Quill and Quire

Reviews

Live by Request

By Rob Payne

In Fictionland, all novels that are narrated by struggling members of rock bands feature embarrassing alcoholic dads; laconic, skinny love-object minxes; service jobs that resemble psych wards; descriptions of greasy food; and at least one ... Read More »

January 21, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

A Sack of Teeth

By Grant Buday

With his latest novel, A Sack of Teeth, critically praised Vancouver writer Grant Buday chronicles a single day in the life of a Vancouver family. It’s September 1965, and six-year-old Jack Klein is about to ... Read More »

January 21, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Fat Kid

By Paul Vermeersch

For his second collection of poetry, Toronto poet and editor Paul Vermeersch writes, in a linear series of narrative poems, the life story of a fat kid’s battle with anorexia. The kid of the title ... Read More »

January 19, 2004 | Filed under: Poetry

Simple Master

By Alice Burdick

Don’t let the title fool you: this debut collection by Toronto poet Alice Burdick is anything but simple. The book is quartered into segments that seem to lend a menu-like efficiency to its consumption. The ... Read More »

January 19, 2004 | Filed under: Poetry

Helsinki Drift

By Douglas Burnet Smith

Anyone who has ever traveled, especially into a country with a vastly different culture, knows that an exploration of their native poetry is essential. The next best approach is to read a book like Douglas ... Read More »

January 19, 2004 | Filed under: Poetry

Hoyden

By Pamela Westoby

The age-old conflict between art and commerce (otherwise known as “Is it really selling my soul if I get to eat regularly?”) is given a contemporary and Canadian voice in Hoyden, the debut novel from ... Read More »

January 19, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels