Canada Reads, Day 4

Posted 28 February, 2008 in Canada Reads |

Alex: Another day where everything went as expected. At least by us. Is the domain name CanadianNostradamus.com registered?

My usual point-form breakdown:

(1) There isn’t a whole lot of dramatic tension now. MacLean, Moore, and Jemini all stuck to their guns. As Jemini put it, changing her vote would make her appear “ridiculous.” That said, it’s clear she’s going to vote against Icefields again in the next round, and I think it’s pretty clear both Shaikh and Bidini will join her. The way the dynamics are working now, Jian even suggested a Bidini-Shaikh “cabal.” I don’t think there’s any collusion, but it’s just the way things shook out that those two are the deciders.

(2) Jemini was very gracious in defeat, but the line about Canada “not being ready” for a book like Brown Girl in the Ring? Hmmmm.

(3) As for the critical discussion, it seemed like a day of non-starters. Jian threw out the observation that the two books by women (and chosen by women) have been voted off first. But Moore didn’t find that significant. Then the conversation turned to sex, which was weird since I don’t think any of these books emphasizes sex. Though Bidini’s comment that “hot sex is even hotter” when it’s cold outside might make it into the promo sampler for tomorrow’s show. Something might have come out of the “is it time for a funny book to win?” question, but Bidini (who was not having a good day) never got to develop his idea that there’s a difference between being humorous and being funny. And finally Jian asked whether maybe Icefields was “too western.” And that didn’t go anywhere either.

(4) Moore did win the best give-and-take in her disagreement with Bidini over why they read. Moore said she reads to grow, Bidini said he reads to have a good time, and Moore shot back that she enjoys growing. That was a smash.

(5) Looking forward, as noted earlier I think Icefields has to be the next off. Which leaves King Leary and Not Wanted on the Voyage in the final. In that showdown Jemini will be the deciding vote, since Bidini and Moore will vote off Not Wanted on the Voyage and MacLean and Shaikh will vote off King Leary (if they hold to form, which I think they will). So it’s her call.

Steven: Should I do the Stephen Colbert thing again, or is that just beating a dead horse? Okay, one more time for good measure: WE CALLED IT!

I admit I was a bit surprised that Brown Girl in the Ring got the axe today, since it didn’t get a single vote yesterday, but then, the two people who voted against it — Zaib Shaikh and Dave Bidini — had to change their votes since the book they both voted against yesterday was eliminated. But it makes sense: Brown Girl in the Ring was the lowbrow choice, the one that everyone agrees is the least well written, and it’s a genre novel. I’m actually a bit surprised there wasn’t more talk of it as a genre novel, since this is one thing that clearly set it apart from the four other books. There might have been some interesting discussion around the issue of whether there exists a prejudice against genre fiction among those who view it as the redheaded stepchild of more worthy literary books, but no one took up this avenue of discussion.

Jemeni was indeed gracious, although I thought her comment that Canada might not be ready to embrace a book like Brown Girl in the Ring was a bit disparaging. My sense was that Bidini at least voted against the book because he thought it was of lesser quality than the others, not because he was unable to accept the Afro-Caribbean content of the story.

As for the rest of the debate, I agree with you, Alex, about it being full of non-starters; in fact, today had to be the most boring day so far this week. It shouldn’t have been, given that the topics included sex and the wanton perversity that runs through Not Wanted on the Voyage, but the panel seemed very lethargic today, unwilling to engage with much of anything.

On the subject of sex, Bidini initially demurred when Ghomeshi reminded him of his comment on Monday about Icefields having the hottest sex scene, but he eventually came around, claiming that “hot sex is even hotter when it’s snowy and minus thirty-four and icy outside.”

Now it’s time for my confession: I had no recollection of the sex scene in Icefields whatsoever. It’s been just over one week since I read the book, but the scene between Hal and Freya had completely disappeared from my mind. (The monks skating on their circular rink are still vivid in my memory, despite the fact that I read King Leary before Icefields; this may say something about the respective books.) I went back to look at the scene in Wharton’s novel, and it’s not even really a sex scene, per se: Wharton employs the technique that Russell Smith, in his introduction to Diana: A Diary in the Second Person, refers to as “panning to the window as the movies do, then cutting to the lovers waking the next morning.” It’s typically Canadian: very polite and elliptical and soft-focus. But clearly not terribly memorable.

By contrast, the rape of Emma with the unicorn’s horn in Not Wanted on the Voyage is a scene that will undoubtedly stick with me for a very long time, and it sounded as though the panel was going to get into an interesting discussion about whether this (and other scenes in the book — the cannibalism, the murder of Lotte, etc.) were justified, but Ghomeshi cut the discussion short, presumably because of time restrictions.

The one moment today that did have me sitting up in my chair came during the discussion of humour in books, when Dave Bidini said that “CanLit has been encased in this kind of tweedy austerity for a long, long time and, you know, because of that, because we are told that the books you’re supposed to like are the books that are the most serious, books that have a humorous element are often given short shrift.” The observation may be a bit trite and self-evident, but it was the closest I came today to getting enthusiastic about what I was listening to.

So all in all, an underwhelming day. Perhaps the panelists are getting tired; Ghomeshi did tell them to get a good sleep tonight in preparation for tomorrow’s finale.

As for how it will shake out tomorrow, Jemeni will stick to her guns and vote against Icefields, Lisa Moore will stick to her guns and vote against Not Wanted on the Voyage, Steve MacLean will likely stick to his guns and vote against King Leary, and the bloc of Bidini and Shaikh will vote against Icefields. (Didn’t somebody already say that?)

In a showdown between Not Wanted on the Voyage and King Leary, look for King Leary to take it, three votes to two.

1 comment to “Canada Reads, Day 4”

panic, February 28th, 2008 at 11:35 pm:

• Jian threw out the observation that the two books by women (and chosen by women) have been voted off first. But Moore didn’t find that significant.
  I’m going to be just a bit nitpicky here, but Gomeshi didn’t actually introduce this idea. Moore did, and he thought it was interesting so he went with it, and she pulled back, saying she was joking. I’m not sure she didn’t find it significant; she was the one to mention it, after all. I just think she didn’t really want to go there, and meant it as sort of a one-liner.

Your comment:

Name (required)

Mail (requried)

Website

Security code (Required)*
To prove that you're not a bot, enter this code