Ann Diamond > Recent Status Updates

Interesting and clever, but ultimately disappointing. It does have its brilliant moments. In a way it's inspiring like that Dr Cameron and the Allan Memorial have become so iconic they can be satirized, reduced to a cartoon or video game - especially since the non-fiction books and TV documentaries are just the tip of an iceberg that could sink Montreal - but Farah falls back on semiotics and too many cinema clichés

Somewhere around page 60 the story begins to gel, and my vague boredom gradually changed to interest in the characters, particularly the narrator and his world - which starts to resemble a predicament at around the time he puts on a "cognitive bathing cap" and flowered Bermuda trunks and immerses himself in the indoor pool...

A suivre

After a slow start, and after skimming a number of negative reviews on Goodreads I nearly returned this novel to the library at the 50-page mark. For two reasons: the story seemed scattered, bordering on pretentious, and other than details of the location (McGill University, downtown Montreal in 2012 and 1962) the writer had little to say on the subject of Ravenscrag, the Allan Memorial, or MKULTRA.

Seemed promising at the outset - suggestive of many possible threads and subthreads, but as the fractured narrative progresses it begins to feel more aimless than revelatory. I love Farah's playful allusive style. ..

I'm afraid I abandoned this novel early on. It just didn't quite feel like something I needed to read...

Whatever you feel about the sixties and LSD, this memoir is a trip into a time when the world was unraveling before our eyes. Knowing Jim at UCLA before he was famous, and before The Doors existed, Michael Lawrence gives us striking glimpses of a young Morrison in search of himself around Los Angeles. There's a scene where they evade the cops at Venice Beach, another where a police helicopter circles overhead...

Whatever you feel about the sixties and LSD, this memoir is a trip into a time when the world was unraveling before our eyes. Knowing Jim at UCLA before he was famous, and pre-The Doors, Michael Lawrence gives us striking glimpses of a young Morrison in search of himself around Los Angeles. There's a scene where they evade the cops at Venice Beach, another where a police helicopter circles overhead...

I'm taking my time with this -- no point rushing through something this good. Elaine M. Will has so much heart and insight, and is such a gifted storyteller, I'm looking forward to passing this on so someone else can get the full effect of this outstanding comic artist.

enjoying this a lot -- and it gets better as it circles deeper into its recurring (or only) theme of 'sexualized violence.' Resisting the urge to make helpful comments on what appears to be a lifelong obsession of Horsley's -- the further you follow him into this dark trap, the more little lights begin to flash in the blackness. He really watched The Texas Chainsaw Massacre -- several times -- while others avoided it

I decided it was time I read this...

enjoying this a lot -- and it gets better as it circles deeper into its recurring (or only) theme of 'sexualized violence.' Resisting the urge to make helpful comments on what appears to be a lifelong obsession of Horsley's -- the further you follow him into this dark trap, the more little lights begin to flash in the blackness. He really watched The Texas Chainsaw Massacre -- several times -- while others avoided it

enjoying this a lot -- and it gets better as it circles deeper into its recurring (or only) theme of 'sexualized violence.' Resisting the urge to make helpful comments on what appears to be a lifelong obsession of Horsley's -- the further you follow him into this dark trap, the more little lights begin to flash in the blackness. He really watched The Texas Chainsaw Massacre -- several times -- while others avoided it

enjoying this a lot -- and it gets better as it circles deeper into its recurring (or only) theme of 'sexualized violence.' Resisting the urge to make helpful comments on what appears to be a lifelong obsession of Horsley's -- the further you follow him into this dark trap, the more little lights begin to flash in the blackness. He really watched The Texas Chainsaw Massacre -- several times -- while others avoid it

enjoying this a lot

Goodreads keeps asking me to update my review. The truth is, I stopped reading the Orenda three weeks ago. I did attend a meeting of a friend's book club in Guelph where it was discussed. Opinion split down the middle: the Europeans (50% of the group) liked and believed it. The Canadians had reservations. All I wanted to know was: do the torture references and scenes just get more graphic. This is not why I read.

Goodreads keeps asking me to update my review. The truth is, I stopped reading the Orenda three weeks ago. I did attend a meeting of a friend's book club in Guelph where it was discussed. Opinion split down the middle: the Europeans (50% of the group) liked and believed it. The Canadians had reservations. All I wanted to know was: do the torture references and scenes just get more graphic. This is not why I read.

I put this down after 65 pages and an accelerating heartrate just to catch my breath. So much happens in this first xjapter, it's hard to imagine a sequel to the death of Niko's mother in the first few pages, months spent as refugees on Greece, and the father's desperate dexision to send the boy to Canada. Great writing by a very talented author

I put this down after 65 pages and an accelerating heartrate just to catch my breath. So much happens in this first xjapter, it's hard to imagine a sequel to the death of Niko's mother in the first few pages, months spent as refugees on Greece, and the father's desperate dexision to send the boy to Canada. Great writing by a very talented author

I haven't reached the end yet, but at this stage Hamelin has just convinced me of something I already knew: the "official story" of the events of Quebec's 1970 October Crisis, does not hold water. This is, of course, fiction, but it's also heavily based on research and interviews. The characters' names have been changed, but they can be recognized by anyone who was here at the time....

More and more impressive as the plot deepens...

I am really enjoying this incredible journey through Quebec and the October Crisis 1970, the years leading up to it, the years that followed, the unsolved mysteries... fascinating and fun