair.

Mister Blue is a richly layered, haunting and deeply moving novel of love and memory, in which reality and fantasy blur and merge. It is both beautifully and simply written, and I adored and identified closely with Jim and La Petite, who will reside in my heart for many days. I can't recommend this novel highly enough, and I look forward to reading more of Poulin's translated works.

I finished Thomas Wharton's Icefields last night, a book I started and put down some years ago. It was excellent. It's set near the glaciers in Alberta. Haven't written a review yet, but probably will eventually.

PROVINCE: ALBERTA

ICEFIELDS by Thomas Wharton (1995, Canadian)

Icefields is a beautiful book—a beautifully written book—a literary expedition into the wondrous and the mysterious: the glassy Arcturus Glacier and the human soul.

The book begins in 1898,. The English medical doctor Edward Byrne, part of an expedition exploring the icefields, falls into a chasm and is pinned upside down. As he edges near unconsciousness he sees something in the blue ice that will forever connect him to this mountain and glacier in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta (near Jasper). Edward is rescued by the other expedition members and is brought to the cabin of the dark-skinned Sara, a “woman with stories,” to recover.

Edward is quiet and thoughtful, a man of science. His medical training provides him with the means to support himself on the frontier, while he pursues his other interests. The story follows Edward’s life while it also paints a rich portrait of the wider landscape: the settlements of the area and the interesting characters who populate it—all of which Edward is a part of.

This is an immensely satisfying story. There is an intense sense of place and Edward is the everyman connecting us to it. There is also something dreamlike, ethereal, or spiritual about it, both in tale and tone... (this is an excerpt of a longer review which is on the book's page)

ONTARIO



The Way The Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald

Reading this novel I found myself veering from feelings of frustration at its hefty length to enthralled admiration at the scope of the writing and beauty of the prose.

I was swept away into a world of a quiet Royal Canadian Air Force station in rural Ontario during the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The characters in this story were so vivid and plausible, none more so than the two main families featured in it - The McCarthys and the Froelichs. Madeleine McCarthy is the 9 year old daughter of RCAF Wing Commander Jack - one of the commanders at the base, and his Acadian wife Mimi. Her world is full of jokes and funny voices, a loving family home, playing with her friends and going to school. Asking her Papa difficult questions. So far so very normal. Except that being a military family means that their life is always transient, "say good bye to the house buddy". Friends come and go. But Madeleine never had a friend like Colleen Froelich before, the moody tough girl in the unusual family across the street. Some of the other girls at Madeleine's school are her closest friends, and then there is the bossy and annoying Marjorie, and Grace who nobody much likes and chews her fingers...

A new family from America arrive at the base, a USAF Exchange Officer on secondment. Only Madeleine's father knows why Captain McCarroll is at the base, only Jack that is and his top secret contact Simon at the British Embassy in Washington.

Within a year the lives of the McCarthys, the Froelichs, and the McCarrolls will all have changed dramatically for ever. Two of them will be dead. This is a wonderful story which by its finish has spanned over twenty years in the lives of the protagonists. The painful and tragic subject of child abuse crops up quite early on and throughout the book in passages - and it is difficult to read, but very integral to the plot. The vast scope of this book also encompasses the Cold War at its peak, the space race, a Nazi war criminal defecting from the Soviets, Vietnam, and a murder trial with some brilliantly executed courtroom scenes.

I read this book as part of the LT Reading Globally group's theme read on 'Closed Societies' and I'm so glad that I did. I might not have found this book if it weren't for that reason. In the end, the plot of the novel was more related to a 'closed society' than I bargained for - the transient nature of the families' lives, the secrets and duties that Madeleine's father Jack is burdened with, the false atmosphere of safety and security in a seemingly close-knit community. Ann-Marie Macdonald's writing is excellent. She wrote a book that was so cinematic and in its style, full of poignancy, tragedy, and a fair bit of humour too. Full of everyday cultural references that give the 1960s (and later 1980s) settings a particular vividness, I was totally transplanted to the places in the book. My only complaint is that it is so very long. At 700+ pages I think it could have been edited down by perhaps a 100 pages or so, maybe the author was guilty on occasion of just a little over-indulgence in her beautiful prose - but maybe the accumulative effect on the whole book wouldn't have been quite as good? I nearly put it down at about 100 pages as it was taking me a while to get going with it, (really down to my own distractions though and not the book itself) but in the end I'm so glad I didn't and that I pushed on. I found the rest of the book flew by pretty quickly. By the end I was sad to see the story over, and the ending did come as a surprise to this reader.

All in all a book that is well worth the effort and one that will reward the patient reader

>11 Polaris-: I really enjoyed that one. I read it before reading Fall on Your Knees and liked it (The Way the Crow Flies) much better!

MANITOBA
Some Great Thing

Lawrence Hill wrote this novel based upon his time working for the Winnipeg Free Press in 1983. It's quite good for a first novel and certainly shines a light on the French language debate in Manitoba at that time. It's also a really interesting look at what goes on behind the scenes in a newspaper.

