Canada Reads Book #5: Minister Without Portfolio Done!

Down to the wire, but finished on time! In preparation for attending the Canada Reads debates, I was a little rushed to finish Michael Winter's novel. But despite the rush, I really enjoyed this one.

Fishing Village in Newfoundland. Fog Rolling In.

Minister Without Portfolio is an enjoyable read based in Renews Newfoundland and centres around a character who is dealing with PTSD. Here's a quick summary by Goodreads.com:

Henry Hayward is a drowning man. With a soured long-term romance finally at an end, no family, and no refuge to be had in work, he progressively spends his days in the solace of alcohol and his nights with a series of interchangeable partners. In a quest to simultaneously recover from unrequited love and to find meaning in what is becoming an increasingly emotionally arid life, Henry travels to Afghanistan as an army-affiliated contractor.

When Henry becomes embedded in a regiment, he doesn't have time to think about his fixation on Nora or the fragments of his old life, a life he wasn't really living anyway. But everything changes during a tragic roadside incursion when a routine patrol suddenly turns fatal. And Henry, who survives, knows in his heart that he is responsible.

Upon returning home, now tormented by guilt in addition to ennui, he begins to feel even more rootless and restless until the question of his deceased friend’s summer home arises. Soon Henry is trying to bring meaning back to his life and to make posthumous amends by planning to buy and repair his friend’s dilapidated family house. But he hasn't factored family history into the picture—and his deceased friend’s girlfriend has a revelation of her own that may change everything.

My Sweetheart Overlooking Trinity Bay

 Having fallen in love with Newfoundland 2 years ago, I really loved the reminders that I found. This novel is so truly rooted in that Canadian landscape.  The traditional salt box house that dot the coast line, the ever present granite rock that proves hardier than any forest growth. The greying boat stages, and the phenomenon of moving homes over water to other plots of land. Exploring the ocean and being visited by whale.

We didn't make it to Renews, but we fell in love with Trinity Bay.

I loved this story and Canada should read it.

A Typical Sight in Newfoundland

Woody Point on Western Shore of Newfoundland
Saltbox house like the one Tender owned.

The Lighthouse at Woody Point

Canada Reads 2016: Book #4: The Illegal by Lawrence Hill

My 4th book review for Canada Reads 2016...A sad disappointment. I hope all of Canada doesn't have to suffer through it.

Book summary from Goodreads.com:

All Keita has ever wanted to do is to run. Running means respect and wealth at home. His native Zantoroland, a fictionalized country whose tyrants are eerily familiar, turns out the fastest marathoners on earth. But after his journalist father is killed for his outspoken political views, Keita must flee to the wealthy nation of Freedom State—a country engaged in a crackdown on all undocumented people.

There, Keita becomes a part of the new underground. He learns what it means to live as an illegal: surfacing to earn cash prizes by running local races and assessing whether the people he meets will be kind or turn him in. As the authorities seek to arrest Keita, he strives to elude capture and ransom his sister, who has been kidnapped.

Set in an imagined country bearing a striking resemblance to our own, this tension-filled novel casts its eye on race, human potential, and what it means to belong.

Is it fair to expect a certain quality of writing from a writer who has delivered excellence in earlier work? I say yes. If you know what an author is capable of, then you come to expect a certain level of work. The Illegal is a great example of an author, who is clearly able to write a rich, multi faceted novel, but who opts for a quick, superficial page turner. It's contrived and simplistic. It tells the story rather than shows the reader.

Here's what I posted to Goodreads.com:

Such a disappointment from such a great author. I was expecting so much more, as I know Mr Hill can deliver on all levels when he wants to.
Is seems totally contrived, lazily written with little attempt to really develop characters and rich story lines. This is highlighted by the author inventing the country of origin for the protagonist, and inventing the land that represents freedom and safety. For me, this really undermined the entire novel, and signalled trouble right from the start.
One of the most contrived episodes happens in a popular brothel. While video taping the actions of prostitutes at work, the camera man, who is a young boy, captures footage of the country's Prime Minister engaging in lascivious actions. Rather than exploring this astounding turn of events, the author glosses over it, and leaves the reader hanging.
Mr Hill can do so much better. I expect more from him, because he is more talented that this novel would suggest. 

Inconceivable events take place without a moment's consideration. An example of this is when the
young John Falconer, is hiding with video camera in hand,  inside an armoire in brothel and the Prime Minister of the country walks in as a paying customer to be services by a prostitute. He captures the entire scene on tape and the story continues without appropriate reaction. How ridiculous.

I find it totally distracting that the author has opted to invent the country of origin of the protagonist and also invented the country that represents freedom to him--conveniently names Freedom State.

I wanted this book to end as quickly as Keita could run. I hope it doesn't win Canada Reads 2016. It's not worthy.

Canada Reads 2016 #3: Birdie

 To date, my favorite novel in 2016's Canada Reads competition.

Here's a summary provided by Goodreads.com:

Birdie is a darkly comic and moving first novel about the universal experience of recovering from wounds of the past, informed by the lore and knowledge of Cree traditions. Bernice Meetoos, a Cree woman, leaves her home in Northern Alberta following tragedy and travels to Gibsons, BC. She is on something of a vision quest, seeking to understand the messages from The Frugal Gourmet (one of the only television shows available on CBC North) that come to her in her dreams. She is also driven by the leftover teenaged desire to meet Pat Johns, who played Jesse on The Beachcombers, because he is, as she says, a working, healthy Indian man. Bernice heads for Molly’s Reach to find answers but they are not the ones she expected.

With the arrival in Gibsons of her Auntie Val and her cousin Skinny Freda, Bernice finds the strength to face the past and draw the lessons from her dreams that she was never fully taught in life. Part road trip, dream quest and travelogue, the novel touches on the universality of women's experience, regardless of culture or race. 

Slow to start, and a challenge to understand. The story is somewhat segmented at first, and it takes some time to figure out the narrative. That being said, the level of creativity in this novel is commendable. It's unlike anything I've ever read, and I found it really engaging.

Layered with Cree language and beautiful imagery.  I loved the author's playful creation of compound words.

I hope that Canada and the world get the opportunity to discover this story, and this author. It is a special book.

Canada Reads 2016: Book #2: The Hero's Walk

This year's Canada Reads theme is Starting Over.

Anita Rau Badami's novel is not only about starting over; it is a story of hope, renewal, forging on, and looking to the future. 

Here's a brief summary from Goodreads.com:

As The Hero's Walk opens, Sripathi's life is already in a state of thorough disrepair. His mother, a domineering, half-senile octogenarian, sits like a tyrant at the top of his household, frightening off his sister's suitors, chastising him for not having become a doctor, and brandishing her hypochondria and paranoia with sinister abandon. It is Sripathi's children, however, who pose the biggest problems: Arun, his son, is becoming dangerously involved in political activism, and Maya, his daughter, broke off her arranged engagement to a local man in order to wed a white Canadian. Sripathi's troubles come to a head when Maya and her husband are killed in an automobile accident, leaving their 7- year-old daughter, Nandana, without Canadian kin. Sripathi travels to Canada and brings his granddaughter home, while his family is shaken by a series of calamities that may, eventually, bring peace to their lives.  

A strand of Jasmine flower

This novel was a pleasure to read. It is beautifully written with rich, complicated characters. They are well developed and help create interest. There is a gentle plot that is enriched with a few other captivating sub-plots. Badami develops great setting: I could almost smell the strands of jasmine blossom and feel the breeze out on Sripathi's veranda. And while the initial conflict of the death of Sripathi's daughter is a tragedy, the novel does not wallow in doom and gloom.

It's a great read, and entertaining. 

One of the most beautiful scenes is that of the turtles laying eggs on the beach.

When I was a child, my best friends mother told us stories of her as a young girl in Pakistan and how her family would go to the beach to watch the turtles lay their eggs. 

Canada Reads 2016 First Read: Bone and Bread

I love the CBC!!!

I have begun my Canada Reads 2016 homework, and my first novel is Bone and Bread by Saleema Nawaz

Here is an excerpt from Heather Leighton's Globe and Mail review: 

In Bone & Bread, Beena and her younger sister, Sadhana, live in a tiny apartment above a bagel store in Montreal’s Mile End. Their father, Vishram Singh, the bagel-shop owner, dies suddenly, leaving the business to his younger and more traditional Sikh brother, Harinder. The Singh family in India had disowned their eldest son because of his marriage to a white American woman, Beena and Sadhana’s mother, in spite of her conversion to Sikhism.

