Icebergs, Zombies and the Ultra Thin: Architecture and Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century by Matthew Soules Hudson, NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 2021 $26.95 (U.S.) / 9781616899462 Reviewed by Theo Dombrowski * Everyone says many of the same things about real estate. “That view is worth a million dollars.” “If you want to make money, real…
Read more 1242 Architecture, investment, & greed
Rough Road to the North: A Vagabond on the Great Northern Highway by Jim Christy Port Townsend, WA: Feral House, 2019 (first published in Toronto by Doubleday, 1980) $17.95 (U.S.) / 9781627310826 Reviewed by Ron Verzuh * There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold Robert Service…
Read more 1241 Ramblers and tatterdemalions
Becoming Vancouver: A History by Daniel Francis Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2021 $36.95 / 9781550179163 Reviewed by Patricia E. Roy * Daniel Francis, a native of Vancouver, rues Vancouver’s apparent loss of its history and hopes that knowledge of the past may avoid handing it over “to the forces of global consumerism” (p. 5). This…
Read more 1240 Stumps, sawmills & speculation
David Brownstein reviews two books: Highballer: True Tales from a Treeplanting Life by Greg Nolan Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2019 $26.95 / 9781550178685 * Slashburner: Hot Times in the British Columbia Woods by Nicholas Raeside Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2020 $24.95 / 9781550178982 * After a brief eclipse by pipelines, British Columbia’s forests are again…
Read more 1239 Fire and seedlings
Unsettling Native Art Histories on the Northwest Coast by Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse and Aldona Jonaitis (editors) Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2020 $39.95 (U.S.) / 9780295747132 Reviewed by Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa * A few years ago, a First Nations man told me a story of two masks. The original, held in a museum, had been lent to…
Read more 1238 Decolonizing Northwest Coast art
ESSAY: Tragic Legacies: The Residential School System in Canada (1876-1998) by Lily Chow * Editor’s note: Today, September 30, 2021, is the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. “The day honours the lost children and Survivors of residential schools, their families and communities,” states a Government of Canada website. “Public commemoration of…
Read more 1237 Tragic legacies of colonialism
Mennonite Valley Girl: A Wayward Coming of Age by Carla Funk Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2021 $32.95 / 9781771645157 Reviewed by Dora Dueck * When Carla Funk was young, her northern hometown of Vanderhoof, British Columbia, was a place of delight. It might be small but it was beautiful, set into a lovely valley alongside the…
Read more 1236 Time tunnel to Vanderhoof
Four books reviewed by Kenneth Campbell: The Sockeye Mother by Hetxw’ms Gyetxw (Brett D. Huson), illustrated by Natasha Donovan Winnipeg: Portage & Main Press, 2018 $23.00 / 9781553797395 * The Grizzly Mother by Hetxw’ms Gyetxw (Brett D. Huson), illustrated by Natasha Donovan Winnipeg: Portage & Main Press, 2019 $23.00 / 9781553797760 * The Eagle Mother…
Read more 1235 The Mothers of Xsan series
My Two-Faced Luck by Brett Josef Grubisic Surrey: Now or Never Publishing, 2021 $19.95 / 9781989689271 Reviewed by Geoffrey D. Morrison * In My Two-Faced Luck, Brett Josef Grubisic concludes his River Bend Trilogy with a novel that movingly fulfills the promise of its unique and ambitious premise. As with the other River Bend books,…
Read more 1234 A matter of thwarted desire
This Was the River by John Pass Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2019 $18.95 / 9781550178753 Reviewed by Christopher Levenson * Winner of the 2006 Governor General’s Award for poetry for a previous volume, Stumbling in the Bloom, John Pass is, no doubt justifiably, dismissive in his opening poem, a kind of sonnet, of many of…
Read more 1233 Alert to the sound of language
Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Moment by Sarah Milroy (editor) Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2021, in collaboration with The McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario $60.00 / 9781773271194 Reviewed by Maria Tippett * Today, we all accept that historically Canadian female artists were excluded from major exhibitions and art societies, given little financial support…
Read more 1232 Unwelcome in the academy
In Singing, He Composed a Song by Jeremy Stewart Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2021 (Brave & Brilliant Series) $19.99 / 9781773852201 Reviewed by Jeff Stychin * Have you ever woken up in a haze or dream-like state? Or wondered how long spans of time have seemingly disappeared from memory? In Singing, He Composed a…
Read more 1231 Coming of age in Prince George
Wagon Road North: The Saga of the Cariboo Gold Rush by Art Downs, edited by Ken Mather Victoria: Heritage House, 2021 (revised and expanded edition; first published 1960) $26.95 / 9781772033601 Reviewed by Robin Fisher * The cover of this book features an iconic gold rush photo. It is worth a thousand words, and yet…
Read more 1230 Freight wagons & Cornish wheels
Through the Gate by Kay Jordan Victoria: Kay Publishing, 2020 $18.89 / 9781999227906 Reviewed by Valerie Green * In her book Through the Gate, Kay Jordan has created a story that will undoubtedly inspire young students to enjoy history in a fun way. Rather than give her young readers dates and a myriad of names…
Read more 1229 Downstairs drama at Craigdarroch
Angie Tucker reviews four books: Pemmican Wars (A Girl Called Echo, volume 1) by Katherena Vermette, illustrated by Scott B. Henderson, colour by Donovan Yaciuk Winnipeg: Highwater Press, 2017 $19.95 / 9781553796787 * Red River Resistance (A Girl Called Echo, volume 2) by Katherena Vermette, illustrated by Scott B. Henderson, colour by Donovan Yaciuk Winnipeg:…
Read more 1228 Echoes of Rupert’s Land
No Compromise: A Memoir by John Jensen, edited by Rod Link, foreword by George Heyman Vancouver: Walhachin Press, 2021. This book is for sale at Munro’s Books (Victoria), People’s Co-op Bookstore (Vancouver), and Misty River Books (Terrace) — Ed. $20.00 / 9781777582302 Reviewed by Ron Verzuh * Northern Socialist. Tracing the life of a B.C….
Read more 1227 John Jensen, northern socialist
One London Day by C.C. Humphreys Two Hats Creative, 2021 $20.00 / 9781989988046 For paperback see here; for ebook see here; for audiobook (read by the author) see here. Reviewed by Alma Lee * Chris Humphreys writes and lives on Salt Spring Island. An actor, playwright, and novelist, he has published 20 books — historical…
Read more 1226 Severin and the Russian escort
Tower 25: Strung out, homeless, and standing up again; a graphic memoir by PJ Patten Vancouver: Cloudscape Comics Society, 2020 $20.00 / 9781927742174 Reviewed by Phyllis Reeve * How does an artist draw a shiver? Behold the cover of PJ Patten’s first graphic novel. The central figure is almost all sharp edges, except for the…
Read more 1225 Stand up, take stock, get traction
The Comic by Stan Rogal Montréal: Guernica Editions, 2020 $20.00 / 9781771834827 Reviewed by Peter Babiak * The Comic is a novel about a sad sack of a college English teacher, Mark Nowakowski, who runs up against surreal Kafkaesque forces when he breaches the unwritten rules on linguistic expression that have become hot-button issues in…
Read more 1224 No laughing matter
ESSAY: Pray for the Paintress: the life of Sister Plautilla Nelli (1524-1588) by Bob Foulkes * Editor’s note: since 2019 The Ormsby Review has hosted the Graduate Liberal Studies Journal, home to many fine essays, memoirs, stories, and of course book reviews. We are delighted to have the GLS Journal under our roof and to…
Read more 1223 The painter & prioress of Florence