Matt's Books and Music

Unlike a lot of big literary prizes, the Giller Prize, which rewards the best in Canadian (broadly defined) fiction, has a pretty short runway between the longlist and shortlist announcements. But, the release-scheduling and library gods were kind to me this year, and I was able to read all fourteen titles. Here are my thoughts on the longlist before the fourteen titles are whittled down to five on Monday, October 5.

Whereas I immediately noticed strong themes within the Booker longlist this year, the Giller list seemed more like a representative sampler of Canadian literature from the year, ranging wildly in genre, style, theme, and literary register. While the Booker list was on occasion a slog, these books were mostly a joy to read.

Below are my thoughts on what five books I’d love to see advance. As I did my list I realized that the books I’d most like to see on the list are also the five I think have the best chance, which is a rarity!

My Personal Shortlist (Ranked)

1. Dodge City, by Patrick DeWitt:

• Elevator pitch: A 1960s draft-dodger undertakes a road trip to make peace with his decision and say goodbyes to his scattered family.
• Why it made my shortlist: Propulsive storytelling, with nuanced and universal themes.

2. At Sea in a Sieve, by Cordelia Strube

• Elevator pitch: Questions about the nature of true justice seep from an Ontario Superior Court judge’s professional life into her personal life.
• Why it made my shortlist: Great writing, strong character work, and big themes. It’s exactly the kind of book literary prizes reward.

3. Good People, by Patmeena Sabit:

• Elevator pitch: A family of successful Afghan refugees comes under intense scrutiny following the death of their teenage daughter.
• Why it made my shortlist: This is exquisitely-plotted and -paced and deals with complex and topical issues in a nuanced way.

4. Eliza Sunshine, by Michelle Good:

• A multigenerational saga about the resilient women of one Cree family.
• Why it made my shortlist: It’s well-written, deals with important and ugly facets of Canadian history, and has compelling characters.

5. The Uravelling of Ou, by Hollay Ghadery

• Elevator Pitch: An Iranian woman exiled to Canada as a teen develops an unhealthy dependence on a sock puppet.
• Why it made my shortlist: This is a psychologically rich immigrant story with a unique POV character.

The Rest of the Longlist (Ranked)

6. The Small Ones, by Nazanine Hozar: The story of child soldiers in the Iran-Iraq War. This was really beautiful despite dealing with very ugly themes. It just barely missed my top 5.

7. The Novice of Holloway Hall, by Wayne Johnston. A powerful family’s iron grip on their small Newfoundland town is challenged when their sister returns from exile. I loved this, but I think it may just be a bit too quirky to make the shortlist in such a strong year.

8. Riverwork, by Jennifer Robertson: A woman living in Paris ponders lost history and what gets left behind as she cleans her bosses’ offices. This features exquisite prose, literary references galore, and deep philosophical ideas, but the narrative framing felt like an afterthought.

9. Your Breath in Charcoal, by Nicholas Herring: A small-town man contemplates life while having adventures in the big city. This is East Coast storytelling at its most entertaining, but I wanted the story itself to be a bit stronger.

10. Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead, by Mai Nguyen: A darkly humorous story of a woman’s journey with grief following the loss of her infant during childbirth. This is a powerful novel, but for me it didn’t quite measure up to some of the others.

11. Daphnis and Chloe, by Colin McAdam: A retelling of the ancient romance of fated mates whose love is sorely tested, here set in the underworld of organized crime. This is well done but the remote narrative style alienated me a bit from the characters.

12. The Golden Boy, by Patricia Finn: A retired tv executive’s small town past comes back to haunt him. Uneven pacing and plotting spoiled some brilliant character and relationship development.

13. Wild People Quiet, by Tara Gereaux: A Métis woman passing for White faces her reckoning when her brother shows up in her Saskatchewan town. This tells an important and very real story about Canadian history, but for me was let down by the sentence-level writing.

14. The Winter Witch, by Jennifer Chevalier: Naive sisters get caught up in a witch hunt after coming to Ville Marie as filles-du-roi. This is high-quality, popular historical fiction that puts an interesting spin on a common trope, but its accessibility also made it feel less special.