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Busy Doing Nothing Book Review

Rekka Bellum
Crossing the Pacific in a small sailboat for 51 days, Rekka & Devine's sense of adventure is impressive to say the least. But there's nothing showy or attention-seeking about their journey. This annotated logbook orbits around the small details of life aboard their vessel, Pino — food, sleep, weather, warmth. The ocean's dangers pounce unexpectedly, and so do its moments of joy. There is some room for philosophical asides, but for the most part this is a book about the reality of the world right in front of your face.

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Crosshairs Book Review

Catherine Hernandez
If this were written five years ago, a story about Canada's sharp turn toward fascism would seem too outlandish to be taken seriously. But the rise of white nationalism in recent times gives me pause to consider a world where forced labour, martial law, and oppression of LGBTQ and minority groups are the norm. This novel portrays the very plausible fear and uncertainty of such a society with gripping suspense. But it falls apart by not spending enough effort on developing characters' humanity and personality — they feel like caricatures.

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Saga Boy Book Review

Antonio Michael Downing
Downing's memoir travels between the broken-up pieces of his several lives, several personalities, several identities. Without being deterministic about it, he keeps coming back to the duality between colonial influence and Trini folk tales — two opposing forces that have shaped him and his family. In a culture so focused on defining authenticity, this is a refreshing dive into the multitudes that the author contains.

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The First True Lie Book Review

Marina Mander
A full-on tragedy with no glimmer of hope, it's a good thing for my mental health that this book is a short one. When young Luca's mother doesn't wake up one morning, he decides to carry on going to school, feeding the cat, and shopping for groceries on his own. *"How many times have I wanted to grow up soon, straight away? Here we go. It's happened. It might have happened better, but that's how it is."* This is a story about how the children of single parents deal with loyalty, responsibility, belonging and loss.

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