Book Reviews

Review by Jen McNeely

In A Nutshell: It's 1981 in Toronto and 19 year old Kate McLeod leaves the hot garbage stink of Parkdale to work as a porter aboard a Great Lake freighter; a most grueling job consisting of pot scrubbing, potato peeling and airing out the laundry of unkept sailors. A summer job to pay for art school becomes an adventure and exploration into the rough landscapes of wild waters, tumultuous relationships and the current of life amongst hard lived seamen. Though not a typical place for a girl with soft skin and perky bosom, Kate toils away and meets the steel tough surroundings with tenacious force, both fueled and soothed by the lens of her camera, her youthful sexual desires and laced in cigarette smoke and vodka. She learns the value of a hard day's work and is introduced to gritty folk who opt for cod jigging, as opposed to drooling over Princess Diana. Pulling into desolate forgotten port towns lined with sleazy strip bars and primal men, Kate evolves from an apathetic pajama clad drifter into a young woman with the kind of strength that can split the waves and whose character deepens and rocks with a new found life that proves much more raw and honest then the girl she left on land.

Three Words to Describe it: Rough, Passionate, Human

Indicative Quotes: "There was grit stuck to her bare feet and the air smelled of socks. She noticed a blood-stained tampon sitting on one of the scraps and remembered him pulling it out of her, like a cork out of a bottle."

"It was a man's town. Even at eleven at night, the harbour roared with jostling vehicles, pickup trucks, transports, dump trucks and forklifts, their lights like angry monster eyes."

"It had a derelict air, the kind of house neighbourhood children would populate with ghosts or killers."

"Even classical music would have been better than her father's driving soundtrack, the Sunday morning news programs on the CBC, which were always turned up too loud, like some kind of psychological torture."

Reason I Liked It:When so many young girls chase glamour as a means for adventure, Kate grabs life by the balls and finds it in the most daunting and unwelcoming places. I admire her sense of adventure and ability to shake off the dirty lures and misogynist behaviour of well traveled sailors and, equally impressive, her interest in befriending worn to the bone cranky old birds.

At nineteen, you don't know what life is going to hit you with; you barely know who you are and the best way to fight the confusion amongst this time of growth is to walk into unknown territory. I can't say that I had the guts or even the thought to tackle myself by serving miners in Northern Ontario, or cleaning rooms for loggers in interior BC. Quite the opposite to little Miss McLeod, at nineteen I discovered my true nature amidst the epicenter of New York City; drinking with strangers, studying film and fucking older men to spite my mother's warnings. I admire Kate's decision to thumb her nose at the conservative parents and the gloss of city lights for a more rumbling and uncharted journey.

Beyond my immediate bonding with the young protagonist, I quite enjoyed the lively sex scenes, the references to Toronto (streetcars, garbage stink, Gardiner Expressway, Polish restaurants on Roncesvalles), I was brought back to 1981 with accuracy; (not long ago but long enough that women were seen and treated differently) and to a pace of life staggered by pay phones and handwritten letters.

Book Club Ideas: Find an old abandoned ship and head down there at night with some candles, bottle of vodka and two packs of smokes. Pack some thrown together corned beef sandwiches and take turns reading as you listen to the waves slap against the teetering, creaky old ship. Alternatively, if you don't feel like getting arrested for trespassing – go down to Captain Johns boat (at it's heyday in the early 80's) and talk about how you wish you were nineteen again over eight bottles of beer and some sub par fish and chips.

Verdict: This is a novel for young girls trying to find their path in life, it's for women who have found it and know the pains of getting there and for all of us who prefer a drink with bite to a light fruity cocktail. Sailor Girl is a gritty Canadian story that intertwines rough landscapes with hard work, gritty humour, truculent fucking and family turmoil; a turbulent story that reads poetically smooth. Olson's use of language and imagery flows beautifully while still leaving you with plenty of sting. Leave your shopping bags at home, and save the whining about your non-fat, double soy WTF latte for another occasion; this is as real as life gets.

Buy this book for: Yourself, your best friend, your little sister heading off to university.

by Dorothy Hearst

Review by Lizzie

In A Nutshell: Fourteen thousand years ago, wolves roaming the Wide Valley are anxious about the arrogance of humans. When Kaala, a plucky pup of mixed blood, is born with a half-moon marking the pack wonders if she’s an omen of good or bad fortune. The alpha male, Ruqquo, is wary and tries to restrict her pack status. But with her instinctual fondness for humans, and smarts, can Kaala be controlled? Awhooooo!

Three Words to Describe it: Convoluted wolf legends

Indicative Quote: “I watched a human child nuzzle in her parent’s arms, and wanted those arms around me. I wanted the firemeat in my mouth, the warmth of the fire on my fur. The pull I had felt before was increased tenfold, and I could not fight it.”

Reason I Liked It: It’s pretty hard to put yourself into the frame of mind of a wolf, and Dorothy Hearst does a damn good job. I imagine that she must have spent lots of time sitting in a dog park, making copious notes about dogs sniffing and yipping at each other.

You’ll Like This If You Like: Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George, Watership Down by Richard Adams, or your husky puppy.

Book Club Ideas: Head to Algonquin Park for a wolf howl expedition. Your human group howls, then a wolf pack will reply. While you might be scared at first, just think, hey they’re Kaala’s friends, then jog in their direction. Maybe they’ll help you hunt rabbits if you give them firemeat (roasted hotdogs in your pocket). When your guide chases after you, and insists that you stay away from the wolves, jump into a long tirade about how the laws of the Greatwolves and the Council are unjust.

Verdict: Not quite my cup of tea. Wolves don’t exactly top my list of interests. Plus the whole plot rested upon this convoluted series of convenants, laws of the valley, and promises regarding the boundaries of wolves and humans, which all seem to have become twisted over time. They weren’t quite confusing, just not compelling or convincing.

Good Present For: The sort of teenage boy who’s into hobbits and the board game Risk.

By Lauren Weisberger

Review by Lizzie

In A Nutshell: On the brink of their thirties, three attractive best friends in Manhattan seek love, passion and career success. Sound familiar? Leigh (aka Miranda): TiVo addicted workaholic suffocated by her perfect on paper boyfriend. Adriana (aka Brazilian – ethnically, not pubically – version of Samantha): sexually adventurous with a disposable income. Emmy (aka Charlotte): an embryo obsessed serial monogamist who turns a new leaf and pledges to sleep with one guy per continent, excluding Antartica.

Reason I Liked It: Like the lychee martinis the girls favour, it’s light and goes down easy. Weisberger has some sharp comedic moments: the chapter where Adriana tries to repair the self-confidence of a surly parrot is priceless.

Three Words to Describe it: SATC rip off

Indicative Quote: “Maddox. An interesting development. As much as Adriana disliked children – especially the shriekers and the ones with runny noses – she’d fallen in love with the entire Brangelina brood. . . She’d love to see that stylish Cambodian adoptee in person. Pax would be worthwhile, too, but no one – not Zahara nor even Shiloh – would be as rewarding as a Maddox sighting. She bolted upright in bed and began a frantic search through her open closet. What does one wear to a movie set?”

You’ll Like This If You Like: Sex and the City: The Movie, you know, less witty than the show with characters who can seem dissapointingly hollow at times, but still a fun time that’ll make you feel cheery.

Book Club Ideas: Head to an au courant resto bar – Spice Route on King will serve well – for vodka gimlets and tuna tartare apps (and yes, I hate that I just said apps too, but I feel it was necessary given the context). Make a sweeping pledge for the upcoming year. If committing to a Tour de Whore, like Emmy’s, is a bit terrifying try, “I swear to smile coyly at handsome men on the subway, even if I then bungle off in a clumsy huff” or “I swear to up the ante on my flirting capacity by not simply throwing my hair in a messy bun every day.” Baby steps.

Verdict: There’s a reason this book came out in the summer. It’s the perfect beach – or, as was actually the case for me, pool at a friend’s cottage – read. The title and the cover make the book sound more vapid and predictable than it is. It isn’t all about ruthlessly hunting for a husband as the means to a showy engagement ring. It’s slightly more complex than that (slightly, being the operative word). Weisberger is a solid writer who crafts an undeniably entertaining read. Basically, if the Sex and the City movie didn’t appease your appetite for best friends in New York, then this is the book for you.

Good Present For: Pair this book with an oversized brownie or a bunch of flowers and give it to your freshly dumped friend.

