- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Porcupine's Quill (Aug 15 1993)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0889841683
- ISBN-13: 978-0889841680
- Product Dimensions: 22.3 x 13.8 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 499 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #675,508 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
In 1956 Norman Levine, seven years an expatriate in England, returned by ship for an unsentimental journey through his native land. Drawn with a fierce bohemianism toward the bottom rungs of Canadian society--the beer parlours, the bunkhouses filled with immigrant miners, the cheap flophouses with faulty plumbing down the hall--Levine wrote an account so bitter that it didn't find a Canadian publisher for more than 20 years, though it has found many admirers since. Few may have noticed at the time, but as Levine says in the introduction, looking back on a career as one of the finest Canadian story writers, "my writing starts with this book."
Review
Far better than any book I've ever read about Canada. -- Mordecai Richler
Mr. Levine is a true artist, who grinds his bones - and anything else he can lay his hands on - to make his bread. -- Bernard Levin, The Sunday Times
Norman Levine sees with a clear eye a good deal of the tragic comedy of human life. And he writes in a marvellously clean, naked prose which is a joy to read. -- Edward McCourt, The Montrealer
One of the most moving, most sad, most deeply felt, savage and loving pieces of autobiography I've ever read. -- Charles Causley, BBC
`Far better than any book I've ever read about Canada.' -- Mordecai Richler
`One of the most moving, most sad, most deeply felt, savage and loving pieces of autobiography I've ever read.' -- Charles Causley, BBC
Mr. Levine is a true artist, who grinds his bones - and anything else he can lay his hands on - to make his bread. -- Bernard Levin, The Sunday Times
Norman Levine sees with a clear eye a good deal of the tragic comedy of human life. And he writes in a marvellously clean, naked prose which is a joy to read. -- Edward McCourt, The Montrealer
One of the most moving, most sad, most deeply felt, savage and loving pieces of autobiography I've ever read. -- Charles Causley, BBC
`Far better than any book I've ever read about Canada.' -- Mordecai Richler
`One of the most moving, most sad, most deeply felt, savage and loving pieces of autobiography I've ever read.' -- Charles Causley, BBC
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
I LEFT LONDON on a Sunday morning. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
I LEFT LONDON on a Sunday morning. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential Reading For All Canadians,
By A Customer
This review is from: Canada Made Me (Paperback)
Although I have entitled this review "essential reading for all Canadians", individuals of any nationality will enjoy this book. The book was written in 1958 and is Canada's equivalent to Kerouac's "On The Road". (Due to contraversy surrounding the book, it wasn't published in Canada until the late 70's) The book, autobiographical in nature, details Levine's return to Canada after years spent living in England. He boards a boat in England and lands in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He slowly makes his way accross the country describing his stops in Ontario, Quebec and the West. The accounts of his voyages are vivid and nostalgic. Levine's bitterness toward his native country is nothing more than brutal honesty. From Montreal's society to Ontario's small mining towns, Levine's most intriguing descriptions are of the people he meets along the way. There is no better hook in the book than the line, "I wondered why I felt so bitter about Canada. After all, it was all part of a dream, an experiment that could not come off. It was foolish to believe that you could take the throwouts, the rejects, the human kickabouts from Europe and tell them: Here you have a second chance. Here you can start a new life. But no one ever mentioned the price one had to pay; how much of oneself you had to betray." If you are not Canadian, don't worry there aren't any Canuck inside jokes that you won't get. After all, I haven't been to most of the places described by Kerouac, but love his books nonetheless.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review) 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential Reading For All Canadians,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Canada Made Me (Paperback)
Although I have entitled this review "essential reading for all Canadians", individuals of any nationality will enjoy this book. The book was written in 1958 and is Canada's equivalent to Kerouac's "On The Road". (Due to contraversy surrounding the book, it wasn't published in Canada until the late 70's) The book, autobiographical in nature, details Levine's return to Canada after years spent living in England. He boards a boat in England and lands in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He slowly makes his way accross the country describing his stops in Ontario, Quebec and the West. The accounts of his voyages are vivid and nostalgic. Levine's bitterness toward his native country is nothing more than brutal honesty. From Montreal's society to Ontario's small mining towns, Levine's most intriguing descriptions are of the people he meets along the way. There is no better hook in the book than the line, "I wondered why I felt so bitter about Canada. After all, it was all part of a dream, an experiment that could not come off. It was foolish to believe that you could take the throwouts, the rejects, the human kickabouts from Europe and tell them: Here you have a second chance. Here you can start a new life. But no one ever mentioned the price one had to pay; how much of oneself you had to betray." If you are not Canadian, don't worry there aren't any Canuck inside jokes that you won't get. After all, I haven't been to most of the places described by Kerouac, but love his books nonetheless. |
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