Canadian Book Lover
Not too many Canadian writers put together short stories well but The Gimmick gets the job done. There's just enough lawlessness mixed together with lighthearted comedy to make it a good read on a rainy day.
Canadian crime fiction tends to drag and this is no exception. The premise is stereotypical as can be, as a small time crooks decide to follow through on a kidnapping plot of the owner of a small farm who they think is rich and famous out of her perceived cash because they have the typical drug dealing and gambling problems and owe their suppliers. Things go unavoidably wrong and things spiral out of control. There is no mystery. The perpetrators are known so it is just a question of how and if they will be brought to justice. Typical two one dimensional cardboard cut outs characters with no personality. The story was neither life affirming nor inspiring; it didn’t inform, nor did it entertain.
I love Canadian fiction especially from the indies but this book was a bit of a letdown. I just disconnected from victor. The novel didn't intrigue me nor present new characters but just barely grazed the surface of several genres and let us all down. Just the type of book I'm sure the author got a stipend to write from the Canadian government.
Was not my preference. Had a good premise but the entire guy down on his luck blues song existence just to turn it around and be stalked by a killer could have been cute but the typical government approved censorship the Canadian government loves to enforce these days prevailed and totally destroyed the direction of the novel.
Standard French Canadian & Québécois pretentiousness of how their writing is far superior to that of their British Canadian counterparts. It's the type of book you dread having to read at the university.
This is Frank Davy's autobiographical account of his life before, during, after Tish Magazine. I liked it solely because it brought a nostalgia of the heydays of Canada when you could say and do about anything including starting a magazine rife with sexism.
Canada in modern time isn't used to getting such vile content to where you have to seek it out in dark corners. Jacked, which is a collection of Canadian and American authors (a sin in Canada) is a new compendium of original short stories, each of which highlight the dirtiness of the criminal life. Some have happy endings some do not but it isn't boring and the pace is fast enough where you won't want to put it down once you get into it.
This is a hit or miss. It's not noir like the title suggests but a collection of different short stories from different genres about different situations that adds Canada in as an afterthought. A very hand holding affair that could have done better but felt it was edgy because a few people smoked, did some gruesome killings that didn't fit with the story and used naughty language.
Historical fiction sports hockey novel set in the early 20th century. Story centers around the Renfrew Millionaires, one of the greatest hockey team every assembled, being the center of the hockey universe on their journey to the Stanley Cup while Canada and its alliances go through political strife nationally and abroad.
A terrible old novel that ushered in the era of Canadian self loathing era in books. Canada's answer to Jack Keroac tortures readers into a pitiful novel of a self absorbed company man who leaves his wife to run off and live like grizzly adams in Mexico - yes, that Mexico - so he can write the great Canadian novel under the safety of his newfound mediocrity. This book is so bad it should be criminal to read it.
A government sanctioned book that shoves race down the Canadians throat. Michael Buma examines how the Canadian hockey novel adjudicates masculinity and national identity by proposing and enforcing a homogenizing image of the Canadian as tough, northern, white, and male while almost faulting white people for being white while hockey shaming fans for supporting an all white sport. Ridiculous book.
This is not a collection of short stories by Canadian authors but a sample of favorite Canadian novels and authors from 1984 to the year of publication. Each section of authors followed a theme and each story share thoughts on the writer's history and style and also thoughts on the various books. A good starting point of Canadian literature but leans biased towards male writers. A starting point and nothing more.
A comical funny offbeat classic novel about slavery from the days where Canadian authors were not controlled by the government. Reed certainly has a profound idea to share, he discusses slavery in a way that makes one wonder the many ways we enslave others and ourselves. It reminds us of the horrors that occurred but reminds us that things have not been fully repaired. We still suck. How do we deal with that. This is a multilayered postmodern satire of slavery and the racism that pervades America, not just in the 19th century, but in the late 20th century as well. This pseudo slave narrative at this point becomes commentary on contemporary Canadian culture by way of America and the ongoing need to be in control or to be controlled.
A boring coming of age Canada book about a 50 year old man called Sam and his three friends. Their bond boringly remains until adulthood experiencing all the things that happen with life like less hockey playing for falling in love and death. My country can do better. This makes the average teen show look like soft-core pornography.