"Late Nights on Air" by Elizabeth Hay

The funny thing about reading Elizabeth Hay's Late Nights on Air is that it was my idea of the traditional Canadian novel before I started this course. Although every character has something interesting about them that makes them different and makes the radio station a mixture of unique personalities, they are all Caucasian Canadian. I had gotten so used to books that told the stories that hadn't been told before, the stories that were about the traditional 'other' Canadian, that reading this book was unfortunately very hard for me to get into. I started to approach it differently, however, after Gail presented the video of The Sweater. It reminded me that although they are more traditional, these stories of Canadian life must also be told through our art and literature. Although this country is now more multicultural than ever, these long-established Canadian ideals are also important and are now a part of the distinctive blend of stories that this country has to present.

I suppose I was discriminating it against it for its lack of including other cultures in its main characters, but I was missing the unique brand of Northern Canadian culture that it did present. This was an idea that I was more open to after Hay's visit as well. Her soft-spoken manner drew me into the narrative as she was reading and I began to reconsider my initial impression. Just like the voice of Dido drew Harry into the radio station, Hay's discussion drew me into the book whose themes and setting I was not accustomed to reading about. She talked about her own stay in Yellowknife and how the town itself inspired her and plays a central role in the narrative. This is similar to other books in the course, such as Barnacle Love, The Chinese Knot and Natasha, in which Toronto plays a central figure that all the plot lines intertwine around. I learned that the beauty of Hay's novel lies in its exposure of a city that is not as prevalent in Canadian culture, Yellowknife, a medium that is almost forgotten, radio, characters that are atypical, and her unconventional focus on a group of characters rather than a clear protagonist. I'm glad that I now see what is so special about Hay's highly acclaimed work, so I can maybe give it another chance before the exam. As is often true of first impressions, mine were misleading and did not allow me to appreciate the beauty of Late Nights on Air.

"In the Place of Last Things" by Michael Helm

One of the aspects of Helm's novel that most drew me in was how it reminded me of another famous road novel, On the Road by Jack Kerouac. I have always had the dream of, like the characters in both books, taking an extensive road trip throughout North America and discovering things about myself along the way. My ideal trip would go from Toronto to Vancouver and then down to California, across the US to New York, to Montreal and then back to Toronto.

This led me to think about the most important things that I would need to take with me on a road trip: good books, good friends, good music, and a camera. Imagining the music that would make the cut on my own road trip soundtrack was helpful because when I'm reading, I often set the narratives of books to music, and it helped me identify with In the Place of Last Things.

Road music:

1. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
2. Tegan and Sara - Sainthood
3. Gossip - Music for Men
4. Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head, Parachutes, Viva la Vida
5. M.I.A. - Kala
6. Vampire Weekend - Contra and Vampire Weekend
7. Jay-Z - The Blueprint III and The Black Album
8. Santigold - Santogold
9. No Doubt - The Singles Collection
10. The Smiths - The Very Best of the Smiths
11. Regina Spektor - Far
12. Lykke Li - Youth Novels
13. Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
14. The Strokes - Is This It? and Room On Fire
15. Metric - Old World Underground, Where Are You Now, Live It Out, Grow Up and Blow Away, Fantasies
16. Passion Pit - Manners
17. Madonna - The Immaculate Collection, Celebration
18. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
19. The Eagles – Greatest Hits
20. The Ting Tings - We Started Nothing
21. Notorious BIG - Ready to Die
22. The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
23. Michael Jackson - The Essential Michael Jackson
24. Tokyo Police Club - A Lesson In Crime
25. Blink-182 - Greatest Hits
26. Fleetwood Mac - Rumors
27. The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible and Funeral
28. Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs, Plans, and Transatlanticism
29. Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
30. Coconut Records – Microphone and Young Baby
etc.

Maybe I should look into investing in an iPod adapter before I embark on this trip...