Review by Lizzie

In a Nutshell: Blogger Catherine Sanderson reflects on the upheaval sparked by her blog, Petite Anglaise, a British ex-pat’s arch observations of life as a MILF in Paris. Using her blog to vent about her moody French partner, Mr Frog, Catherine attracts the doting online attention of James. But is this new flame worth tearing apart her family, or her carefully crafted Parisian existence?

Reason I Liked It: Vicariously living through Catherine’s wanders in belle Paris was tres jolie. Yes, I might not jump at the chance to trade places with her as working mom in a dead end relationship, but ah, to be strolling along the Canal St. Martin, or cruising the used bookstores of St. Germain.

Three Words to Describe it: Cyber Age Romance

Indicative Quote: The lift doors folded back, concertina-like, and Mr. Frog held Tadpole while I retrieved her stroller from the storeroom with its floral wallpaper and lingerling smell of mildew, the gardienne’s quarters in days gone by. Planting a perfunctory kiss on his smooth-shaven cheek, I mumbled, ‘Bon courage,’ and watched as he hurried off in the direction of his Vespa.

You’ll Like This If You Like: Paris, Je T’aime

Book Club Ideas: Why go to Paris of course! Or, be nearly as decadent by dining on steak frites and vin rouge at Le Paradis (at Bedford and Davenport), followed by a couple of hours cruising the archives of Petite Anglaise. Spoiler alert: don’t go to the blog before you finish the book, some tantalizing recent developments in Catherine’s life will give too much away.

Verdict: There’s a reason Petite Anglaise has charmed the blogger universe. Catherine’s observations are utterly human, ranging from the cleverly sardonic to the hopelessly romantic. She’s honest and self-scrutinizing so, even when you get a bit peeved at her life choices, you appreciate that at least she’s aware of her own flaws.It’s undeniably chick lit, but chick lit with brains and thick rimmed glasses. The sort of woman who might just be your best friend

Good Present For: Denise Dias, writer of SheDoesTheCity’s Francophile column French Kiss. I'll definitely have to pass this one on to her. Any friend embarking on a European vacation will get a kick out of it.

Petite Anglaise will be released on June 17th.

EXTRA EXTRA! Indigo Books and Music presents SALMAN RUSHDIE on Monday June 9 at Danforth Music Hall for a reading and signing of his 12th novel – THE ENCHANTRESS OF FLORENCE.

Don’t miss your chance to see one of the most influential people of our time, and mastermind behind MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN, THE SATANIC VERSES, and countless other literary works.

THE ENCHANTRESS OF FLORENCE is a love story and a mystery about a woman attempting to command her own destiny in a man’s world.

EVENT DETAILS:
Danforth Music Hall – 147 Danforth Avenue
Monday June 9th, 2008 @ 7:00pm
Tickets are $15 – available through Ticketmaster

by Lizzie
In a Nutshell: Over the course of seven nights, Balram Halwai alias Munna – son of a rickshaw puller hailing from the Darkness of India – boasts the corrupt and violent secrets behind his entrepeneurial success. In so doing he blows up the bullshit broadcast by India Radio, exposing what really makes the country tick: bribes, blackmail, and the Rooster Coop Syndrome afflicting the servile masses.

Reason I Liked It: The White Tiger is the literary equivalent of an M.I.A. album: fierce, edgy, colourful, political, street savvy.

Three Words to Describe it: Provocative, thrilling ride

Indicative Quote: You should hear some of these Bangalore entrepreneurs – my start-up has got this contract with American Express, my start-up runs the software in this hospital in London, blah blah. I hate that whole fucking Bangalore attitude, I tell you. (But if you absolutely must find out more about me, just long on to my Web site: www.whitetiger-technologydrivers.com. That’s right! That’s the URL of my start-up!)

You’ll Like This If You Like: Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting, City of God, dancing in a frenzied mob to Bhangra beat remixes

Book Club Ideas: Buy some betel nut paan from a store on Gerrard and start spitting and shooting the shit with some friends in a parking lot – bring along bootleg whiskey for good measure. Laughing about how your bosses fart when they’re drunk is encouraged. Then go home and wait around the telephone till you receive a call from a Bangalore call-centre. Pester the caller with questions about what life is like in the city.

