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Working the Dead Beat
Globe and Mail columnist Sandra Martin honours the lives of Canada''s famous, infamous, and unsung heroes in this unique collection of obituaries of the first decade of the twenty-first century. Here are Canadian icons such as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, economist John Kenneth Galbraith, social activist June Callwood, and urban theorist Jane Jacobs. Here are builders such as feminist and editor Doris Anderson, and businessman and famed art collector Ken Thomson. Here are our rogues, rascals, and romantics; our service men and women; and here are those private citizens whose lives have had an undeniable public impact. Finally, Martin interweaves these elegant and eloquent biographies with the autobiography of the obit writer, offering an exclusive and intimate view of life on the dead beat. Beautifully written, compelling, and vivid, Working the Dead Beat is a tribute to those individuals who, each on their own and as a collective, tell the story of our country, and to the life of the obit writer who chronicles their extraordinary lives.
427 pages, Hardcover
First published June 20, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 2, 2012
One-Minute Review
With November traditionally a month for remembrance, it’s fitting that I finally get around to reviewing Working the Dead Beat: 50 Lives that Changed Canada by Sandra Martin. It’s a book that should have received more attention because obituaries often hide some of the best prose writers (see The Economist for some superlative examples) in the back pages behind anonymity or the sensitive topic of death. Martin collects and edits fifty obituaries, which she wrote for the Globe and Mail, and also describes the obituarist's history and craft. She touches on the delicacy of her task (how do you interview someone for an obituary to keep on file?); the sometimes infuriating timing of death; and the temptation towards hagiography. The centrepiece of Working the Dead Beat is her obituaries of Canadian icons from politics, business, and literature, as well as pieces about lesser known Canadians who, in their own way, made lasting contributions to society. This last category provides some of Martin's most moving writing, since these people are strikingly ordinary while being passionately involved in building Canada. A master of her craft, Martin respects her subjects and takes seriously her responsibility of writing what are often the last words about them.
On Twitter: @Dr_A_Taubman
With November traditionally a month for remembrance, it’s fitting that I finally get around to reviewing Working the Dead Beat: 50 Lives that Changed Canada by Sandra Martin. It’s a book that should have received more attention because obituaries often hide some of the best prose writers (see The Economist for some superlative examples) in the back pages behind anonymity or the sensitive topic of death. Martin collects and edits fifty obituaries, which she wrote for the Globe and Mail, and also describes the obituarist's history and craft. She touches on the delicacy of her task (how do you interview someone for an obituary to keep on file?); the sometimes infuriating timing of death; and the temptation towards hagiography. The centrepiece of Working the Dead Beat is her obituaries of Canadian icons from politics, business, and literature, as well as pieces about lesser known Canadians who, in their own way, made lasting contributions to society. This last category provides some of Martin's most moving writing, since these people are strikingly ordinary while being passionately involved in building Canada. A master of her craft, Martin respects her subjects and takes seriously her responsibility of writing what are often the last words about them.
On Twitter: @Dr_A_Taubman
September 13, 2012
When we die, there must be an accounting, a weighing of one’s contributions against one’s failings. Sandra Martin, obituary writer for the Globe and Mail, collects and expands on fifty obituaries from her time working the dead beat for the paper. If there’s anything that ties together the fifty disparate individuals on her list, it’s significance. All of them, in their own way, contributed significantly to twentieth-century Canada.
There’s a comfort in knowing these great Canadians were both dynamic and deeply human. Martin strikes a deft balance between lauding their accomplishments and presenting an unvarnished account of their character, “warts and all.” And the odd thing is, it doesn’t diminish them. In fact, it makes them seem somehow more accomplished. The idea that a person can be both heroic and normal makes their exploits somehow more tangible.
If there’s a complaint to be levied against Martin and her book, it’s her subject matter. Everyone she writes about is so...significant. Of course we’ll want to know when Pierre Burton or Mordecai Richler dies. They’re titans of Canada, woven into the fabric of our nation’s history, indivisible and all that. But we know a lot of the great sagas of the Burtons and the Richlers and the Richards already. There won’t likely be an obituary written about me in the Globe and Mail, or you for that matter. Maybe that’s important. Maybe it’s not.
There’s a comfort in knowing these great Canadians were both dynamic and deeply human. Martin strikes a deft balance between lauding their accomplishments and presenting an unvarnished account of their character, “warts and all.” And the odd thing is, it doesn’t diminish them. In fact, it makes them seem somehow more accomplished. The idea that a person can be both heroic and normal makes their exploits somehow more tangible.
If there’s a complaint to be levied against Martin and her book, it’s her subject matter. Everyone she writes about is so...significant. Of course we’ll want to know when Pierre Burton or Mordecai Richler dies. They’re titans of Canada, woven into the fabric of our nation’s history, indivisible and all that. But we know a lot of the great sagas of the Burtons and the Richlers and the Richards already. There won’t likely be an obituary written about me in the Globe and Mail, or you for that matter. Maybe that’s important. Maybe it’s not.
July 5, 2016
Not since reading Twilight on the bus to work have I had such a polarizing response to a book I've read, (and as a fan of horror fiction, I've read some pretty horrifying stuff), but whenever people asked what my latest read, Working the Dead Beat: 50 Lives that Changed Canada, by Globe and Mail columnist Sandra Martin, is a collection of fifty obituaries, written for Influential Canadians who passed between the years of 2000 and 2010.
The collection spans Canadians from all walks of life, and once you get past the morbidity of spending a few days reading obituaries, it was actually a pretty fascinating read. I read it as a book club selection and was quite impressed at just how immersive an experience it was into the lives of some pretty impressive Canadian figures.
Well worth the look.
The collection spans Canadians from all walks of life, and once you get past the morbidity of spending a few days reading obituaries, it was actually a pretty fascinating read. I read it as a book club selection and was quite impressed at just how immersive an experience it was into the lives of some pretty impressive Canadian figures.
Well worth the look.
May 4, 2013
I enjoyed the introduction to some canadians I hadn't known about, and there was always some perspective about individuals to reconsider. Everyone was treated graciously. An interesting obituary, not morbid.
August 6, 2013
I was surprised by how much I liked this book! Martin is a wonderful writer, and these snippets of the lives of some amazing people really inspired me to look them up and read into them in more detail! I also love how she says, "No life is an uninteresting life" several times. It's very true.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews