Canada Reads Archives - Queen's Journal

By Chance Alone is a heartrending memory of the holocaust

Written on April 4, 2019. Posted in Arts, Literature.

By Chance Alone tells the harrowing true story of Tibor “Max” Eisen’s imprisonment in concentration camps across Europe during the Holocaust. Eisen’s experience begins with his middle-class upbringing in a small Slovakian town. Set against the background of authoritarian, fascist regimes emerging...

The Woo-Woo finds humour in darkness

Written on March 29, 2019. Posted in Arts, Literature.

Lindsay Wong grew up believing that “crying will turn you into a zombie.” Over the next 304 pages of abuse and arguments, she doesn’t cry once. Wong’s memoir The Woo-Woo weaves superstition into her daily life, leaving nothing to the imagination. The darkly comedic story tackles the normalization...

Considering forgiveness with Canada Reads’ Suzanne

Written on March 21, 2019. Posted in Arts, Literature.

Writing about family is difficult, but forgiving family for past wrongs is even more so—and that’s how Suzanne by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette succeeds. Translated into English by Rhonda Mullins, Suzanne follows the life of Barbeau-Lavalette’s maternal grandmother, Suzanne Meloche, over the course of 85...

Refocusing the lens of the Syrian war with ‘Homes’

Written on March 15, 2019. Posted in Arts, Literature.

Abu Bakr’s response to a bombing in his hometown: go to his cousin’s house and play FIFA 13. While this might seem like an inappropriate reaction, it makes perfect sense in Bakr’s and Winnie Yeung’s Homes. The book is a true account of Bakr’s own journey growing up in war-torn Syria and eventually...

What makes literature 'truly Canadian'?

Written on March 31, 2016. Posted in Arts.

What’s the novel all Canadians should read? That’s the question at the core of CBC’s Canada Reads competition. I followed along with Canada Reads this year by reading all five of the shortlisted books in six weeks — a task that proved more trying than I anticipated. According to the CBC website, Canada...

Tag: Canada Reads

By Chance Alone is a heartrending memory of the holocaust

The Woo-Woo finds humour in darkness

Considering forgiveness with Canada Reads’ Suzanne

Refocusing the lens of the Syrian war with ‘Homes’

What makes literature 'truly Canadian'?

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