"The Book of Negroes" by Lawrence Hill

Last night was Lawrence Hill's reading of his masterpiece, The Book of Negroes. He was soft-spoken, surprisingly humorous in person, and generous enough to answer many of our pressing questions and sign our copies of his book.

I was truly moved and inspired by Hill's book and am most likely going to write about it for my Letter Assignment. So I've decided to use this journal entry as a space for me to brainstorm on the many things I want to write about. Right now, there is so much that I want to mention about the 470-page novel, that I feel that I have to get down my ideas as soon as I can.

I am thinking that I would like to focus on Aminata and the forces that push her to survive. I am very interested in the relationship she has with her parents and how their voices are constantly with her, even when she is nearing death and getting ready to face the London courts:

"I could feel my pulse pounding in my throat, and tried to calm myself by thinking of my father and how - even when making tea or jewelery - his hands moved with confidence. I imagined his voice, deep and musical, reaching out across the ocean to soothe me now: Just be who you are, and speak of the life you have lived. (458)

I am also interested in her relationship with her husband, Chekura. I was deeply moved by how only death could stop him from finding her every time they were apart. Not only did The Book of Negroes teach me things I did not know about Black history and Canada's role in slavery, but also about love and how it can cross oceans and bring people together again.

The hardest parts in the novel for me to read were when Aminata loses both her children. Aminata experiences some of the most horrific events I could ever imagine. As a child, losing parents would be the most difficult thing to face, and as a woman, she must endure losing her children and her husband. Reading those passages always made me feel a pang of regret for the pain that she encounters, but I also learned that these experiences were what made her a stronger woman, encouraged to keep reading, learning, teaching others, and pushed her to continue fighting for her freedom.

I look forward to developing these ideas into my letter to the wonderful Lawrence Hill.

"Ragged Company" by Richard Wagamese

In lecture, we discussed the question that Richard Wagamese's book asks: Does money have the ability to change someone's quality of life? Previous to reading this book, I had often toyed with that same idea on my own. Whenever things don't go exactly as planned, those of us who have financial limitations often think, 'If only I had more money, everything would be different.' But Wagamese's book questions the truth in those thoughts. The characters in Ragged Company win money through the lottery, but are still unable to let go of their previous experiences, struggles and burdens. This reminded me of an episode of Oprah that I once saw about a homeless person who was give $100,000 by a documentary filmmaker. The director put the money in a briefcase in a dumpster where the homeless man was sure to find it, as he made his living at the time by collecting cans. The homeless man was unaware that the money was to be part of the movie he was being filmed for; the director had told him that he was just following him to discover what it was like to be homeless. The man had no idea that he was part of a social experiment to see if money really can change someone's life for the better. Out of no where, family members and old friends who had once abandoned the man and forgotten of his existence wanted a new relationship with him. The man bought these people lavish gifts such as cars and even bought himself a $32,000 truck. Not only did he not know how to handle having so much money, but he could not grow accustomed to living under a roof. Once he had acquired an apartment, he couldn't sleep on a bed, but slept on the floor. Eventually, he was so unwise with his money, despite the financial advisers and therapists available to him free of charge through the director, that he ended up homeless and alone once again. This story demonstrates that money cannot solve all of one's problems. (The link to the story is here http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/95216/a_homeless_man_blows_100000_of_free.html?cat=9)

Although the characters in Ragged Company do not grow fully accustom to having more opportunities either, they eventually learn how to use their talents and skills as trades and give back to the Mission. But the success of the characters is due to something they had that the homeless man in the other story did not - each other. They were a family before they received their windfall and were there for each other despite their social circumstances. They may have been lacking a physical place to live, but they had built a home with their friendship. The company's relationships with each other and with Granite allow them to move past their former lives and use their fortune to reinvent their lives. Regardless of their monetary wealth, as long as they maintained their home with each other, they would continue to be rich in love and companionship.

"Airstream Land Yacht" by Ken Babstock

To be honest, I was having a rather difficult time reading this book before lecture last week and Babstock's reading a couple of days ago. I had never before encountered poetry like this and was struggling to understand meaning through it. I am accustomed to trying to relate poetry and writing to my own life, but I just could not find emotional connections in Babstock's words.