After the father’s death, their apartment is set ablaze by neo-Nazis, and Sadhana soon shows signs of obsessive compulsive disorder. Tragedy strikes again when the mother dies, leaving the two young teens in the care of Harinder, the girls’ only living relative in Canada. Within a year, Sadhana is admitted to hospital for anorexia, while Beena finds herself pregnant. The child’s father, Ravi, a bagel-shop employee, is nowhere to be found.

Beena tells their story from the present as an adult living in Ottawa with her now 18-year-old son, Quinn. Sadhana, the actress, dancer and political activist, has died, and Beena must return to Montreal and empty her apartment. In the process, she uncovers evidence that raises suspicions about the circumstances surrounding her sister’s death. She also discovers that Sadhana had secretly contacted Ravi, now a rising right-wing political star.

I had difficulty with this novel. Bone and Break is suffused with strife and misery, cruelty, grief and despair--not a light read. Nawaz’s narrator, Beena, is plagued with tragedy: her ungrateful, anoretic sister Sadhana is emotionally manipulative, her father and mother pass away leaving them orphaned, and their only relative--their uncle-- is repressive and unable to love them.

The writing is a challenge too. The story skips in and out of the first person singular into plural. Stylistically, I believe that this is a problem. Although there were moments of beautiful prose, there were moments that I found myself confused by Nawaz's writing.  

Farah Mohamed will be defending Bone and Bread. She is a very interesting women in her own right. Here's a link for more info on her unique perspective on life: http://www.cbc.ca/books/2016/01/farah-mohamed.html

Farah Mohamed will be defending
this novel

I don't believe that this novel truly hits the theme of "Starting Over" for CBC's competition. Without question, this novel has many losses, and forces it's characters to adapt to change and challenge, but it's not inspirational or overly memorable.

I suspect that this isn't this year's winner. We will see if others across Canada agree. 

Here's another blog that I enjoyed reading about this novel:

http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/2016/01/review-of-bone-and-bread-by-saleema.html

Canada Reads: 5 Books, One Contest. Let's get at it!

This year, I resolved to participate in the Canada Reads challenge. With the 5 finalists selected, I am away to the races with the required reading. This year's theme is "Starting Over", or transformative events that create a new beginning.

In addition to the fun reading, I secured tickets for two of the four debate days; I will be attending on Tuesday March 22, and Wednesday March 23 at the CBC Broadcasting Centre in Toronto. What fun! Sadly, Wab Kinew will not be hosting this event, as his political aspirations have forced him to step down from this project. I wish him well with the political race. (Not sure who the host will be in his stead.)

Now let me get back to my reading!

Here are the final 5 books that I will be reading:

Farah Mohamed defends Bone and Bread

Vinay Virmani defends The Hero's Walk 

Bruce Poo Tip defends Birdie

Adam Copeland defends Minister Without Portfolio

Clara Hughes defends The Illegal

Here are the authors and the celebrity personalities that will be defending their novels:

No pressure, but the Celebs better bring their A game!!!

This One Might Bug You: Cockroach...

Book Club Book #2 for 2016...Wonder how many members will make it through this one?!?

One of Canada Reads 2014 finalist, Rawi Hage's Cockroach is the story of an impoverished Iranian immigrant who is struggling with many issues in Montreal. The theme of 2014 for Canada Reads was: "One Novel to Change Canada". Having read this novel, I'm not sure that Cockroach is far reaching enough to carry that title.


Here's Goodreads' summary:

The novel takes place during one month of a bitterly cold winter in Montreal's restless immigrant community, where a self-described thief has just tried but failed to commit suicide. Rescued against his will, the narrator is obliged to attend sessions with a well-intentioned but naive therapist. This sets the story in motion, leading us back to the narrator's violent childhood in a war-torn country, forward into his current life in the smoky emigre cafes where everyone has a tale, and out into the frozen night-time streets of Montreal, where the thief survives on the edge, imagining himself to be a cockroach invading the lives of the privileged, but wilfully blind, citizens who surround him.

The main character who remains nameless struggles with:

mental health--he is delusional, and has episodes of believing he is half human, half cockroach.
financial--living in poverty, struggling with hunger, holding down a job, securing clean housing.
historical conflict--his past haunts him, he has memories that revisit him.
social problems--his friends who owe him money, and are owed money, have questionable loyalties.
cultural conflicts--these are really hi lighted by the interactions between him and his psychiatrist, Genevieve.

So how many women in the group read it? ALL OF THEM READ THE BOOK THIS MONTH!!!!! That has to be a first!!!