Writing Home

by International P.E.N. Canadian Centre, Constance Rooke

A rich, diverse, and entertaining collection of pieces by 40 celebrated Canadians.

408 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1997

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An uneven anthology (as most are) of Canadian authors writing about the idea of "home" and what it means to them. Included herein are such Maple Leaf luminaries as Alice Munro, Rohinton Mistry, Michael Ondaatje, and Margaret Atwood, among many others. Most of the essays are short, and many hearken back to the authors' childhoods, though others were more conceptual. Inevitably, some of the authors run up against the idea or reality of homelessness, and some wonder aloud about whether home is purely a fictive notion, but taken as a whole this collection offers the reader an interesting and at times engaging opportunity to reflect upon a notion that lays so close to hand that it is almost always taken for granted until and unless it is missing.

[John Benson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This anthology is a companion to the earlier PEN Canada anthology, WRITING AWAY, that was written three years earlier in 1994 and also edited by Constance Rooke. In this book, in which 45 Canadian writers, shared essays, they were asked to write about places that were the most home-like for them. Not all these places were Canadian, but the essays brought out their conceptions of home well. The quality of the essays in the anthology vary greatly, but the book exposed me to many different home places and to the writing styles of different Canadian writers.

[spike marlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an anthology of stories about “Home” from PEN Canada. There are some notable Canadian authors who have contributed to this anthology. They include Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, Guy Vanderhaeghe, Robinhon Mistry, and Michael Ondaatje to mention only a few. Some are good some not so good. Each Canadian author has defined “home” in different ways.