Our reviewers make the Star’s Books section what it is — with their wide range of tastes, their critical eye and their excellent writing. In whittling down the hundreds of books we’ve reviewed — and some we didn’t — to just the 10 best, I asked them: What were your top books this year? What made you sit up and take notice?
Not everyone chose 10. Some only chose one. But all of their responses were all marked with a keen eye and a passion for the prose. Here, then, are the Star’s top 10 books of 2017.
Transit by Rachel Cusk (Harper Perennial). This Giller Prize-nominated book about, on one level, a woman who has moved to London with her two sons after a divorce, on another an exploration of modern marriage, garnered the most nods from our wide range of reviewers. “A cerebral, razor-sharp exploration of motherhood and identity.” “I don’t know why we keep pretending she’s Canadian — until her previous book was nominated for the Giller, she hadn’t been here since she was in diapers — but Cusk’s recent novel was my kind of page-turner: a slim, chilly, mordant novel in which very little “happens,” and yet you finish it every bit as satisfied as you would a fat beach read.” “Of all the novels on the Giller shortlist, this was the one I was looking forward to least. To my surprise, it has become one of my favourite books of the year: stylistically daring, emotionally rich, without a trace of indulgence.”
Eden Robinson’s Son of a Trickster (Knopf Canada) was also nominated for the Giller Prize and also caught the attention of multiple reviewers. The book about an Indigenous teenager named Jared was described as “a dark, plot-twisting thriller that nevertheless delivers generous heart and Robinson’s trademark humour.” One reviewer chose it “because it takes us into a world so similar and yet so different. The most we can ever ask of fiction is to transport us to a life and experience not our own, and Robinson does that so seamlessly.” “Eden Robinson deserves every ounce of praise she has received for Son of a Trickster, a coming-of-age tale touched with magic, humour and genuine terror.”
American War by Omar El Akkad (McClelland and Stewart) This book set in the near-ish future of 2074 anticipates in this near dystopia a second American Civil War — and a U.S. that sounds frighteningly close. One reviewer chose it “because I’m still thinking about this stunning debut months after reading it. Stark, heartbreaking, beautiful. El Akkad turns the tables and does a deep dive on a narrative that has become entirely too common in today’s world.” Another called it “A terrifyingly believable dystopia delivered with literary flair.” Either way, this book made its mark and made an impression.
David Chariandy’s Brother (McClelland and Stewart). Brother, set in Scarborough, is about two brothers, Michael and Francis, who live in the projects there. It won the Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize this year. It’s an immigrant story, a story about racism and also about hope. Brother was described as “a study in contemporary masculinity, and a haunting, gorgeous evocation of love between brothers;” but it was also called a “beautifully rendered, tightly written story that we can all relate to in its humanity.”
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This Accident of Being Lost by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (Astoria) is a bit unconventional — a collection of stories and songs — which is also what makes it exciting. It was described as “genre-bending, fiercely political, and deeply personal, the pieces that make up this collection resist and defy entrenched colonial narratives and speak back to power in direct, intimate ways.” Another reviewer noted: “Poetry, songs and stories, all … in a unique voice that resonates on many levels.”
The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O’Neill (HarperCollins) Again flying under the radar of most of the national prizes this year — after being shortlisted for the Giller Prize for her two previous books — this one gets the nod from our critics. The story of two orphans, brother and sister, is set in Montreal in the 30s, much of it in the city’s underworld. “I was late getting aboard the O’Neill fan-train — The Lonely Hearts Hotel won me over utterly, and forced me into her backlist. Time well, well spent.” “A literary flight of fancy, complete with lunatic nuns, dancing bears, depressed clowns and smitten mobsters.”
The Clothesline Swing, Ahmad Danny Ramadan (Nightwood Editions) is a bit of a sleeper; it’s not one that garnered a lot of national prize attention, but it did catch the hearts and minds of reviewers. It was inspired by One Thousand and One Nights and tells the story of two lovers and the memory of a dying Syria. The first novel in English from writer and journalist Ramadan, our reviewers called it: “a heartbreaking and powerful exploration of flight, refuge and identity by a talented and exciting new voice in Canadian literature;” and “an incredibly evocative gay love story set in a crumbling, war-torn Damascus. A sparkling English-language debut from Syrian refugee (and journalist) Ahmad Danny Ramadan.”
Grace O’Connell’s Be Ready For The Lightning (Random House Canada) has at its centre a story about a young woman taken hostage on a bus in New York City. One reviewer described it as “an absolutely dazzling novel about coming to terms with violence, both cultural and familial.” Said another: “I love her writing — it’s so relatable and I find myself getting very close to her characters every time I read her work. Her writing is also so skilled — she gets to the core of the human soul with excellent sentences.”
And two foreign fiction titles also got the nod:
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan (Scribner) is another work that was almost universally loved by the Star’s critics. It spans the life of Anna Kerrigan in New York City during Prohibition, the Great Depression and the Second World War. “A work of historical fiction that even readers who hate historical fiction will love.” “Readers looking for the experimentation of Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad might be momentarily disappointed with Manhattan Beach, which appears to be a simple historical novel. It’s not, though, and their disappointment won’t last long — this is fiction of the highest order, sprawling but tightly controlled, intellectually rigorous and emotionally devastating.” “It’s characterized by sinuous plotting and scintillating prose, which together allow you to overlook the rather arbitrary way Egan flits from one storyline to another, or arranges their intersection.”
The Redemption of Galen Pike, by Carys Davies (Biblioasis) This book of stories from Welsh writer Davis garnered critical acclaim — and the attention of our reviewers. “What a wonderful find this book was. The stories are compelling and quirky and more often than not take a turn toward the unexpected that can leave you breathless. I’d never read Davies before . . . I will always read her now.” “Dazzling writing that is so evocative, that takes you down a narrative road you think is familiar, and then takes a turn you weren’t expecting, with a gut-punch of emotion. Truly wonderful.”