Verdict: Highly recommended. With the captivating voice of Balram Halwai, Aravind Adiga has captured the fiery survivalist spirit that fuels success in the third world like few I’ve seen before. If a time capsule was made to preserve the pulse of the beginning of the twenty-first century, it’d be well advised to place The White Tiger in it.

Good Present For: Your boyfriend or brother. With raw talk about Ukranian prostitutes, groin scratching, murder and whiskey, this is the kind of book that guys love.

Review by Lizzie

In a Nutshell: In the stilletto-steps of the Olsens, Hiltons and Millers, the Hellar sisters - Daria, Polly and Amelia - are launched into the spotlight by a photo in the New Yorker that wows America with their fiery red hair. But the world of champagne and Times Square billboards comes with sleazy stalkers, paparazzi mobs and wretched hangovers. Will fame tear the family apart?

Indicative Quote: “You just say, ‘I’ll have a mango margarita,’ and they bring it to you. I had one but I drank it too fast and I got one of those headaches in your nose. Can you believe that? Like is it not even noticeable to anybody that I’m like fourteen years old?”

Three Words to Describe it: Tabloid as novel

Reason I Liked It: The fast paced rise of the Hellar girls from nobodies to it-girls made for easy breezy reading. I felt delightfully indulgent reading it, especially with the Dynasty era like portrait on the front cover. A dead ringer for Heather Locklear, no?

Reason I Didn’t Like It: You know when you go to a play and in lieu of good dialogue and complex characters, the playwright piles on an absurd array of conflicts and everything descends into a cringe worthy screaming fest? Well, Theresa Rebeck comes from a drama background, and this book felt exaclty like that. All the “fuck yous” and storming out of the rooms got plain boring

You’ll Like This If You Like: Paris Hilton’s Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose
Book Club Ideas: Head to Lobby, Ultra Supper Club or Brant House and schmooze. First, pretend to be Daria. Act aloof while you hover at the bar with a cosmo. Then pull a Polly, and let some sleazy wannabe film producer fondle you. Switch gears to be Amelia and viciously bite the guy on the arm. Then head home and end the night as the brother Philip by watching reruns of Star Trek on the T.V.

Verdict: At first I found the book fun, if a bit vacuous. I’d be out dining with my boyfriend and confess that I really just wanted to get home to continue reading Three Girls and Their Brother (of course when I said the title I had to flip my hair, strike a pose and speak in hushed, husky tones). But eventually the incessant upspeak, self-righteous rants and melodrama got to me. It’s a book about actors and supermodels; how could it not get annoying?

Good Present For: That girlfriend of yours who is considering applying to a reality t.v. show. Beware the trappings of fifteen minutes.

By Germaine Greer
Review by Lizzie

In a Nutshell: Poor Ann Hathaway (Shakespeare’s wife, not the star of The Devil Wears Prada). For ages, scholars have painted her as a conspiring cougar who trapped innocent head-in-the-clouds Will into a loveless marriage. To the rescue comes feminist icon (and former contestant on Celebrity Big Brother UK) Germaine Greer. Equipped with an abundance of archival research about trade, marriage, religion, politics, publishing, gender roles and class in the 16th and 17th century, Greer shows how unjustified the Ann-haters are.

Indicative Quote: “If Ann Shakespeare had both skill and business acumen, she could have become a wealthy woman in her own right. So far we don’t know that she did, but we don’t know that she didn’t either.”

Three Words to Describe it: Assumptions battling assumptions

Reason I Liked It: Well, I should admit that I’m a bit of a Renaissance freak. I wrote a dissertation on a clown who morris danced from London to Norwich (why yes they do grant master’s for such ridiculousness). I appreciated Greer’s attacks against the institution of bardolatry and all those ego-fuelled academics who see a little bit of themselves in Shakespeare.

You’ll Like This If You Like: Natalie Zemon Davis’ The Return Of Martin Guerre

Book Club Ideas: Pack a bottle of champagne for a park performance of The Winter’s Tale. Raise a toast every time Hermione demonstrates her unwavering loyalty. Then bring the whole club home for a cuddle session in your second best bed. It may be second best, but it’s still good. Drink some malt while you chat about the benefits of breastfeeding.

