Bramah and the Beggar Boy by Renée Sarojini Saklikar Gibsons: Nightwood Editions (blewointment), 2021 $26.95 / 9780889714021 Reviewed by John Lent * Renée Sarojini Saklikar’s Bramah and the Beggar Boy is a stunning achievement, a magnificent piece of writing. Like Ursula K. Leguin’s EarthSea Trilogy or Haruki Murakami’s The Wind Up Bird Chronicle, or John…
Read more 1342 A wild and enclosed garden
Coding Democracy: How Hackers are Disrupting Power, Surveillance, and Authoritarianism by Maureen Webb, with a foreword by Cory Doctorow Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada (The MIT Press), 2021 $23.95 / 9780262542289 Reviewed by Ron Verzuh * An Unsafe Online World: What happens if do-evil computer nerds overrun do-good ones in the struggle to save democracy?…
Read more 1341 An unsafe online world
The Devil’s Trick: How Canada Fought the Vietnam War by John Boyko Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada (Knopf Canada), 2021 $32.00 / 9780735278004 Reviewed by Howard Macdonald Stewart * Six Easy Pieces. John Boyko has written a compelling, largely anecdotal history of Canada’s involvement in the Americans’ long years of war in Indochina. It consists…
Read more 1340 Canada and Vietnam revisited
Among Silent Echoes: A Memoir of Trauma and Resilience by Phyllis Dyson Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2021 $24.95 / 9781773860640 Reviewed by Lee Reid * “My mother had needed help, not bullets” (p. 21). With Phyllis Dyson’s book, Among Silent Echoes, it is not immediately evident why Phyllis, at age 45, decides to explore the…
Read more 1339 When belonging goes bad
The Errant Husband by Elizabeth Haynes Regina: Radiant Press, 2021 $25.00 / 9781989274583 Reviewed by Ginny Ratsoy * This debut novel treats the reader to a third-person narrative of a female quest with Jungian undertones. The Errant Husband scrutinizes gender relations as it dissects the anatomy of a marriage against the backdrop of historical and…
Read more 1338 Waiting for Hernando & Wally
The Most Precious Substance on Earth by Shashi Bhat Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada (McClelland and Stewart), 2021 $24.95 / 9780771094965 Reviewed by Myshara Herbert-McMyn * Shashi Bhat, editor-in-chief of EVENT magazine and winner of the Writers’ Trust / McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize, presents a standout piece of fiction in her novel The Most…
Read more 1337 Oboes and animal crackers
The Royals Next Door by Karina Halle Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada (Berkley), 2021 $22.00 / 9780593334195 Reviewed by Miranda Marini * Set on Salt Spring Island, “a small yet eccentric haven between Vancouver Island and the mainland [of British Columbia]” (p. 5), Karina Halle’s The Royals Next Door begins with the unpleasant image of…
Read more 1336 Salt Spring shack and mansion
INTERVIEW: Russell Thornton with The Ormsby Review In “Greek Fire,” one of the poems in Russell Thornton’s astonishing new collection, the central image is of fire burning through water: “water is a bridge / for a fire to come into the world.” This image also illuminates the driving force that animates the poems in Answer to Blue…
Read more 1335 Interview with Russell Thornton
So Much More Than Art: Indigenous Miniatures of the Pacific Northwest by Jack Davy Vancouver: UBC Press, 2021 $89.95 / 9780774866552 Reviewed by Alan L. Hoover * In this book Jack Davy discusses the making of miniature objects: model canoes, houses, totem poles, masks, by First Nations artists on the Northwest Coast of BC, Alaska,…
Read more 1334 In praise of the miniature
Things We Could Design: For More Than Human-Centered Worlds by Ron Wakkary Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada (The MIT Press), 2021 $47.00 / 9780262542999 Reviewed by Thomas Girard * Ron Wakkary’s Things We Could Design: For More Than Human-Centered Worlds is a delightful book that brings us into an important conversation taking place in Vancouver,…
Read more 1333 Deep, beautiful, and a little quirky
Harking by George Mercer North Saanich: George Mercer, 2021; printed by Friesens, Altona, Manitoba $19.99 / 9780987975485 Reviewed by Valerie Green * George Mercer’s book Harking is described as a book for young adults. I am sure, however, it will appeal to people of all ages who enjoy and respect the wilderness. Set in Jasper…
Read more 1332 Harking: growing up in Jasper
All Is Well by Katherine Walker Saskatoon: Thistledown Press, 2021 $24.95 / 9781771872157 Reviewed by Heather Graham * Christine Wright, the protagonist of Katherine Walker’s novel All Is Well, is a recently ordained priest in the Anglican Church of Canada with fifteen years of military service to her credit, some of it in Special Forces….
