Simon and Schuster Canada...

...has sent me an ARC to review. I just wanted to say thank you. I am truly humbled by all of the publishing houses that have contributed: this blog would not exist if not for you. And obviously the books that you publish...

The Poser by Jacob Rubin

ISBN: 978-0-670-01676-1

The Poser is original, entertaining, thought-provoking and many other complimentary adjectives (what a start, right?) Jacob Rubin--a first-time novelist--came up with a refreshing story and told it brilliantly. I was enraptured from the first page and my interest was piqued until the very end. 

I guess this is going to be one of those glowing reviews, but not without merit:

Jacob Rubin nails it. 

Giovanni Bernini is an impressionist (not a painter but a master mimic.) As an early child, his uncanny ability would get him into trouble. The only support he would get was from his mother who loved him and his remarkable talent dearly. 

He stumbles upon Max, a talent agent, who takes him to the big city to maximize  his potential (profit-wise, of course.) He introduces him to Bernard, who owns a club, and Giovanni begins his career as a professional impersonator.

He meets Lucy whom he has a relationship with and is particularly taken with her as she is the only person he has met to date whom he can't really impersonate--he can't "find her thread." Lucy had been involved with Bernard in the past  and had a bit of a reputation--I'll say no more. 

He eventually finds Lucy with Bernard (ahem,) thus ending their relationship. Little did Giovanni know that it was all part of Bernard's bigger plan. That plan in brief: turn Giovanni into a movie star and then parlay his fame into a career in politics. Basically, Bernard wanted to use him to take over the world. Nothing crazy, really. 

Yes, there are hints of The Manchurian Candidate, but there is no brainwashing involved. Giovanni is a willing participant in every one of his endeavours, misguided though he may be. His issues are what drive this novel, no one else's. He is as sympathetic a character as you will find--I couldn't stop myself from pitying him.  

The book is set in a make-believe place in a non-descript time--neither are of any significance. The only real matter of importance is Giovanni and his perpetual need to mask himself in others, never really showing anyone who he is. 

The book is a comedy by definition but deals with a young man's inability to find his own identity: a topic I would describe as pretty serious. It's very relatable (in a magical sort of way.) Hasn't everyone been uncomfortable in their own skin at some point in their lives? Maybe it's just me...

Jacob Rubin has been compared to Jonathan Lethem--I can see it. I was reminded of the world and characters of Gun, With Occasional Music while reading this book (no talking baby gangsters, but still.) That is a good thing. Creativity is key for me and those brave enough to exhibit it in the writing world are alright in my books (no pun intended.)

Anyone looking for a unique read that will keep you turning pages should definitely give The Poser a shot. READ THIS BOOK. You won't be disappointed. 

My goodness, I really liked this book.

Well done, Jacob Rubin. 

And...HarperCollins Canada...

Thank you, HarperCollins Canada, for enabling this humble blogger to read and review books from every major Canadian publishing house. It is complete! I am grateful and now am equipped with all of the tools I need to make this blog work. 

Happy Easter and Passover to everyone that celebrates and observes. I'm going to take this long weekend to clean my place and, well, read, I guess. 

The Man Who Learned to Walk Three Times by Peter Kavanagh

ISBN: 978-0-345-80852-3

I'm a really big fan of memoirs. I like the organic rawness of them, the possibility that just because someone remembers something one way, it doesn't mean it necessarily happened like that. There's no real science, just memories and describing your life to the best of your abilities.

There was a lot of science in The Man Who Learned to Walk Three Times, though. Not in a bad way--I'm not trying to say that didn't appreciate it. In fact, I'm not really sure that I did, but that may just be me. 

Peter Kavanagh tells his story. He was born with polio in the early 1950s during the height of the Canadian epidemic. His father worked on numerous construction sights across Canada, so his family was constantly on the move. He struggled throughout his childhood. He was bullied and so lashed out, using his mind as a weapon to become the predator. As you can imagine, it was difficult. One leg was longer than the other. He had to wear a brace. It wasn't smooth sailing. Finally, at the age of 12, he, with his family, decided to undergo hip surgery--hip displaysia being a worrisome problem caused by the polio. Unfortunately, this meant living the entire next year in a body cast. 

If you thought things were going to get easier, you were wrong. I suppose you wouldn't think that, though, given the title of the book and the fact that he hasn't learned to walk three...anyway, you get it!

Kavanagh took advantage of his longer leg. He stopped using a brace and started wearing sneakers. Bad decisions. His foot couldn't handle the pressure and so he would break it several times. 

Later on in life, Kavanagh suffered through numerous other ailments, culminating in another hip surgery. 

All through the book, the author does a wonderful job describing all the medical problems and procedures he had to endure. He is a self-proclaimed man of words and there was no shortage of them in the book. For those who like lengthy descriptions, this is wonderful: Kavanagh does a remarkable job in walking the reader through every detail in a very comprehensive manner. On the other hand, if you think--as Polonius did in Hamlet--that brevity is the soul of wit, you, my friend, may be at wits end upon concluding The Man Who Learned to Walk Three Times.

So what did I think about the book? I'm still not sure. I certainly respect Kavanagh's will and ability to overcome the medical nightmares that most could only have nightmares about. I'm uncertain, though, that this is a memoir, so to speak. It's certainly genre bending, if that means anything.

So yeah, I liked it as a medical journal blended with the most pertinent parts of a life story. Not really as a memoir though.

You should probably read it to make more sense of what I'm saying.

It will be released on April 14, 2015.

The Making of Zombie Wars by Aleksandar Hemon

ISBN: 978-0-374-20341-2

When I found out that Aleksandar Hemon was coming out with a new novel this year, I was thrilled. His book The Lazarus Project is one of my all time favourites. It examined a very serious issue--immigration and acceptance in America--and did a fantastic job of chronicling a part of history.

That is not what The Making of Zombie Wars is. 

Joshua Levin is an ESL teacher in Chicago with dreams of becoming a screenwriter in 2003. He throws a bunch of ideas around his workshop, but the one that sticks is about a zombie apocalypse that he calls Zombie Wars (obviously.) He has a girlfriend who is much better looking than he is named Kimmy but finds himself very attracted to a Bosnian student, Ana. Meanwhile, he finds his very crazy, Desert Storm vet landlord, Stagger, riffling through his things in his apartment. Kimmy decides that it would be a good idea for Josh to move in with her. 

At around this time, Josh learns that his father has prostate cancer and his sister's marriage is falling apart. Josh, of course, cannot resist the temptation of Ana, even with his wonderful girlfriend and her unrelenting support of him.

And so, Josh commences an affair with Ana. This is after he meets Ana's husband--an ex-military, quite probably violent Bosnian man named Esko. As can be predicted, mayhem ensues. And not just a little mayhem, I'm talking zombie apocalypse mayhem. 

There is also a side story throughout the novel: the reader gets to feast their eyes on exerpts of Levin's script. As you may think, it's pretty standard for a zombie movie--certainly nothing revolutionary. 

TMOZW is absurd and it's meant to be that way. It is extremely funny and is a very quick read. If you have never read anything by Aleksandar Hemon, you should know that English is not his first language (he left his native Bosnia during the war in 1992 and was stranded, making a new home in Chicago.) I say this because he has completely mastered in a way that would make anyone jealous. This book is no exception: as silly as it may be, it is chock full of perfectly worded metaphors and wondrous technique. Hemon is a gifted writer and I am happy to read anything that he's penned (in fact, his memoir is on my list and will be reviewed soon.)

As for recommendations go, let me get to it. If you are looking for something full of everything extreme (sex, blood, zombies,) this is the book for you. Also, if you want to admire the work of a master of the craft, give it a shot. If you're looking for something deeper, The Making of Zombie Wars may not be it. 

But you already knew that from the title, right?

I really liked the novel. Hemon pushes the boundaries of normalcy and sanity into a rock'em sock'em orgy of fun--in the life-falling-apart way, of course. It's pretty refreshing. 

Enjoy. 

Fire and Air by Erik Vlaminck

ISBN: 978-1-77089-401-3

Fire and Air is a book that grows as you read it. It doesn't seem like much will happen at the onset, but it is truly one of the saddest--I want to even say most powerful--books that I have read in some time. 

The author, Erik Vlaminck, is Flemish. The original text was written in both Flemish and Dutch and was published in 2011. This is the first translation (done by Paul Vincent) to reach Canada, which is strange considering the majority of the novel takes place in Southwest Ontario where many Dutch and Belgians emigrated after WWII.

It's a story of a very broken family and the difficulties that three generations must endure. Elly was born and raised in St Thomas, Ontario to a Belgian father named Tony and a Dutch mother, Mina. Tony seems to care much more about racing pigeons (which he keeps in a coop next to his house) and Belgian beer than he does his family, although he has a soft-spot for his daughter. Mina is a devout Roman Catholic that has grown very tired of Tony's antics: he takes trips back to Belgium without them and has heard that he spends most of his free time in the nearby town of Delhi, drinking at the Belgian bar. He is a bit (generous) of an unstable individual (evidenced by the shooting of his own birds and the poisoning of cats in the neighbourhood,) but Elly favours him to Mina nonetheless. Tony ends up leaving Canada for good one day--his wife would have to care for their daughter alone. 

