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Category Archives: Reviews
Kim Thúy’s novel Mãn, a Review
Kim Thúy is a Vietnamese-born Canadian novelist who writes in French but whose work is available in English translation. The title of the novel, Mãn, is also the name of the story’s female narrator. The name means “perfect fulfillment” and one could interpret the novel as Mãn’s journey to achieve the potential promised by her name. On the opening page we learn that one woman gave her birth, a second found her in a vegetable patch and a third, Maman—”my … Continue reading
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MARTIN JOHN, a novel by Anakana Schofield
Anakana Schofield, a Canadian writer of Irish descent, makes strong demands on us. Her novel, MARTIN JOHN, is not particularly long. And its vocabulary is not difficult though it helps to have some familiarity with British English so when the word “torch” appears you realize it refers to a flashlight and not a flaming cloth wrapped around a stick, and that “tube” refers to the subway not the TV. Nor does Ms. Schofield trouble us with convoluted sentences or interminable … Continue reading
MASHUP at the Vancouver Art Gallery
On Sunday, March 13, 2016, Nina and I spent much of the afternoon touring a new exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Titled Mashup: the Birth of Modern Culture, it is the largest single exhibition ever presented at the Gallery filling the display spaces on all four floors. The production presents 371 works of art by 156 artists from Pablo Picasso to Quentin Tarantino, from John Cage to DJ Spooky, from Andy Warhol to Jeff Koons. “Mashup,” as I learned … Continue reading
State of Wonder, a review
As a novelist I am very impressed with the challenges Ann Patchett shouldered when she set out to write STATE OF WONDER. Granted, my knowledge of Ms. Patchett is limited to information found on the dust jacket and the enjoyment I took several years ago when I read BEL CANTO. But nothing from either of those sources suggests how she could so realistically create a protagonist who has an Indian father, is a skilled gynecological surgeon and an experienced pharmacological … Continue reading
GALORE a novel by Michael Crummey, my review
There are two epigraphs at the beginning of this marvelous novel. The first, being from Gabriel García Márquez, suggests we’ll encounter strains of magic realism in the pages ahead. The second, being from Psalms, hints that the book promises a rich language, a unique cadence and an emphasis on story as opposed to character. Both, it turns out, are appropriate. GALORE is set on “the shore” in far Newfoundland in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The country is wild, … Continue reading
OPEN CITY, a novel by Teju Cole. My Review
Here is a link to the review published in the North Coast Journal in May, 2012: http://www.northcoastjournal.com/arts/2012/05/24/open-city/
