Recently my mom bought me Holding Still for as Long as Possible by Zoe Whittall. It takes place in Parkdale and as usual I think it’s neat to recognize place names in books. I have friends who don’t like to see Toronto landmarks appear in Canadian writing because that means the author is “trying too hard to be Canadian.” I think that’s a double standard though because American writers can sprinkle the names of New York subway stations into their stories as gratuitously as they like and no one bats an eye.
I also borrowed a book of her poetry, Precordial Thump, which I really enjoyed. Now I wonder if my reading experience was enhanced by having read her fiction already. I think it’s interesting to read poetry and fiction from the same author, particularly when I read them one after the other so I haven't forgotten all the author's writerly quirks. In writing school I felt bad about recycling my favourite words across all my genres but as a reader I’m interested to pick out a writer’s recurring words, characters, images, etc. Zoe Whittall seems to like “monitor” as a verb and she uses a lot of paramedic jargon. As for Margaret Atwood, I’ve noticed she likes “bulge” and turning circular things into eyes.
Speaking of them together, Zoe Whittall and Margaret Atwood have both written poetry about dating liars/psychopath types. Those are my favourite in Precordial Thump because I find myself attracted to unemphathetic types fairly consistently. Learn from your mistakes Cam (...but they’re so charming!)
The idea of wanting to see somebody as either all good or all bad comes up in both the novel and the poems, which is another comparison I would make if I were required to write a five paragraph essay about them. I think I miss school.