Read more 1331 Reverend Wright & the wrongdoers
Under the Bright Sky: A Memoir of Travels through Asia by Andrew Scott Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2021 $24.95 / 9781773860619 Reviewed by Howard Macdonald Stewart * Andrew Scott has assembled a highly readable, often fascinating collection of stories about three decades of travel around Asia, from Japan to Turkey. I particularly appreciated his observation…
Read more 1330 Three decades ago in Asia
Paradise Won: The Struggle to Create Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve by Elizabeth May Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2020 (2nd edition; first published by McClelland & Stewart, 1990) $25.00 / 9781771604581 Reviewed by Ron Dart * Editor’s note: earlier in 2021 we published a review by Ron Verzuh of Paradise Won: The Struggle to Create…
Read more 1329 Return to Moresby Island
China Unbound: A New World Disorder by Joanna Chiu Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2021 $24.99 / 9781487007676 Reviewed by May Q Wong * What do we really know about China? For centuries, it was a kingdom unto itself, sealed off by choice to the outside world, shrouded in mystery. For over a century, invaders…
Read more 1328 Money talks on the Belt and Road
Prophet Against Slavery. Benjamin Lay: A Graphic Novel by David Lester, with Marcus Rediker and Paul Buhle (editors) Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada (Beacon Press), 2021 $20.00 / 9780807081792 Reviewed by Ron Verzuh * Who was Benjamin Lay? A radical 18th-century Quaker challenges slavery It is fair to ask who the central figure is in…
Read more 1327 Who was Benjamin Lay?
Testimonio: Canadian Mining in the Aftermath of Genocides in Guatemala by Catherine Nolin and Grahame Russell (editors) Toronto: Between the Lines Press, 2021 $29.95 / 9781771135627 Reviewed by Howard Macdonald Stewart * Catherine Nolin and Grahame Russell both teach in the Geography Department at the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George; she’s department…
Read more 1326 Witness to Canadian mining
Open Every Window: A Memoir by Jane Munro Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2021 $28.95 / 9781771622967 Reviewed by Candace Fertile * The positive image of opening windows infuses Jane Munro’s memoir even when life is fraught with what seems like insurmountable challenges. From an early age, it’s clear that Munro wanted to write, and…
Read more 1325 Home, yoga, dementia
This Eden by Ed O’Loughlin Toronto: House of Anansi, 2021 $24.95 / 9781487005696 Reviewed by Zoe McKenna * As Ed O’Loughlin’s fourth novel, This Eden, closes, the still-unnamed narrator declares, “I like not knowing what’s going to happen next.” As becomes apparent within the first pages of the novel, an affection for the unknown and…
Read more 1324 A pencil & sticky note thriller
Caught on the Trail: Nature’s Wildlife Selfies by Dale Bakken and Sandra Lynch-Bakken Surrey: Hancock House, 2020 $24.95 / 9780888390585 Reviewed by Jocie Brooks * A curious black bear nuzzles the camera on the cover of Caught on the Trail: Nature’s Wildlife Selfies. This book offers “up close and personal” views of BC’s wildlife that…
Read more 1323 Eavesdropping in the bush