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A Mind Spread Out On The Ground Book Review

Alicia Elliott
This essay collection leaves no stone unturned, peeling back the layers of family dysfunction, colonialism, sexual assault, and corn subsidies, among other themes. It's a masterclass in finding the political in the personal. I especially like Elliott's way of weaving back and forth between Canadian and American contexts, even jumping from one to the other in the same paragraph. Our nation-state boundaries can't define this Haudenosaunee writer.

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Crude awakening

The Green Party of Canada has released its climate action plan for the fall election. It's called Mission: Possible, and lays out a path to zero carbon emissions, renewable energy, and green jobs all in a spirit of political co-operation. If we're going to turn the corner on the climate crisis, …

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Brother Book Review

David Chariandy
The boys in this story dig around for tenderness, belonging, and respect in a hard city. It's difficult not to compare this against Zadie Smith's *White Teeth* or Stephan Kelman's *Pigeon English*. But *Brother* falls short in creating that immersive world-within-a-world. The first-person narration often sounds too grown-up and removed from the character's point of view. Smart turns of phrase get repeated a little too often.

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Tracks Book Review

Louise Erdrich
Small-town drama. Whose child is she carrying? What dark secrets don’t people talk about? Wrapped in the historical context of 1910s settlers forcing native communities off reservations. But this is not a political book. It’s spiritual, it’s heart-tugging, it weaves a story right up in front of your nose so you can never see the whole picture at once.

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