Everything Matters!

I really love this book. It has its issues, but I’m a fan of the omniscient second-person, and the countdown to the end, and even the sort of epilogue and the way it doesn’t fix everything, doesn’t really fix anything. I am all for Currie’s writing, just about always.

4.5/5

Late Nights on Air

I have very little patience for novels that decide to use dreams and memories to flesh out their characters instead of bothering with proper characterization, and this is one of the most heinous offenders I’ve ever seen. Nor does it help that I don’t care about any of the characters enough to want to know anything more about them, and that the drudgery of those characters is surrounded by the drudgery of the Yukon landscape, which this book tries—and fails—to make interesting.

1.5/5

Funny Boy

I’m always interested in a view of Sri Lanka after falling in love with Michael Ondaatje, and this does offer that, if not much else to distinguish itself from other coming of age queer stories, just another set of being different and realization of what that interest is, and veiled sexualities of supporting characters.

3/5

The Book of Salt

I really dislike books that decide to use minor historical figures and flesh them out—make it really dislike when those historical figures are Gertrude Stein and her lover, Alice B. Toklas. I think I can settle for Stein’s actual writing, instead of a stupid, shallow book that decides to take the viewpoint of her chef, and only distinguish itself from another mediocre whiny book by the fact that Truong decides to steal Stein’s fame to bolster her own.

2/5

Beat the Reaper

This is fun reading at its best; sharp, smart, and full of shark tanks. The asides are brilliant, the events are just ludicrous enough to work, and the narrator is just unlikeable enough. Though maybe I could have done without a bone knife.

4/5

Dangerous Laughter

Millhauser has some really really interesting ideas, unfortunately, he doesn’t have a very discerning editor. Each of his stories intrigues me for a short time, then loses its appeal, and then really, really wears out his welcome. If this collection was half the length or had twice the stories, it’d be a good one, as it is, Millhauser needs a new editor, or an ability to viciously cut the chaff.

2/5

Zami

Lourde is a poet, so it’s not surprising that Zami is often poetic. It’s lucky, actually, because that poetic musing is about the only thing that saves it from being yet another autobiography that carefully tells the reader all about the author’s sex and love life.

3/5

Green Zone

Green Zone doesn't move out of the broad "Iraq war film and not much else" category that is taking up a huge niche in American filmmaking right now. It's a very serviceable war film, albeit one that drags on too long, and sometimes sacrifices interesting implications for ones that carry more metaphorical weight. It's one of the more anti-war films I've seen lately, but that gets muddled by a sort of suspense plot that paradoxically is less interesting, and in the end, it doesn't make much of an impression in the huge canon it has fallen into.

2.5/5

Oryx and Crake

I’m so impressed by Atwood’s ability to create this dysfunctional, screwed up world, where sex and violence (both transgressive and genuine) are just another thing to fill the time, and counting all the extinct species and destroyed indications of human growth turn into games. The aftermath, I’m less in love with, but there is nothing in here that isn’t well-done.

4/5

Cereus Blooms at Night

Taylor, you say, seriously, what’s with all the incest you’re reading? I know, young comrades, I know, I’m curious about the link between queer fiction and incestuous subplots myself. But luckily, this moves out of the “queerqueerqueerINCEST” trope it has fallen into, if only because its written beautifully, if, perhaps, the subject matter isn’t exactly to my taste. Again.

3/5

You Are Not a Stranger Here

Ugh and ugh. This is one of the few books that gets relegated to the “abandoned” folder, and, for me, with good reason. Haslett looks into psychological disturbance, mental illness, and is relentlessly depressing in his portrayal of it. Which would be okay! Really, it would! It’s just that all his accounts are so monotonous, that I couldn’t bother myself to stick with it.

1/5

What We All Long For

I’m going to admit I’m biased here, because this book takes place in Toronto, and everyone loves to see their city laid out on the page. But this is lovely, focusing on truly human characters with human problems, on the never dwindling issues of race in a multi-cultural city, on the implications of family and how abandoning those implications is just about impossible.

4.5/5

Elle

This is yet another new take on Robinson Crusoe, but a woman and in Canada! Hooray! The only thing that keeps this from only being yet another take on Crusoe is the fact there is a nice, sharp sense of humour to this that separates it from the others.

3/5

Gummo

I'm going to show my stodgy side, but any film that takes a long time focusing on killing cats to make a quick buck is not going to be my kind of film. Neither will a film focusing on prostituting a mentally disabled girl, on killing a woman on life support, on the lack of morals or control in a town burdened with tragedy and idiocy. I was often interested in Gummo, but a lot of that interest was disgust.