I was relieved to discover in lecture, however, that Leslie agreed that it is often difficult to understand what Babstock's theme or intention is with his poetry. She mentioned, for example, that the poem "Airstream Land Yacht" is actually more focused in sounds and metaphors, rather than relaying an actual message or emotion. Even she found it hard to distinguish what his main point is. It seems as though Babstock's poetry acts as a twisted map through the convoluted thoughts of the poet's mind.

However, Leslie also mentioned that "Stencil Artist" is a more approachable poem with a more traditional theme of love and relationships. As these are themes that I am more accustomed to and interested in reading about, I decided to give the poem another try. I found his narrative about a relationship with a graffiti artist easier to understand after Leslie gave us more background information and eventually discovered the beauty in the poem. I delighted in the imagery of "rail bridges, back lanes, blue dust of building/sites - with the NSCAD dropout (b.68, Khanesetake)/who worked at night with stencils and spray/paint, enlivening the poured forms of capitol/with red and black silhouettes of ordinary people" (23) that could be describing rebellion in almost any Canadian city. And once Babstock references his relationship with the artist he has been describing and discusses how she removed him from her life, I could appreciate how he compares the way she approaches her art work with the way she treated their relationship: "Steady brown knife,/she cut me-expertly-out of her life; the life/I see now I'd been filling in" (23). It is a beautiful comparison that allowed me to finally appreciate the emotion Babstock was putting into his work, even though I didn't see it immediately.

I have learned from reading this book that although I may struggle with it, I shouldn't give up on poetry because it may take a few reads to find lasting beauty and meaning within the words.

"Natasha and Other Stories" by David Bezmozgis

The latest book that we had to read for class is Natasha and Other Stories by David Bezmozgis. It seems as though I have gotten my wish and we are reading another collection of short stories from a Canadian author. It is also another book in the course that focuses on the story of the Canadian immigrant. Similar to Barnacle Love, it focuses on one family, but it is different because only one character narrates the connected stories in Natasha. In lecture, Gail mentioned that the book is actually autobiographical fiction and that a lot of it is based on Bezmozgis' upbringing, but that he is more interested in writing the fiction aspects. I was interested in the idea that, like all of the other writers we have read to this point, Bezmozgis uses what he knows to communicate slightly altered stories about his life to his reader. But unlike the others, he is more open to admitting how much and which parts of the stories are inspired by his own life. For example, I was surprised to learn from Gail that Bezmozgis has admitted that the story "Natasha" is taken almost directly from his life, except for the fact that he does not have an uncle, because it is so personal and graphic. For most people, telling a story about an intimate relationship they had with a family member in their youth would be a taboo subject. This revelation has encouraged me to think of my own life as a series of short stories. Writing does not have to be about doing incredible amounts of research and telling a story about a stranger, but can be inspired by my own life, told with a twist.

I also was interested in the story "Roman Berman, Massage Therapist". Reading about Mark's father Roman and his struggle to transfer the skills he had acquired in his home country of Latvia, which is a obstacle that many immigrants face when they come to Canada. My own mother, a trained secretary, had to find work in a factory because of her limited knowledge of English and her inability to use a computer. Unlike my own parents, however, Roman does succeed in starting his own Massage Therapy clinic, despite the initial challenges he faces. He works hard to pass the required exams and uses his connection to his community to benefit his business. This also reminded me of my father and how he has had to take English classes and other courses to attain a second career after the factory he worked in closed and moved to Mexico. Like Roman, he was determined to do well in his classes and applied an optimistic hope to an otherwise unfortunate situation. I felt that this story, out of all of them, truly commented on the persevering spirit of many Canadian immigrants. Although my parents did not have the same opportunities to develop their English or other skills to go as far as to have their own business, they have worked hard to raise my sister and I with the idea that anything is possible in this country, as long as we work hard, are determined, and never lose hope.

