Reading the World discussion

The Arctic is hot, but I doubt that is why accomplished Canadian novelist Elizabeth Hay wrote a novel set in Yellowknife and the Barrens in the mid-1970s. In Late Nights on Air, Hay has returned to a city and landscape she knew in the 1970s. Returned in her imagination, that is; she has not actually been there since the 1980s. Which makes her achievement in this quiet, elegiac book even more astounding than it is simply in the reading.

The book has three settings: a little radio station in Yellowknife, not unlike the CBC station where Hay worked back then; a larger, in some ways metaphorical northern world, brought into focus by the Mackenzie Pipeline Inquiry hearings conducted by Justice Thomas Berger between 1974 and 1977; and, in the final third of the book, the Barrens, the route for a canoe trip delineated by the British traveler John Hornby, from Great Slave Lake, via Pike’s Portage, to Artillery Lake and then into the Thelon River. It’s a 500-mile, six-week canoe trip undertaken by four of Hay’s characters.

Read the entire review: https://elizabethhay.com/globe-and-ma...

I finished this, having read it while I was trying to stay out of the sun in Punta Cana, DR. ( Thank you nephew who decided to have a destination wedding and inviting your "untannable" [is that a word?] aunt! )

Anyway, I really loved this. I know it is slow-paced, which turned off many a reviewer, but it was better that way I think. More real-life! The characters were all not fully developed, but at the end of the story I believe that was done on purpose, because that is about all their colleagues/friends knew. Why would we necessarily need to know more than they? The canoe trip and the ending were my favorite sections. I did do some research on Berger and the Pipeline Inquiry but didn't find enough to suit me, so I'm going to do more now that I'm home.

All I'll say for now until others read.

Glad you enjoyed Gail! I'm going to borrow this one from libby this month and read too: it fulfills both a read for the Northwest Territories and is a Giller prize winner (which I'm also trying to read all of). I enjoy a well done subtle story so looking forward to that.

Hope you enjoyed the Caribbean too :)

I haven't read this but I have visited Yellowknife, so maybe I should!

I just finished reading this lovely book. I have never been anywhere near Yellowknife (probably Calgary, which is 1747 km away, would be the closest) but Hay does a great job of sharing the location with her readers. You come to see the lakes, the barrens, the garbage piles, the northern lights, and the dim winter dusk. The characters are not fully fleshed out but as fleshed out as someone getting to know a new friend would be, and we come by their backgrounds slowly throughout the book. Further, they evolve throughout the book. The dramatic middle of the book, when four of the characters travel by canoe into the wilderness is also strangely slow and although she builds some tension with foreshadowing, it is the foreshadowing not of doom but of a quiet tragedy. The book has an ungainly feel to it, as if some parts the author struggled over and other parts she just threw in to tie things up, but it holds together enough for me to recommend it to others. The discussion or "hearings" about the natural gas pipeline and the land claim rights of the first nation people was well presented as a side plot. As it is getting quite cold in my "neck of the woods", this was a good book for seasonal reading.

I forgot what day my ebook was being returned so I just lost it with 100pgs left- that's on me. I am enjoying it overall so far: I like the imperfect slice of life aspect to it, I also did love the canoe scene it is particularly scenic in imagery at some points, and the way it breaks down the romanticism (Gwen's dreams of being in the barrens) of remote places with the reality of it. I'm enjoying everybody's backstories as well.

Amanda wrote: "I forgot what day my ebook was being returned so I just lost it with 100pgs left- that's on me. I am enjoying it overall so far: I like the imperfect slice of life aspect to it, I also did love the..."

Oh no! You are missing the whole wrap-up!! I just checked to see if I could gift it to you (which I didn't even know could be done), but Amazon will only let me do that if the recipient is in the US. And unfortunately, I read it on my kindle not a physical book.
I do highly recommend getting it again when you can.

I loved this book, even though I missed a big chunk in the middle. (I needed to sleep.) The audio was still playing when I woke up, and I didn’t feel confused at all, so I just kept listening. I liked the beginning and the ending, and I don’t mind that I lost some of the suspense of the canoe ride. I’m sure I’ll like it anyway. (I don’t need suspense.) I really love the way the author writes, and I enjoyed her narration of the book as well. I didn’t mind the slow pace at all. I liked her voice, so I only increased the playback speed a little bit. I won’t be surprised if I learn that she once held an on-air job at a radio station. I liked the subplot about the pipeline, and the wording of the report. Now I’m curious about other pipeline projects (including the fairly recent one in the US). I didn’t look up the area on the map yet, and I’d like to know more about it.

I first became aware of this author when Snow Road Station made the Tournament of Books longlist. I’m planning to read it next year.

Amanda wrote: "I forgot what day my ebook was being returned so I just lost it with 100pgs left- that's on me. I am enjoying it overall so far: I like the imperfect slice of life aspect to it, I also did love the..."

I’ve done that a few times. It’s been hard to juggle this year. I hope you can get another version of the book soon. You need the ending. I really enjoyed the audio. I had to submit a purchase suggestion at the library to get it, but it only took a couple hours to appear.

Gail W wrote: "Amanda wrote: "I forgot what day my ebook was being returned so I just lost it with 100pgs left- that's on me. I am enjoying it overall so far: I like the imperfect slice of life aspect to it, I al..."

That's alright Gail! The other person returned it quickly and I finished it. It does take some wild journeys at the end, and overall I was impressed with the imperfection of it.

I really enjoyed the audio too, Nancy.