1/5

All Quiet on the Western Front

I cannot stress how in love with this book I am. I pretty much devoured it, barely looking up from its pages for hours, and there’s something so gorgeous about it, about the moments of silence between the moments of agony, of the torture of leave when your friends are on the front lines, and you don’t fit in anywhere except with them, of the bond of comradeship, which Remarque describes as closer than between lovers. I want to read this over and over and over again. This is, by far, the greatest war account I have ever read.

5/5

Dance Dance Dance

This probably shouldn’t have been my first outing with Murakami, as it seems to be a fairly minor work of his, but I was interested in his style, if not in the little suspense story woven in, one that I figured out fairly early (me! Who never figures out any suspense ending!), and if not his wanderings into the world of the sheep man. But I liked his writing enough to give him a chance on something that has nothing to do with hotels haunted with sheep men. I think.

3/5

In the Lake of the Woods

This isn’t for anyone who wants a straightforward narrative or a pat ending, because it absolutely refuses any sort of closure or simplicity of meaning, however, it is an extremely interesting view of both the aftermath of a disappearance and the aftermath of Vietnam. O’Brien is always interested in Vietnam, and I am always interested in his narratives of Vietnam; brutal, ugly and human. When O’Brien writes about the aftermath, it’s less interesting, but that’s not actually saying much; O’Brien’s pretty damn interesting whatever he’s writing.

4/5

Dubliners

I was so giddy to actually finish something by James Joyce, even though I know this is absolutely nothing like Ulysses in either style or function. What it is, is a telling little portrait of Dublin, rife with pederasty and poverty and mean-spiritedness, mostly, but sometimes nice things, maybe, sometimes.

3/5

Who Will Run the Frog Hospital

Have I mentioned I’m in love with Lorrie Moore yet? Because I am totally in love with Lorrie Moore. In most people’s hands, a story about a summer in a sixteen year old’s life, and then a few days in her life twenty years later, well, that would be unspeakably boring. But somehow Moore takes things that should be unspeakably boring, and turns them into something heartfelt and heartbreaking and beautiful. She’s really, really good at that.

4/5

Animal Farm

Maybe I would have liked this better if I'd read it in my formative years like everyone else I know. It's certainly a classic for a reason, and its implications haven't lost their weight, though a good amount of the allusions to communism don't hold up as much in modern times. I get where everyone who loves it is coming from? I have just read one too many "communism is bad!" tracts. Not that I disagree! But I can only agree for so long before I become one of those damned sheep.

3/5

Identity

Identity isn't as strong as the other Kundera works I've read, partly because of the unlikeable nature of the protagonists, a common occurrence in Kundera's works but one that is much more fundamental here, and, it seems, much less satirical. This is just people fucking up badly while trying to fix things, and I've never been very good at watching trainwrecks. Despite this, as always, Kundera remains immensely readable.

3/5

Once

I appreciate Once's absolute refusal of many of the romantic tropes it could have easily fallen into, but in sacrificing that, and yet still remaining somewhat sentimental, Once loses both the romance and the edge it could have contained. Once sacrifices the romance but not the sentimentality, and as a result, it is somewhat muddled as an effort.

2.5/5

A Boy's Own Story

White's sort of autobiography is interesting, particularly in the way he doesn't build himself up in any way, however, it's not particularly memorable. Already a lot of the details are fading, only a couple weeks later, and the only thing that distinguishes it is that instead of echoing a bildungsroman, it ends fairly early, oh, and has gay sex. And stuff.

3/5

Dream Boy

Well, this was an odd experience. I'm not going to spoil the ending, though I'm not sure what that would ruin, however, the ending was sort of a confused attempt at lack of closure, and a lot of the threads picked up in the story, such as what appears to be a case of molestation, are hinted at, then suddenly disappear. Grimsley doesn't seem sure whether he wants a love story, a ghost story or a story of child abuse, and frankly, I'm not sure either.

2/5

Salvation Army

My stodgy side reappears! A memoir that ruminates for a long time on the author's giant crush on his older brother, and doesn't really contain much other than that, except his parents' fights and this Swiss guy he fucks for awhile, and then doesn't. There isn't much of substance here, and I am willing to admit that the incest threw me out of the narrative, but frankly, there wasn't much of a narrative to begin with.

2/5

The Red Badge of Courage

I read the great illustrated classics version of this when I was about seven or so; the only reason I remember that is because it absolutely haunted me, with its stories of death. This time around, Crane doesn't haunt me. Crane doesn't even affect me. He has created such an unlikeable protagonist, a coward who takes all of the credit and none of the blame, a man who looks the injured in the eyes and sees himself as equal, that I could barely get through this. It doesn't help that it's downright boring a lot of the time.

