Steven Heighton, Every Lost Country (Knopf Canada)
"Heighton creates a poetry of people in violent motion . . . Like Joseph Conrad (whom he increasingly resembles in important aspects), Steven Heighton takes the bare bones of an event occurring on the borderlines of most of our geographical, political and moral experiences, and refashions it into a novel that offers readers more than [just] big ideas and beautiful language . . . Every page, minor character and plot twist matters. Every Lost Country not only rivets readers to their seats, it challenges them to rethink the David-and-Goliath inequalities of this new millennium . . . [The novel] is more un-put-downable than many escape tales because the action and reactions of the pursued and the pursuers never break faith with reality. . . . How many other novelists in this country . . . choose words so carefully or narrative strategies with such intelligence?
-Globe & Mail (T.F. Rigelhof)
Steven Heighton's interview with the Globe and Mail
Adam Lewis schroeder, In the Fabled East (D&M)
"Simply put, In the Fabled East is a winner, drawing on disparate elements to create a singular, stunning whole. It is beautiful, and haunting; brutal, and realistic; it is strange and alien but fundamentally familiar and human; it is thoughtful, and suspenseful, meditative and action-filled. It is the sort of book that not only becomes a bestseller but is passed from hand to hand, shared among readers."
-Vancouver Sun
Nino Ricci, The Origin of Species (Other Press)
"Canadian writer Ricci's fifth novel, winner of the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction, is a masterly coming-of-age story... Highly recommended, especially for fans of fellow Canadian writer Alice Munro, with whom Ricci shares a knack for irony and a talent for characterization."
-Library Journal
Russell Smith, Girl Crazy (HarperCollins Canada)
“Daring and well executed. … Most will likely fixate on the sex in Girl Crazy, and why not? Smith writes it well; nary a cringe-worthy adjective, and raw enough to be real. But Girl Crazy is more about class than it is about sex. … Girl Crazy is a hot floor show for those of us desperate for the present to finally get its time in the Canadian literary spotlight.”
-Globe and Mail
“His best novel yet. …What Smith is saying here is that the literate, liberal culture … is all but dead, replaced by loud, brash surfaces, primitive emotional needs and an almost demonic suburban sprawl. … Girl Crazy is a frank and funny novel. The depiction of an emotionally stunted man’s undignified lust for an even more immature young woman is disturbing and almost note-perfect. A lot of people won’t like the novel’s message, but they’d better learn to deal with it. The future is here and some might find it sexy, but it sure ain’t pretty.”
-Toronto Star
“Girl Crazy rips a mile a minute. Smith has pulled off the sort of author-reader telepathy that lesser writers can only dream about. The book is ridiculously visceral. … Smith has a good ear for dialogue and a finely honed sense of just how much detail to put in. And he writes a mean love scene. … For all its graphicness, the most compelling thing about Girl Crazy is its honesty. Despite its raunch and raw emotion, the story’s reality check stays firmly engaged. … You’ll probably have a hard time putting down Girl Crazy. It powers on to a conclusion that’s both satisfying and oddly disquieting.”
-The Gazette (Montreal)
“A darkly comic study of fractured masculinity. … The nicely ambiguous conclusion can be seen as either the recognition of a kind of atavistic male impulse, or a cautionary tale about the perils of pursuing desire to its most dangerous extreme.”
-The Walrus |
