|
|
|
Évaluation du client type
Partagez votre opinion avec les autres clients
|
|
|
› Voir les points de vue les plus utiles
|
|
16 internautes sur 17 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile :
Deeply Moving and True to Life, Mai 25 2008
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.
Aidez d'autres clients à trouver les commentaires les plus utiles
Ce commentaire vous a-t-il été utile ?
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
15 internautes sur 16 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile :
A time, a place, a people beautifully rendered!, Déc 7 2007
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.
Aidez d'autres clients à trouver les commentaires les plus utiles
Ce commentaire vous a-t-il été utile ?
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 internautes sur 7 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile :
Voices of the True North, Janv. 3 2008
This is a finely crafted portrayal of life in Canada's Far North! In her story, Hay effectively brings together a motley group of southerners in Yellowknife to work the northern airwaves for the CBC. This novel covers a time in the middle 70s when the North was opening up to development of its great deposits of oil and natural gas, and people were coming from points south to start a new life for themselves. What many were not prepared for was the incredible struggle they would have to go through to assert their identity. The land that they are about to enter is described in the novel in all its unexpected ferocity, unimaginable vastness, haunting beauty, forsaken loneliness and unyielding naturalness. Intimidating enough to send any newcomer packing after their first winter! The barren world that confronts these outsiders - Harry, Gwen, Eddie, Dido, Ralph and Eleanor - is one that can only be temporarily subdued by the power and lure of transmitted voices breaking into other's confined living spaces dotted over the hundreds of miles of open wasteland. All the above physical dimensions have the power to keep northerners eking out a living in tiny communities hugging the banks of the many rivers like the mighty Mackenzie. For the whiteman there is no substitute for the human voice, even though people like Gwen attempt to go out and capture the numerous sounds of wildlife on tape to compensate for the real thing. It is the magnetic qualities of the Dido's voice on a late night program that initially draws Harry to her in what turns out to be an unhappy affair. The trouble with a voice pattern is that while it becomes the initial badge of identity in the far reaches of nowhere, it only serves to lead people to each other in the hope of forming more lasting contacts. As this phenomenon unfolds in the story, fragile relationships quickly become longer friendships, only to be suddenly dashed as a result of the stress of withstanding the awful engulfing nature of the land. As a parallel to this human drama of outsiders trying to become insiders, Hay provides an interesting sideshow with the Berger Mackenzie Pipeline Inquiry of 1975. As in the story, many Inuit and Dene communities throughout the North found their collective voices through radio and town meetings to oppose the building of this pipeline as a direct threat to the natural integrity of the land. At the end, Hay leaves with her readers with the thought that those who attempt to conquer the north - explorers, miners, traders and developers, and DJs - do so at their own peril. They quickly become disenchanted with each other and their surroundings because theirs is not the voice that is willing to make peace with the land. One cannot come into the North with unresolved issues and expect to survive. To live contently in the North, one has to be prepared to let it to make them into somebody who respects and live within its natural powers. This book, while lacking a fasting moving plot that comes to a quick resolution, is worth reading for what it says about life, at various levels,in this great last frontier.
Aidez d'autres clients à trouver les commentaires les plus utiles
Ce commentaire vous a-t-il été utile ?
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 internautes sur 5 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile :
Excellent slice of life book, set in the far north country...., Nov. 21 2007
Great original story about the modern Canadian north country! The author recreates life at a Yellowknife radio station circa 1975. At the heart of the story are the well drawn characters that work at the statio---and a mixed bag it is--and there relationships with each other. But this is no ordinary radio station due to it remote and wild location--- the author does a great job contrasting these two elements. This is a real slice of life book that takes you to a time and a place populated by real people.
A trip into the Barrens to retrace the route of explorer John Hornby was my favorite part of the book. The author does an excellent job of capturing the essence of this wild place, and bringing to life its effect on the human visitors/inhabitants. The last book that did as good a job at this was "Across the High Lonesome" another excellent slice of life book set in the high mountains of California.
Aidez d'autres clients à trouver les commentaires les plus utiles
Ce commentaire vous a-t-il été utile ?
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 internautes sur 4 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile :
A worthwhile read............., Fév 8 2008
This book slowly draws you in, the tedium of the far north aptly reflected in the writing. The intrigue of the north and its harsh climate, its flora and fauna is captivating, provided you possess a secret admiration for the likes of Farley Mowat and perhaps a secret desire to trek, to explore the unknown, and to be self-reliant. The setting-Yellowknife and the barrens to the northwest acts like a magnet for the seemingly troubled characters who come from elsewhere to find themselves and who leave changed forever. The man vs. self and man vs. nature themes carry this book.
You won't be sorry you read this one!
Aidez d'autres clients à trouver les commentaires les plus utiles
Ce commentaire vous a-t-il été utile ?
|
|
|
|
|
|
4 internautes sur 7 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile :
Late Night Reading, Déc 13 2007
Mesmerizing is the word I would use to describe Elizabeth Hay's prize winning "Late Nights On Air" Descriptions of the tundra, the vastness, icy cold winds, teeny, tiny wild flowers are simply captivating. The characters, especially our hero Harry, and the mysterious Dido are very believeable. In fact, by the end of the 364 pages, I was a little in love with Harry Boyd myself. I recommend you stay up all night and read this powerful book, pausing every once in a while to gaze up at the stars.
Aidez d'autres clients à trouver les commentaires les plus utiles
Ce commentaire vous a-t-il été utile ?
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 internautes sur 6 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile :
Great read, Déc 25 2007
This is so good that I want to run out and buy a copy for everybody I know. Although the book is set in the 1970's, the story line about the impact of the gas pipeline on the aboriginals in the far north is still so relevant today. A must read.
Aidez d'autres clients à trouver les commentaires les plus utiles
Ce commentaire vous a-t-il été utile ?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ce produit
|
|
D'occasion et Neuf à partir de : CDN$ 2.85
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Les clients qui ont vu cet article ont aussi vu
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Accueil Amazon