2/5

The Hurt Locker

Hurt Locker is rendered in a world of beige, taupe and tan, a world that seems washed out, which works wonderfully with its narrative. In this bleached world, slow moving and then frenetic with motion, every action has extreme importance, except when it doesn't. My favourite moment, a moment in a grocery store washed in brilliant colours, shows how out of place soldiers are in that world, busy with nothing meaningful, and this moment serves as an allegory for what is an extremely rich study of monotony and danger, often at the same time.

4/5

Sexing the Cherry

I was excited by this, as I'd love Winterson's previous outing, however, there were serious issues in this narrative. The first, and most irritating, was the use of two point-of-views, a choice that would not bother me had Winterson differentiated the voices used. As it is, however, it is impossible to immerse yourself in a story when every time the point of view alters, you spend several pages trying to decide who is speaking.

3/5

Oranges are not the Only Fruit

For its tiny size, Oranges packs a lot of delight. Winterson's cutting humour about her life, her masterful inclusion of fairy-tale like fragments, and her sheer ability make this one of the biggest pleasures I've read all year.

5/5

Obasan

Obasan was read in a straight rush before class, a three hour drag at the library. I actually don't remember much of it, but I can't think I was missing much, as the lectures rang of making something out of nothing, pulling posttraumatic stress and histiographic metafiction out of a very simple narrative of the mistreated. Yes, Kogawa was the first to address the treatment of Japanese Canadians during World War II, and Obasan wrought change in policy, which is impressive, but as a novel, as a piece of artwork, Obasan adds little to the genre it has fallen into.

2/5

The Far Side of the Moon

This was a joy to watch, written by, directed by, and starring Robert Lepage, who I am now in love with, unfortunately, since it seems like it’s going to be difficult to get my hands on his works. It’s a fairly typical story of failure and fraught family relations, but Lepage imbues it with such humour and such a deft hand that there is something in it that always strikes the viewer as absolutely original.

5/5

The Eye in the Door

The only reason I kept reading in a series that generally didn’t impress me was that I was hoping against hope that Barker would suck it up and let Rivers and Sassoon kiss. They didn’t. Instead Sassoon, possibly one of the only interesting aspects of this series, is neglected for Billy Prior, who is not a particularly gripping character. So I think I am just going to have to stop here, since it’s not worth reading the third if I don’t get my kiss. They want to kiss! Why are you holding me in suspense for no reason, Barker, why?!

2.5/5

Rachel Getting Married

I have a really problem watching people embarrass themselves, which made Rachel Getting Married the rough equivalent of a horror film to me at times. Despite that, it’s a great film, certainly a retread of other indie “the addict/eccentric comes and ruins everything” films, of which I can name many. However, it’s a well done version of that cliché, and Anne Hathaway really was fantastic in it.

3.5/5

One Good Story, That One

I really, really enjoyed Green Grass, Running Water, and I always have a soft spot for short stories, so I picked this up. The good news is that it reminds me of his novel. The bad news is that it reminds me of his novel a lot. There are stories that are practically recycled, they’re so close, and while I did enjoy it, I wasn’t quite sure why King decided it was a good idea to plagiarize himself.

3/5

9

I could have guessed pretty much every single plot point of this film far before they occurred, but that wasn’t really the point of this film. The plot was a typical kid’s adventure sort of thing, with a darker edge, but it’s the animation you should watch it for. It’s a staggeringly beautiful dystopia, with such attention given to the landscape that it’s worth it just to watch that.

3.5/5

Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing

I can’t even begin to say what I hate about this play, other than everything. I hate that there is rape involving a crucifix, I don’t care that it’s a physical manifestation of symbolic woes. I hate that Tomson Highway seems to think that girls farting while looking coy is something that should be utilized more than once. I hate that half the time the only female roles are to wear absolutely nothing. I’m glad I just read this, because if I had seen this, there is absolutely no doubt I would have walked right out, and I never do that.

1/5

Stone Butch Blues

Stone Butch Blues feels a lot longer than it is, a veritable slog through cliché and characters repeatedly telling other characters exactly how they feel. Jess claims to be a restrained person, slow to speak about feelings, but you can’t tell from reading this, where all the butches cry and talk about how lonely it is not to be able to talk. While talking about it. Also, if one more character laughed through tears, or cried through laughter in this book, I was about ready to hurl the book at the wall and give up, book for class or no.

1.5/5

Fahrenheit 451

I’ve been meaning to get around to this and 1984, as they’re both considered key canon in dystopian fiction, and I am totally in love with Brave New World. But Brave New World this ain’t. One of my largest peeves in literature is telling as opposed to showing, and it seemed that was all that occurred; long monologues about the importance of literature, long conversations about the decline of civilization, yadda yadda yadda. It’s obvious, and pedantic, and its only saving grace is that at least the man can write a good descriptive sentence.

