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Late Nights on Air
 
 

Late Nights on Air [Deckle Edge] [Paperback]

Elizabeth Hay
3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
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Books in Canada

A tale about the Canadian North brings with it expectations of battles against the wilderness, get-rich schemes, big personalities escaping desperate situations, rugged individualism, and (in a different age at least) Mounties inevitably getting their man. In her latest novel, Late Nights on Air, Elizabeth Hay disregards these Londonesque elements and presents the north from a more original perspective, through the characters working for a Yellowknife radio station.

The story takes place in 1975 and centers round the staff of CFYK. Harry Boyd, a veteran announcer with a questionable past, overhears Dido Paris reading the news and immediately falls for her. Sharp-tongued and self-consumed, Dido ignores Harry and instead hooks up with Eddy, the intense radio technician who is radically inclined and sexually sadistic. At the same time Dido is possibly involved with Eleanor Dew, the station secretary and a reawakened Christian, who is eventually pursued by Ralph Cody, a bibliophile and nature photographer. And finally there is newcomer Gwen Symon who, incompetent at first but with hidden capabilities, is strongly attracted to the distracted Harry. These complications evolve against the backdrop of the station's daily operations and a variety of local events, notably the Mackenzie Pipeline Project inquiry. Matters come to a head when (in the novel's strongest segment) Gwen, Harry, Ralph, and Eleanor travel together to the inhospitable Barrens, retracing the route of 19th-century explorer John Hornby.

Hay is in no hurry to rush her characters along. Each is gradually revealed through conversation, reminiscences, and various idiosyncrasies. Gwen is one of her favourites, and, bit by bit, we learn she that fell in love with radio because it was her only entertainment when she was bed-ridden as a child, that her mother was cheap, that her father was a jeweler and inattentive parent, that she doubts herself constantly yet is appealingly persistent. Our initial impression of helplessness turns to admiration and affection by tale's end.

This suggestion that initial impressions may be misleading is one that Hay plays with throughout the novel. A voice on air creates a picture in the listener's imagination, yet the personality behind the voice may be substantially different. The same principle applies to people in general: Dido's success seems guaranteed, Gwen appears to be eternally maladroit, Ralph and Eleanor seem destined for each other, but our initial assumptions are proven false. Even the landscape can inspire one set of ideas which a close investigation will reveal as somewhat illusory--the north's superficial ice and snow contain a plethora of lichens and flowers.

Yellowknife itself seems remote and familiar. On the one hand, the main characters are in some sense predictable: they are white, middle-class, educated types who would be as comfortable in a Toronto Starbucks as they are in the Arctic. At the same time, the wilderness always hovers in the background, as do the mysterious Dene. The area seems removed in time. Occasionally, a reference to the era breaks in--Neil Young's "Helpless," the Beatles, Vietnam, Last Tango in Paris--but it is sometimes hard to dispel the impression that we are back in an age when radio ruled the world.

The novel does contain some imperfections. While the characterisation is generally strong, Thomas Berger, the judge in charge of the Mackenzie Pipeline Project Inquiry, proves an exception. Hay seems to admire the man greatly--and no doubt this admiration is well deserved--but the portrayal of Berger is wooden and hagiographical, as if he were the Great White Liberal personified. The same criticism might apply to the Dene. Hay skirts the native population for the most part, but when they do come to our attention, they are often stereotypes: they are either victims of the white man or wise, gentle souls. No doubt it is immensely difficult to describe aboriginal society from the outside, but the portrait that emerges is a far cry from the internal realism that Hay otherwise brings to the table.

Another weakness is that the novel lacks a sense of urgency and forward momentum. Very often, somewhat inexplicably, we are warned in advance that some character's decision will lead to misfortune down the road, or that situation A will cause (dramatic) situation B. Perhaps Hay felt such milestones were necessary because events on their own wouldn't sweep the audience along. This is certainly true of the segments dealing with the Mackenzie Pipeline Inquiry. When the project's viability is debated by the public, the arguments expressed hardly convey the tension of a high-stakes issue. And when Judge Berger decides the project should be shelved, his conclusion doesn't provoke any strong emotional satisfaction. The mystery, too, surrounding Lorna Dargabble's death--was it suicide or murder, and was Eddy the culprit?--comes and fades away, again without quickening the reader's excitement.

Even the romance in the novel is resolved without much emotional fanfare; it lacks the 'sparks' of Darcy proposing to Elizabeth, say. Eleanor loses Ralph the very day he has proposed to her, and the loss is more capricious than necessary or devastating. Harry has seemingly slipped away from Gwen, but then tumbles into her lap eight years later. This turn of events seems such a matter of happenstance that the reader, while wishing the couple well, doesn't really care one way or another.