Fast forward some years and we find Elly in Belgium searching for Tony. His mental health issues seem to have been passed along to his daughter: she only really feels alive when in pain, is very insecure and empathy isn't her strongpoint. She tracks down Dad only to find that he has another family in Belgium, complete with a half-brother. Tony refuses to meet with her and so she does something completely nuts (not telling what) and heads back to Canada. 

Further on down the timeline, we meet Elly's daughter, Linda. Linda does not suffer from mental illness, but that doesn't mean that she doesn't have a lot to deal with. Her mom now calls herself Martha and she is falling apart. Her grandmother is old and alone. Linda has a lot on her plate. 

I wish I was able to read Flemish and Dutch. Not that Vincent didn't do a wonderful job, I just feel like it would be impossible to capture everything written if it isn't your native tongue(s.)

It's a difficult read: not because of the language, but the content. And not difficult in a bad way either. It is Heavy (capital H intended.) I find that anything involving mental health issues takes its toll on me. That said, I highly recommend it. It's not a book that will very soon pop up on the bestsellers' list, but it is a hidden gem that I was fortunate enough to have recommended to me. 

Fire and Air is available now. 

Under the Visible Life by Kim Echlin

ISBN: 978-0-670-0632-5

Under the Visible Life was recommended to me last week. It had received a lot of praise from female readers, and my wonderful contact at Penguin, Elizabeth, thought it would be interesting to get a male take. At first I thought there wouldn't be much of a difference if the novel was a quality read: I've read books written by female authors as well as books with female protagonists--there is usually no real barrier unless the major focus on the book is femininity. 

I won't say that this is one of those cases, but the focus of the book is on strength and being a woman.  

The story told is a good one--very solid. There were no points in the novel that I felt uncomfortable, like I should really be a woman to read and love this book. I did like it very much, but I certainly think there was something lacking in my association with the characters. 

Katherine was born in Hamilton, Ontario in, I want to say, the 1940s. Her mother was white, her father Chinese. Interracial marriages were a definite no-no at this time, sadly, and her mother was arrested and institutionalized for "being incorrigible." She fought hard to get out and get her daughter back. Katherine grows up in poverty and falls in love with jazz music, becoming a very talented pianist playing in clubs underage. She goes on to marry and have three kids with T, a saxophonist who struggles with drug addiction and can't really commit to be present in Katherine and his children's lives. Katherine moves to New York with her kids to pursue her career as a jazz pianist and makes do as a single mother with very little money. 

Mahsa is a half-Afghani, half-American girl in Karachi whose parents are slain by her uncles for their family's honour. She goes on to live with her other aunt and uncle (more accepting although not the ideal family for Westerners) and learns to play the piano. She meets Kamal, loses her virginity and gets pregnant. She, being a teenager, has an abortion and never tells Kamal--who she loves--about it. She decides she wants to move to Canada--Montreal, Quebec specifically--to study (at McGill.) There, she finds a freedom she had never experienced, embraces the Jazz scene and lives a life she only dreamed of. On a visit back to Pakistan, her dreams are dashed: her passport is stolen from her and she is forced to marry Ali--a business man whom she was promised to. Ali would bring his business to Montreal and the life that Mahsa knew would be no longer. They have two children in a loveless marriage. 

Mahsa meets Katherine on a trip to New York and they become best friends. They play piano and Katherine arranges for them to record together. Ali is not happy with Mahsa's creativity and does everything he can to stifle it. He decides that Mahsa is a bad influence on her daughter, Lailani, and sends her to live with her grandparents in Pakistan. In order to get her daughter back, Mahsa agrees to comply with her husband. Of course, she doesn't really...

There is a lot of overcoming in the novel. Katherine overcomes being a woman in a male-run Jazz scene, Mahsa overcomes the constraints of her husband. The story certainly has feminist undertones--whether it is overt or not, I'm not sure. I have no problem with that, as like many males of my generation, I happen to be a feminist. 

I think Echlin's purpose was to show that the archaic views of 1940s Canada continued into the 70s and is still prevalent in some parts of the world today. It's an important message to relay, and, hopefully, it will be a very foreign one sooner than later. 

It was a good book: not great, but good. I think that anyone can read it, whether male or female. 

I do wonder, however, if I would have appreciated it more if I'd had dealt with some of the struggles of being a woman.