Sumac’s Red Arms by Karen Shklanka Published by Coteau Books Review by Shelley A. Leedahl $16.95 ISBN 978-1-55050-402-6 Must one live an interesting life in order to write interesting poetry? I would argue that no, this is not a requirement, but it certainly doesn’t hurt. The Vancouver poet, family physician, world traveler, and flamenco dancer, Karen Shklanka, draws from her own rich experience and has much to tell in her first book of poetry, Sumac’s Red Arms. She sets many of her often surprising poems against the various locales she’s called home: Moose Factory, Ontario; Sydney, Australia; Los Angeles; Houston; Salt Spring Island; and Regina. The first poems reveal scenarios from the poet’s medical work in a northern Ontario community. We meet “James,” who “woke bleeding on a battlefield of empties\and limp friends” and has “been sitting all morning with a gun to his head”. And we’re introduced to “The Girl From Attawapiskat”: “She spits on me as they wheel her out on the stretcher”. These are no-nonsense anecdotes, and Shklanka adopts a journalistic style to convey them, thus ensuring that sentimentality does not cloud the telling. In the book’s radically different second section, “The Scent of Cloves,” readers are…
A Rose Grows: Fighting Cancer, Finding Me by Olga Stefaniuk Published by Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing Review by Andréa Ledding $16.95 ISBN 978-1-894431-33-0 This memoir starts off by bringing the reader to small town prairie life in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Growing up in the village of Hubbard, the author lives and works at the general store with her parents and siblings. The reader has an enjoyable look into her childhood and family life in a then-bustling railroad village – a glimpse into a bygone era where ‘fast food’ was the barrel of pickled herrings in the front of the general store, and Christmas oranges were mainly prized because their wrappings meant softer paper in the outhouse. After this introduction, the story follows her journey to Saskatoon, career, marriage, two children – and cancer. When Stefaniuk finds a lump in her breast at the age of 42, the reader shares her journey of survival, loss, perseverance, and determination to reach out to others in the midst of her own struggle to not only survive – but thrive. Along the way, Stefaniuk starts local cancer support groups, brings cancer retreats to the province, and makes friends wherever she goes. She carries…
Something to Hang On To by Beverly Brenna Published by Thistledown Press Review by Judith Silverthorne $12.95 ISBN 978-1-897235-57-7 Beverley Brenna’s new collection of short stories for teens is poignant and powerful. Each one is told in a clear, positive and simple way, so that Something to Hang On To will appeal to many readers. Her characters are both quirky and honest as they go through tough times. They all seem to overcome their obstacles by capturing lasting resolutions from within. Sometimes the stories are based on real life incidents and sometimes they are slightly autobiographical. Often they provide insights into a variety of serious life issues, such as loss, family violence, autism, Down’s Syndrome, or marginalization. She explores these adversities from a variety of angles. There are also some that are more-light hearted stories like the one about getting a toe caught in a vacuum cleaner, or another about parachuting from a plane for the first time. The award-winning author uses both first person and third person narrations in this compelling collection. As an added feature, there’s also an intriguing one-act play. This is her first and it’s an existential one, which captures the absurd, echoing sentiments many teens…
The Way It Was A Story of My Life by Leola Edna May Harron Published by Leola Harron Reviewed by Gail Jansen Price $12.95 Anyone who’s ever felt over-worked and underpaid should take a moment to live life in the past lane, through Leola Edna May Harron’s book The Way it Was A Story of My Life. Writing about the joys and hardships faced growing up as a prairie pioneer in the early 1900’s Harron’s simple style at times seems overwrought with seemingly inconsequential detail, yet as the book unfolds, each detail works to paint for the reader, a realistic portrait of what life on the prairies truly was about. Instead of a glorified portrait of a life with daring adventures, Harron’s clear and vivid memories paint quite a different picture full of hard work, tragedy and a certain dogged determinism needed to survive the harsh Saskatchewan landscape. Any simple pleasures that Harron did experience were remembered as sweet moments that needed to be savoured and treasured for the brief respite from real life that they gave. Raised by her maternal grandparents after the death of her parents before she was barely four years old, Harron grew up impoverished yet…
Tuckahoe Slidebottle by Neil McKinnon Published by Thistledown Press Review by Shelley A. Leedahl $18.95 ISBN 978-1-897235-07-02 “The town itself is homeless. It lies on the prairie like a drunk on a sidewalk.” The town is Tuckahoe, a fictional SK community invented by gifted writer Neil McKinnon, and on the strength of these first two sentences, I knew I was going to enjoy his short fiction collection Tuckahoe Slidebottle. McKinnon renders a cast of characters simultaneously outrageous and credible; if Tuckahoe were on a map, readers would be flocking there. I can’t help thinking that the writer wore a smile while penning most of these twenty stories. First, let’s look at the town itself. Tuckahoe’s a place where “Dried potholes slam your teeth as you drive.” There’s the inevitable coffee row, called “The Jury” (“five or six tobacco chewers and sunflower-seed-spitters who met every day to pass judgement on the private lives of others”). And there are wild characters like one-eyed Old Alex, who took off his black eye patch Saturdays and “used a silver dollar to cover the hole where his left eye was supposed to be,” because he believed in dressing up on Saturday nights. Reverend Davies is…