Click on the thumbnails to find out which fiction titles made an impact in 2013.
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- 99003
- Darkness and poetry have always been close companions. From Dante and Milton through Rimbaud and Eliot, great poets have frequently gazed into the abyss and returned with a report on what they found there. Perhaps not coincidentally, Sara Peters alludes to Rimbaud in her poem Romance, one of the suite of obsessive, violent, and sexually charged verses that comprise her astonishing debut.<br /> <p>Peters' poetry is not designed to make readers comfortable or soothe their psyches. I was involved in the serious business / of ripping apart my own body, the poet writes in the opening of The Last Time I Slept in This Bed. Other poems sport titles such as My Sister and I, We Know We Are Filth, Abortion, and Cruelty, and the narrator of Playing Lesbians says, I love this gory business, offering what could stand as a motto for the entire collection.<br /> </p><p>Despite the almost unremitting moroseness of the content, the technique is impeccable, and belies the 31-year-old author's youth and lack of publishing history. Kafka asserted that a book should be the axe for the frozen sea inside us; <i>1996</i> is exactly the kind of book he would have appreciated.</p>
- 1996 by Sara Peters (House of Anansi Press)
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- 99002
- Canada's founding mythology, and the impact of the colonizers on this country's native population, is not only a source of inspiration for novelists, it is also the subject of ongoing debate, analysis, and activism among writers such as Thomas King and Daniel Francis through to the Idle No More movement. Set in the 1600s and told from multiple perspectives, Joseph Boyden's ambitious third novel addresses this material head on. Although undeniably daring in traversing this territory (canonized in novels such as <i>Wacousta</i> and <i>Black Robe</i>), Boyden's signal achievement in <i>The Orenda</i> is its evenhandedness: he presents his characters “ both native and European “ as full-blooded individuals, with all the comingled attributes and flaws that entails. <br /> <p>Boyden eschews a Hollywood-style narrative of heroes and villains; his refusal to cast his native characters as entirely innocent victims of European oppression has caused some controversy, but Boyden approaches the subject from a defiantly literary “ not political “ perspective. In so doing, he has created something relatively unique among recent CanLit blockbusters: an historical novel that feels determinedly of the moment. </p>
- <A HREF="http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=8123">The Orenda by Joseph Boyden (Hamish Hamilton Canada)</A>
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- 99001
- Is there a more bittersweet success story to come out of the publishing world this year than that of A.S.A. Harrison's <i>The Silent Wife</i>? The author, who had previously published several works of non-fiction, toiled for a decade on the novel, only to succumb to cancer in April, two months shy of the book's publication.<br /> <p>In the six months that followed, the finely tuned psychological thriller became a Canadian top seller, spent months on <i>The New York Times</i>' bestseller list, and was optioned for film by Nicole Kidman's production company. Friends of Harrison say the author sensed the book would do well, but no one, including her publisher, Penguin Canada, predicted how big a hit it would be.<br /> </p><p>And yet, the over-the-top success is well deserved. Harrison's story “ about how the breakdown of a long-term relationship leads to deception and murder “ bears the hallmarks of long tinkering: precise language, a believable cast of complex characters, and a plot that surprises and titillates. It's a razor-sharp fiction debut. That it is also Harrison's swan song is a tragic twist of fate.</p>
- <A HREF="http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=8049">The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison</A>
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- 99000
- Certain mysteries abide in this world: the Gordian Knot, the Holy Trinity, and the literary obscurity of Douglas Glover. Over the course of a career spanning three and a half decades, Glover has produced some of the most stylish, adventurous fiction this country has ever seen, and yet he seems to be continually passed over for recognition (a 2003 Governor General's Literary Award for his historical novel <i>Elle</i> notwithstanding). The reason for this oversight is frankly inexplicable, outside of a general nervousness when confronted with technically brilliant fiction. <br /> <p>The stories in <i>Savage Love</i> are vintage Glover: running from five lines to more than 50 pages, and spanning historical periods from the 19th century to the present, each one is a pristine example of the short form. Glover's sentences pulse and breathe, seethe and spit; his stories avoid prefab emotion in favour of bracing, often brutal honesty. For the courageous, there was no better collection of stories published this year.</p>
- <A HREF="http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=8168">Savage Love by Douglas Glover (Goose Lane Editions)</A>
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- 98999
- While it's true that envy counts as one of the seven deadly sins, any author might be pardoned for feeling ever so slightly covetous of the breakout year enjoyed by Eleanor Catton. At 28, the Canadian-born, New Zealand“bred novelist became the youngest winner of the Man Booker Prize for her astonishingly assured and accomplished sophomore effort <i>The Luminaries</i>, which, at more than 800 pages, also weighed in as the longest book to claim the prestigious international award. <br /> <p>A wink and nod to Victorian storytelling set during a mid-1860s gold rush on New Zealand's South Island, <i>The Luminaries</i> is a beautifully wrought tale of intrigue, fuelled by greed and the secrets of the heart. Vit Wagner's starred review praised it as a novel that can be enjoyed for its engrossing entirety, as well as for the literary gems bestowed on virtually every page.</p>
- <A HREF="http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=8124">The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (McClelland & Stewart)</A>
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- 98998
- In two story collections and as many novels, Lisa Moore forged a name for herself as one of this country's most impressive stylists. Her staccato prose and sharp eye for character won her accolades from coast to coast, scored her two Scotiabank Giller Prize nominations, and made her a CBC Canada Reads champion. How does a consummate literary artist follow up such success? By writing a thriller, of course. <br /> <p>This being Moore, however, <i>Caught</i> “ shortlisted for this year's Giller and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize “ is not just any thriller: the story of an escaped drug dealer who embarks on one last score, the novel is a crime story by way of a picaresque by way of a sociological examination of the politics and economics of the drug trade. And the writing is quintessential Moore: taut, pared down, and meticulous. <br /> <br /> </p>
- <A HREF="http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=8028">Caught by Lisa Moore (House of Anansi Press)</A>
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