Lucky: A novel By Kathryn Para Published by Mother Tongue Publishing 213 pages, $21.95 Reviewed by Jenny Boychuk Kathryn Para’s debut novel and winner of The Great BC Novel Contest, Lucky: a novel, explores how we distance ourselves physically and mentally as a way to try to adapt to unthinkable tragedy and suffering. Anika Lund […]
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Debut novel Swarm By Lauren Carter Published by Brindle & Glass 288 pages, $19.95 Reviewed by Jenny Boychuk Capitalism has fallen. The government hardly exists except as whispers in condemned buildings. There are no jobs and everyone is poor. There is violence, rebellion. People have to quickly adapt to an older way of life—when […]
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Love, & All That Jazz By Laurie Lewis Published by The Porcupine’s Quill 222 pages, $22.95 Reviewed by Jenny Boychuk How long are we supposed to wait for the ones we love? What happens when the years you’ve been apart equal how long you were together? And when that number doubles? Laurie Lewis’ memoir […]
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The Eliot Girls By Krista Bridge Douglas and McIntyre, 336 pages, $22.95 Reviewed by Jenny Boychuk There are books you pick up and, after reading a few chapters, they begin to feel achingly familiar. Krista Bridge has created the fictional-based-on-fact George Eliot Academy, an all-girls private school in Toronto. The school sits regally atop a […]
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The Miracles of Ordinary Men By Amanda Leduc ECW Press, 321 pages, $18.95 Reviewed by Jenny Boychuk Amanda Leduc’s debut novel, The Miracles of Ordinary Men, follows the lives of Delilah Greene, a young receptionist, and Sam, a thirty-something school teacher. The novel is written in parts and switches back and forth between the […]
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Caught By Lisa Moore House of Anansi, 304 pages, $29.95 Reviewed by Jenny Boychuk Lisa Moore roots her readers firmly in 1978 Canada in her new novel-problem is, reading this book often felt like being stuck, then trying to run through mud. Perhaps this is fitting for the beginning of the book as the protagonist, […]
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Russell Books Vintage Grand Opening with readings from Esi Edugyan, Steven Price and Marita Dachsel May 14, 2024 Reviewed by Jenny Boychuk In a time when many independent bookstores are closing their doors, Victoria’s Russell Books has expanded yet again with the addition of Russell’s Vintage. Russell’s Vintage (located beneath Russell Books in what was […]
1996 By Sara Peters House of Anansi, 65 pages, $19.95 Reviewed by Jenny Boychuk Sometimes you need a poet who will lead you into the dark woods without promising to bring you back to safety again. Sometimes you need a poet who will show you the decomposing bear at the edge of the river—and the […]
Pinboy: a memoir By George Bowering Published by Cormorant Books, 276 pages, $29.95 Reviewed by Jenny Boychuk To say George Bowering had fun with this portrayal of his 15-year-old self is an understatement. What first seems to be a typical coming-of-age story about a boy growing up in B.C.’s rural Okanagan in the fifties soon […]
The Juliet Stories By Carrie Snyder Published by House of Anansi, 324 pages, $22.95 Reviewed by: Jenny Boychuk Let me tell you what you need to know. This is the assertive voice that, while it doesn’t promise to spare heartbreak, guides readers with a controlled hand through Carrie Snyder’s novel-told-in-stories, The Juliet Stories. It is […]