Newfoundland

The Custodian of Paradise / Wayne Johnston
3 stars

Sheilagh Fielding grew up without her mother and her father insisted he wasn't really her father. As a teenager, she became pregnant and gave up her twin children. As she got older, she received letters from someone who called himself her “Provider”. He seemed to know all her secrets.

It was ok, but in my opinion, the author has much better books. I really wasn't all that interested in Sheilagh (though I was mildly curious about this “Provider”), and I really didn't like her all that much, either. Much of the book is told in diary form or letters as she thinks back on her life. Normally, that doesn't bother me much, but for some reason, I tended to skim through the letters and such more than the “regular” text of the book.

Newfoundland



Memoirs of a Blue Puttee: The Newfoundland Regiment in World War One by A.J. Stacey and Jean Edwards Stacey
Published 2002, 190 p.

This interesting little memoir/history documents the roll of the Newfoundland Regiment in WWI and in particular the first 500 volunteers known as the Blue Puttees, for the color of their leg wrappings. A.J. Stacey was number 466 and was with the regiment through some of the worst battles of the war: Gallipoli, Ypres, Battle of the Somme, and Vimy Ridge, to name a few. His memoirs are bracketed by the history of the regiment written by his daughter-in-law, Jean Edwards Stacey.

Whereas the history recounts the battles and losses, Stacey's memoirs focus more on day to day life and personal interactions. During the war Stacey served in roles which provide unique perspectives. He worked in the mess, so often talked about the food; as a Battalion runner, which allowed him to move between units and have an overview of battles; and as a mailman of sorts, delivering mail to the units. He writes often of the hijinks he and his friends got up to and of ways in which he subverted military discipline.

As with any account of WWI, this book astonished me at the loss of life that accompanied each gain, not of miles, but of yards. The most profound day of battle for the Newfoundland Regiment was July 1, 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. It is now commemorated as Canada Day. It was the regiment's first battle in France, and out of the 801 men of the regiment who fought at Beaumont Hamel, only 68 answered roll call the following day. The rest were dead, wounded, or missing (usually blown up).

I enjoyed the snippets of everyday life that Jean Stacey wove into her history: newspaper clippings, advertisements, poems. And photos are always interesting. What I didn't enjoy was the formatting of the text. There was very little line spacing, with 44 lines per page. (Whereas the last book I read, The Memory Police had a comfortable 31.) To make reading even more challenging, all of A.J. Stacey's memoir sections, sometimes pages long, were printed in italics. Overall, I would recommend this book for those interested in regional history and those who like unusual WWI memoirs.

QUÉBEC

Autumn Rounds by Jacques Poulin, translated from the French by Sheila Fischman

  

My rating:

This charming and simple novel takes place in and around Québec City, and the primary character is an older man known as The Driver, who owns an old milk truck that he has converted to a bookmobile. During the autumn months he travels to nearby towns and hamlets, delivering books provided to him by the provincial government, and meeting old and new friends along the way. He enjoys what he does, but he lives alone in a fifth floor apartment, and loneliness is a constant companion that saps his life of satisfaction.

On one summery day he hears a band playing a marching tune, and he decides to go out and investigate this unusual occurrence. The music comes from a band accompanied by a troupe of jugglers, acrobats and singers from France, who are traveling from town to town. While there he meets the manager, a striking woman who resembles an older version of Katherine Hepburn in appearance and manner. The Driver and Marie immediately hit it off, and after spending time together she and the members of the troupe decide to rent an old bus and follow The Driver on his rounds to deliver books in the province, as they need to earn money to allow them to return to France.

The book is filled with rich descriptions of the Québec countryside, along with books and beloved singers of the past. The burgeoning love between The Driver and Marie is quite touching, and I was caught up in their relationship as if they were close friends of mine.

I’ve loved the two books I’ve read by Jacques Poulin, as he is a master storyteller whose books touch my heart. Autumn Rounds is right up there with Mister Blue and Translation Is a Love Affair, and it’s a novel that I’ll certainly read again in the near future.

Quebec

I'm assuming other readers here are familiar with Margaret Atwood. As far as Canadian literature goes, I've only ever read The Handmaid's Tale. But after finding myself stranded in Montreal one snowy winter due to a canceled flight, I got to learn about Canada and Quebec in ways I never expected.

What a lovely city! Much of my first night in Montreal was spent waiting in line at the airport to contact a grumpy customer service agent over my cancellation, but after a late-night dinner and deep sleep at a roadside hotel, my fiancee at the time and I spent a few days in the city, mostly sightseeing in places downtown. We enjoyed walking through Chinatown as well as the Christmas illuminations near the Place des Arts. The cathedrals were also splendid.

Anyway, I wanted to learn more about the history of the city. So I discovered the essay collection, Letters from Montreal, which talks about the history as well as the contemporary scene of the city, and I find it fascinating as an English-speaking American. I couldn't speak French there to save my life, but something about Montreal felt American to me, in the sense that I found myself in just another part of North America, or a kind of French-speaking New York, if you will. I would much like to visit again so I can see more things and maybe read about them, too.