by Todd Babiak
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by Jhumpa Lahiri
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Product Details
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Product Description
Books in Canada
This witty and endearing love letter is delivered to-of all places-the city of Edmonton and a fictional cul-de-sac, the Garneau Block. Already rocked by a recent domestic murder, residents next discover that the expanding university intends to buy and knock down all their houses. Babiak paints his characters with a light touch: the pregnant Madison Weiss, idling away in her parents’ basement, wasting her M.A. in comparative literature while working at a travel agency; her good friend, the funny and popular actor, Jonas Pond, watching his hopes for success in life and love recede; Raymond Terletsky, a philosophy professor who studies death, disturbed by midlife urges that cost him his job and his wife, Shirley Wong; Madison’s parents, David and Abby, whose opposing political views make for a continuous, lively dialogue that fails to derail their long and loving marriage.
One morning Garneau Block dwellers awake to signs taped to all the trees reading, “LET’S FIX IT.” The signs and their author, a handsome Punjabi-Canadian who has lived among them for years but refused to mingle, get the action rolling as the neighbours come together to fight the university. Wealthy, well-travelled Rajinder dismisses the self-hating malaise that afflicts his new pal Jonas: “You have the foundation of Canadian inferiority reinforced with Edmonton inferiority, a species of inferiority that insinuated itself after Wayne Gretzky moved to Los Angeles. Yes?” Yes. And that’s so yesterday, as Babiak cleverly demonstrates.
The book’s charm lies in its wry satire. Quirky Madison, in the throes of a glorious new romance, still has the smarts to know that much is wrong in her world, to wit: “Money, air quality, Down Syndrome, drinking and driving, nuclear proliferation, global poverty, new country music, climate change, semi-automatic weapons, fundamentalism, declining oil reserves, cancer, crime, crack cocaine, reality television, being forced out of your house, veterinary medicine.” On the other hand, there is her lover’s soft skin, her doting parents, her somersaulting fetus, and the gush of spring after crisp winter days. Babiak’s pages capture our stubborn addiction to happy endings, while skewering our weaknesses.
Nancy Wigston (Books in Canada)
One morning Garneau Block dwellers awake to signs taped to all the trees reading, “LET’S FIX IT.” The signs and their author, a handsome Punjabi-Canadian who has lived among them for years but refused to mingle, get the action rolling as the neighbours come together to fight the university. Wealthy, well-travelled Rajinder dismisses the self-hating malaise that afflicts his new pal Jonas: “You have the foundation of Canadian inferiority reinforced with Edmonton inferiority, a species of inferiority that insinuated itself after Wayne Gretzky moved to Los Angeles. Yes?” Yes. And that’s so yesterday, as Babiak cleverly demonstrates.
The book’s charm lies in its wry satire. Quirky Madison, in the throes of a glorious new romance, still has the smarts to know that much is wrong in her world, to wit: “Money, air quality, Down Syndrome, drinking and driving, nuclear proliferation, global poverty, new country music, climate change, semi-automatic weapons, fundamentalism, declining oil reserves, cancer, crime, crack cocaine, reality television, being forced out of your house, veterinary medicine.” On the other hand, there is her lover’s soft skin, her doting parents, her somersaulting fetus, and the gush of spring after crisp winter days. Babiak’s pages capture our stubborn addiction to happy endings, while skewering our weaknesses.
Nancy Wigston (Books in Canada)
Review
"Babiak’s highest achievement, though, lies in introducing us to the motley charms of the people and the city, whether they be bohemians who shop at Value Village or grandees who dine on bison with blueberry sauce at the Hardware Grill. If there really are a million stories in Champion City, let this one be the first."
— Quill & Quire
“The Garneau Block is screamingly funny. There is at least one laugh on every single page. This novel is fast-paced, savvy, bursting with vivid characters. A celebration of Edmonton! Satire that sucker punches everything sacred. Babiak comes out swinging.”
— Lisa Moore, author of Alligator
“As only the best writers can, Todd Babiak has taken a small patch of turf and, through sparkling satire and a passionate eye, made it a world. A neighborhood in Edmonton is about to get a lot of honorary citizens.”
— Ian McGillis, author of A Tourist’s Guide to Glengarry
“Babiak’s book will make you snicker and guffaw in public places. The Garneau Block is about an oddball cast of characters in a make-believe cul-de-sac in Edmonton, where life is one nonstop block party rife with political intrigue, neighbourly shenanigans, death, and romance.”
— Canadian Living
“...cleanly written, inventive, fast-moving, stuffed with zingers about everything from Satanists to cellphone ringtones, extremely affectionate toward its nutty cast of players, and laugh-out-loud funny. . . . Babiak’s highest achievement, though, lies in introducing us to the motley charms of the people and the city, whether they be bohemians who shop at Value Village or grandees who dine on bison with blueberry sauce at the Hardware Grill. If there really are a million stories in Champion City, let this one be the first.”
— Quill & Quire
“Mr. Babiak is blazing a trail — every city should have a story like this.”
— Alexander McCall Smith
— Quill & Quire
“The Garneau Block is screamingly funny. There is at least one laugh on every single page. This novel is fast-paced, savvy, bursting with vivid characters. A celebration of Edmonton! Satire that sucker punches everything sacred. Babiak comes out swinging.”
— Lisa Moore, author of Alligator
“As only the best writers can, Todd Babiak has taken a small patch of turf and, through sparkling satire and a passionate eye, made it a world. A neighborhood in Edmonton is about to get a lot of honorary citizens.”
— Ian McGillis, author of A Tourist’s Guide to Glengarry
“Babiak’s book will make you snicker and guffaw in public places. The Garneau Block is about an oddball cast of characters in a make-believe cul-de-sac in Edmonton, where life is one nonstop block party rife with political intrigue, neighbourly shenanigans, death, and romance.”
— Canadian Living
“...cleanly written, inventive, fast-moving, stuffed with zingers about everything from Satanists to cellphone ringtones, extremely affectionate toward its nutty cast of players, and laugh-out-loud funny. . . . Babiak’s highest achievement, though, lies in introducing us to the motley charms of the people and the city, whether they be bohemians who shop at Value Village or grandees who dine on bison with blueberry sauce at the Hardware Grill. If there really are a million stories in Champion City, let this one be the first.”
— Quill & Quire
“Mr. Babiak is blazing a trail — every city should have a story like this.”
— Alexander McCall Smith
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