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Sprawling Saga about the Authentic North
4/29/2009 2:41:00 PM
by Valdemar (Val) R Wake
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| New York review of the Arctic novel White Bird Black Brid |
The New York based review house, Kirkus Discoveries, has described Val Wake's new novel White Bird Black Bird as having an authentic sense of place.
Coming to grips with the 500-plus page novel was a formidable task for the reviewer who introduces the review with the statement:
" Sprawling saga on the real-life culture clash between aboriginal Northern Canadians and resource-hungry land developers."
The review briefly outlines the plot and gets lost along the way placing Yellowknife in Ottawa.
Speaking from his retirement home in Port Macquarie Val Wake commented:
" I doubt if this review was done by a Canadian. It seems to want to turn the novel into a love story when it is really a novel about the political process and how it deals with Aboriginal people."
The review says that Wake, who worked as a journalist in the north, excels in cultivating an authentic sense of place and ends with a surprising and unorthdox conclusion.
However the reviewer found the novel verbose and ends up describing the work as a harmless distraction with philanthropic overtones in need of edits.
Val Wake replied:
" I don't think the reviewer really understood the work. I'm sure some one with a Canadian background would have written it very differently."
The review will appear on the Discoveries website in one week. www.kirkusdiscoveries.com.
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