The picture I am including below is one that "Roman Berman, Massage Therapist" reminded me of. It is of my sister, my father, and I about two years after we came to Canada, in our first apartment in Kitchener. Like the story of "Rose" in the Chinese Knot, this picture reminds me of the great relationship I have with my parents and the promising life that they worked so hard to give my sister and I.


I'm starting to think that writing about the collections of short stories focused on immigrant Canadians might be a good idea for my Critical Commentary at the end of the year...

"The Chinese Knot and Other Stories" by Lien Chao

I really enjoyed reading Lien Chao's The Chinese Knot. During her reading yesterday, she mentioned that she focused on immigration and emigration because it demonstrates an exciting process of change and struggle or a loss and gain. This reminded me of De Sa's stories in Barnacle Love and the similar ideas that I am focusing on in my first Letter Assignment. Just as his stories revolved around a family's adjustment to living a new life in Canada from the perspective of two males at different points in their lives, The Chinese Knot tells a similar story but through the eyes of very different single female narrators. This is again an interesting theme to me because I am also a female immigrant living in Canada. Although I have lived here for the majority of my life, I am still an amalgamation of both cultures and my parents' decision to immigrate here was both a loss and a gain, as Chao discussed.

Two of my favourite stories in The Chinese Knot were "Under the Monkey Bars" and Rose.

In "Under the Monkey Bars," Wei Ming is an elderly woman who confronts racism. This story reminded me of Julia in The Other Sister, who is also opinionated, outspoken, and independent, despite what people may expect from her because of her age.

After reading "Rose," I felt a deep sadness. I was bewildered by the story and how a daughter could be able to reject her own mother. Although my mother and I do not always agree on certain issues, I have a close relationship with her, love her, and know that I can always rely on her. I know that the situation told in the short story was different from my own upbringing and that I am not a product of divorce and have never spent time away from my mother, but I cannot imagine not wanting to have a relationship with her. Chao writes with such honesty and frailty that I really felt sympathetic towards the character of Rose. I just imagined how my mom would feel if I did not want to talk to her on a daily basis like I do now and my heart sank. Reading "Rose" made me further appreciate the relationship I have with my mom and made me want to make sure she knows how much I am grateful for her role and constant presence in my life. Although I felt most emotional when I read "Rose", all of Chao's characters are easy to identify with and are recognizable, which must be because they were inspired by real women that the author encountered in her own life. I was able to easily feel sympathy or happiness for her female protagonists, depending on the tone of the story.

Another character that was familiar to me was the city of Toronto. Chao mentioned that it acted not only as a setting, but as another character in her stories. Its streets, parks, and neighbourhoods all shaped and framed her connected narratives. This made her work identifiably Canadian and helped me to relate to the stories, as many of the landmarks she mentioned were familiar to me.

So far this course has already changed my perception of Canadian literature. I previously thought that it was mostly written by Caucasian Canadians and did not tell the stories of the many immigrants that make this multicultural country so diverse. But by reading De Sa and Chao, I know that I have much more to learn about what Canadian literature can be. The rest of the books in the course look to be just as diverse and I know that I will be just as interested in learning about their stories. I also have gained a new opinion of short stories. Previous to this course, I had never been very interested in reading collections of short stories. But after reading Barnacle Love and The Chinese Knot, the format is actually one of my new favourites. It allows for episodic takes on the characters' lives, while still allowing the reader to be emotionally invested in the material. Although I originally read Barnacle Love as a novel, reading it as a collection instead, allowed me to let go of the parts I missed (such as Manuel and Georgina's first years in Canada) and concentrate on why the episodes that De Sa did choose to write about were so important to the narrative and the development of the characters. This is different to Chao, who writes about many different characters. For her book, choosing to write short stories, allowed her to examine the lives of many female characters, without having to intertwine their stories, as she would have been forced to had she written a novel. I look forward to reading the other collections of short stories in the course, and Natasha and Other Stories and Shopping for Sabzi.