Verdict: Hurray, it’s about time that somebody tackled the sexist attitudes that underlie representations of Ann Hathaway. Greer excels at revealing the groundless assumptions informing scholars’ work, but is less adept at constructing counter-representations of Ann. There simply isn’t enough evidence about her life to support sound arguments. Instead, Greer often wanders into long-winded tangents that seem irrelevant and confusing. Sometimes I just got completely lost, like when Greer starts talking about “Margaret Smith, the widow of John Smith, son of William Smith, the mercer and haberdasher and mother of Ralph Smith the hatter.” Who? I craved family trees, images, maps, timelines, anything that would help to order the bounty of characters and events that Greer refers to. Instead, I got a lot of words and some feeble footnotes.

Good Present For: That pompous Renaissance Lit Prof who constantly infuriated you with his misogynist comments.

Review by Lizzie
In a nutshell: On the toxic shores of California’s Salton Sea, twelve-year-old Ares lives with his hippy mom Laurel and mentally disabled brother Malcolm. With Laurel in denial about Malcolm’s condition, Ares bears the burden of responsibility for the brother whom he dropped as a baby. Conflicted about growing up, Ares both yearns for the fierce independence of a neighbour’s foster child, and longs to retreat to the fantasy world he shares with Malcolm.

Three Words to Describe: Intimate, touching, tearjerker

Indicative quote: “Malcolm walked at a distance from us, charting his own path. That year he was six, exactly half my age. I was struck by the fact that this was the only time in our lives when we would meet in this mathematical symmetry – I his double in years. I knew there was something important and fragile about the singularity of this, that something would soon be lost.”

Reason I liked it: It made me have a genuinely satisfying cry that left me sleeping soundly.

You’ll like this book if you liked: What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?

Book club ideas: Hop onto your bicycles and cruise about an industrial wasteland (Pickering Nuclear Power Plant or Ashbridges Bay Sewage Treatment Plant would both work nicely). Pretend to shoot each other with wire hangers. Continue to a rusty playground and see how many times each of you can swing across the ring set.

Verdict: Marisa Silver immerses readers in unexpected beauty. The beauty of poisoned landscapes, flawed characters and disabilities. She wraps us into the contradictions of the childhood mind: the misperceptions and the stunning clarity. It lingers like a hot summer day, slow yet intense.

Perfect present for: Fans of Oprah’s book club

by Maggie Marr

In a nutshell: Secrets is Sex and the City a-la-California: instead of following four fashion-crazed thirty-something ladies around restaurants in New York, we get a glimpse of the glamourous life of film in Hollywood through Celeste the actor, Jessica the agent, Lyida the producer and Mary Anne the screenwriter.

Indicative quote: "Cici felt sick. People were viewing her fucking? At parties? She forced herself to bury her feelings of anger. She needed to convey the correct emotions to Nathan. There were multiple ways to play this scene. She decided on vulnerability. Men were usually terrified of a crying woman."

Reason I liked it: Fluff can be fun, hence the reason shows like Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives have an audience. This book fits neatly into the guilty pleasure category and allows you to fantasize about a different life, albeit over-exaggerated and unrealistic at times, but moderately satisfying nonetheless.

You’ll like this book if you liked: Anything in the Chick Lit section of your local bookstore which includes Sophie Kinsella's Remember Me?, anything by Jackie Collins and the Candace Bushnell collection, of course.

Book club ideas: Shake up a new flavour of martini for each chapter you discuss or celebrate the book by going bar-hopping with your girlfriends. Wear expensive stilettos, smoke even though you don't, and flirt with underage members of the opposite sex. Or the same sex. Either way, wear red lipstick, toss your hair a lot and repeat "I am glamourous" to yourself. Then go home and be normal again.

Verdict: If you've read a few really intense novels lately and want a break then by all means, Secrets will provide you with that departure. It isn't, however, a very rewarding read. We've all seen the type and read it and are in a state of overkill right now with television shows like Lipstick Jungle and the other one about cashmere. You're probably best off to smile at the cover, do a flip through to catch a mildly funny dialogue exchange and leave it at that.

Perfect present for: Someone you don't like but need to buy something for, your crazy aunt who loves The Young and the Restless, or your girlfriend who's thinking of moving to California to become an actress against your wishes and sound advice.