Still, Late Nights on Air has its moments. Hay's recreation of a radio station is elaborate and engaging, especially as we are continually aware of the very foreign landscape that lies outside its walls. Her description, too, of a voyage into the Barrens is powerful, capturing the magic of the wilderness and its effects on those who travel through it. All in all, CFYK may be only a thousand-watt station, but its broadcasts come through loud and clear. --Nicholas Maes --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

After being fired from his latest television job, a disgraced Harry Boyd returns to his radio roots in the northern Canadian town of Yellowknife as the manager of a station no one listens to, and finds himself at the center of the station's unlikely social scene. New anchor Dido Paris, both renowned and mocked for her Dutch accent, fled an affair with her husband's father, only to be torn between Harry and another man. Wild child Gwen came to learn radio production, but under Harry's tutelage finds herself the guardian of the late-night shift. And lonely Eleanor wonders if it's time to move south just as she meets an unlikely suitor. While the station members wait for Yellowknife to get its first television station and the crew embarks on a life-changing canoe expedition, the city is divided over a proposal to build a pipeline that would cut across Native lands, bringing modernization and a flood of workers, equipment and money into sacred territory. Hay's crystalline prose, keen details and sharp dialogue sculpt the isolated, hardy residents of Yellowknife, who provide a convincing backdrop as the main cast tromps through the existential woods. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Customer Reviews

21 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (4)
2 star:
 (5)
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Average Customer Review
3.4 out of 5 stars (21 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A time, a place, a people beautifully rendered!, Dec 7 2007
By 
Cindy Stroud (London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Late Nights on Air (Hardcover)
This book manages to do something not many can, last one I can remember doing this good a job is "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry. That is bring into sharp focus the characters and relationships of a time and place in such a way that you truly believe them to be real people, and then take these people and cast them against a wild landscape. The story is as much about the how the characters relate to each other as to how they relate to their environment. In "Lonesome Dove" McMurtry takes a cast of well rendered characters and takes them on a cattle drive from Texas to Montana. "In Late Nights on Air" Hay introduces us to the people who work at a Yellow Knife radio station in the wild and wooly Canadian North. Once I started this book it was impossible to put down! Another book that captures a slice of life in a wild place I recommend is "Across the High Lonesome" I did not think it as strong as this novel but still a worthy read.
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20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Dissapointing for a Giller Prize Winner, April 13 2008
By 
NorthVan Dave (BC, Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Late Nights on Air (Hardcover)
I finished Late Nights On Air by Elizabeth Hay this past weekend. I decided to read this book because it won the Giller Prize in 2007. Did I like this book? Yes. Was it a great book? No. Did it deserve to win the Giller? Maybe. Would I recommend the book to someone else? Not sure.

The book though is most definitely what I would categorize as "Chick Lit". There's nothing wrong with Chick Lit, especially if you're a woman. But as a guy, obviously I don't read a lot of the particular genre.

What I liked most about the novel is the focus it gave to the CBC. As someone who has been interested in the inner workings of the Mother Corp, I thought Hay did a great job of explaining the politics behind the scenes. She also did a good job of explaining the loneliness that takes place in northern Canadian communities, and how the winter seasons can drag on and on and on.

So what didn't I like? Specifically I was not a fan of how Hay wrote about the First Nations. She tried to portray them as being "one" with the landscape and therefore deserved some type of special treatment by the Berger Commission looking in to the proposed oil and gas pipeline. Whatever. I would have enjoyed the book more if Hay had focused more on the story line and less on politics.

Read this book if you're interested in life in Northern Communities. Read this book if you like reading novels that have won the Giller. Don't read this book if you're expecting the great Canadian novel.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Deeply Moving and True to Life, May 25 2008
By 
Teddy (Richmond, BC) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Late Nights on Air (Hardcover)
Its 1975 Yellowknife where Harry arrives on the scene to temporarily manage the small town radio station, back where his radio career started. When he arrives, he is enchanted by an exotic and sensual female voice on the air, that of Dido. He falls instantly in love but finds out that Dido is more than what her voice portrays.

There is also Eleanor, the wise and supportive receptionist, Gwen the woman who drove cross-country hoping for a producer job behind the scenes, but instead is put on as an amateur announcer, and there is Ralph the book critic and photographer. Of course, Yellowknife is also a central character with its beauty and biting cold.

In the background, we learn about the real life controversy of the proposed Mackenzie River Valley natural gas line, which threatens to go into the Arctic and destroy native people's land. We also learn the rich history of the extraordinary explorer John Hornby, which prompts Harry, Eleanor, Gwen, and Ralph into an ambitious and difficult 6-week journey through the harsh climate on foot and by canoe.

Throughout the entire book Elizabeth Hay allows us to get to know and love the richly-textured characters that come to life. I felt as if I was part of the book as I was reading it. Having to bundle up when reading about the harsh winters and in awe of the beauty both sounds and sights that Hay paints. The characters seem like people who are true to life, which makes the book very readable and believable.

Hay won the prestigious Giller Prize for this work and I couldn't agree more. This book is a must read and will appeal to readers of literary fiction, fine character studies, and historical fiction alike. This was my first voyage through Elizabeth Hay and it has left me yearning for more by this outstanding author.
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