2/5

Shutter Island

I had such high hopes for this. Adapted from a novel by Dennis Lehane, whose “ “ I loved, and directed by Martin Scorsese, who I generally enjoy. I am not the best at guessing twists, which is great, actually, so when I say that I guessed the twist, then discarded that option as too obvious, that I am saying that this film has possibly the most obvious twist in the entire world. And that greatly hindered my general enjoyment of the film.

2/5

Crash

This certanly isn't the generic, shallow 2005 Haggis "Racism is bad" film. Cronenberg has always been absolutely obsessed with technology, and this manifests itself not in the sexiness of ars, or sex in cars, which is generally accepted, especially in Hollywood, but in the fetishization of car crashes. This leads to a lot of gratuitious imagery, particularly involving scars and wounds. I had a lot of strong reactions to the imagery (primarily disgust and repulsion, particularly because I'm squeamish), however, I was mostly bored. Cronenberg created a lot of controversy over his imagery, but thematically, this isn't all that interesting.

1/5

The Hanging Garden

This is a prime example of over the top Canadian melodrama, where you can hardly hear dialogue over overlapping shouting. The supernatural elements are fairly confusing and add little to what is a pretty typical Irish--specifically Cape Breton Irish--family drama. The characters are not particularly believable, nor are any motivations particularly believable themselves. This film adds little to a very common Canadian genre.

1/5

Sherlock Holmes

I have always associated Guy Ritchie with gritty films. And while the mis-en-scene was there, regardless of a downright silly Naziesque get-up for the--Pre-Nazi--villian, the way the film was carried out was downright silly. Gratuitious slow-motion, expensive fight scenes that fail to compell, and a boring case don't do Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr any favours, despite their effortless rapport with one another. Sadly forgettable.

2/5

Anagrams

Lorrie Moore is so wonderful. Her take on the novel is rooted in short stories, looking at, well, anagrams of what the protagonists could be. Moore enlivens what could be a typical narrative--middle age woman, now single, juggling a child and a relationship with a student--with clever language, interesting changes in point of view, sharp humour, and an imaginary(!) child instead of a real one. Moore refuses a typical narrative and a typical novelistic structure, and instead makes something better.

4.5/5

Beebo Brinker

This is a lesbian pulp novel from the 60s, one I am reading for a queer writing course. I was surprised by the fact it wasn't terrible prose, however, that happy surprise was mitigated by characterization that's impossible to believe. Character motivations seem false, and there are three (three!) instances of love at first sight that are not earned or believable. Also, honestly, for a book whose main purpose is to titillate, there should really be more sex.

Giovanni's Room

This is a little gem, quickly consumed, sparkling with brilliantr prose, realistic, well-rendered characters, and a gorgeous, devastating ending. I'm not sure why I haven't read James Baldwin before now, but I will make a point of devouring more of the novels from his tremendously prolific career.

5/5

Mole

This is an amateur work in every way. From clumsy popcorn related metaphors in an ode to Nicole Kidman, to cliche-ridden poems on subjects that have endlessly been tread, this was an awkward slog. The only interesting thing about this collection is the cover.

1/5

Middlesex

This is a massive, sprawling story spanning three generations, explaining how the protagonist, Calliope becomes the protagonist Cal. I really enjoyed this experience, if maybe a little more in the beginning, finding Cal's grandparents the most interesting characters within. The idea of an almost omniscient first person narrative is so fascinating, and I had none of the qualms with Middlesex that I did with The Virgin Suicides. If Eugenides continues to write like this, I will continue to read him.

4/5

Self-Help

Lorrie Moore's stories continually astound me. This collection, hinging on break-ups and endings, made me laugh, cry, and other cliches. I desperately want to devour everything she has ever written, and I hope that doesn't sound as creepy as it seems.

5/5

Running in the Family

Ondaatje's memoir of his family history s rich with the amount of detail you find in his novels, and because he has an extremely fascinating family, feels like a novel about an exceedingly eccentric family. He breaks the prose with some poetry, including the famous "Cinnamon Peeler's Wife", and, in bits and pieces, creates a vivid portrait of a time and place where happening--snake shooting, a magnificant drowning, the hold up of a train--are so crazy that they're true.

4/5

The Telling of Lies

I feel like every book Timothy Findley writes is a disappointment after I saw what he was capable of with The Wars. This is no exception. It's a neat little murder mystery that does keep you reading, with interesting moments in flashbacks to World War II, but the mystery wasn't satisfying in the way it would be in the hands of a mystery writer, and the tidbits of a compelling history did not sustain the otherwise lacklustre story. Yet again, I am waiting for a novel it seems Findley could only write once.

2.5/5