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| 3.5 out of 5 stars |
You can’t get much more Canadian than this
novel—it is written by a former CBC employee, it involves the national radio
service, there are questions of identity, there is self-discovery through a
wilderness trip, and it takes place in the North, mythologized by all of us
southern Canadians.
Two young women, Gwen and Dido, come to
Yellowknife to craft lives and identities for themselves through working on the
radio. I related to Gwen’s search for
herself through her radio work, having worked a very public volunteer job where
it was necessary to create a public persona for myself. How useful that persona was; it created a
framework upon which to hang the various facets of my life to display them to
those around me, but most importantly to myself.
And where else do you search for
yourself? The North, of course, a mysterious
place to those of us who live pressed up against the 49th parallel,
much closer to our American neighbours than to the vast majority of Canadian
territory. The people, the wildlife, and
the landscape of the Barrens are beautifully invoked, with the canoe trip of
discovery forming a rather dreamy portion of the plot line. It made me wish that I was one of the
adventurous folks who went on camping trips, canoeing in the wilderness, identifying
the delicate wildflowers and observing the skittish caribou. I have friends who do these kinds of things
and I long to have the ability and the courage.
Running in the background of Late
Nights is the whole question of the MacKenzie Valley Pipeline Project
and government/business relationships with the aboriginal populations. In that way, it is a timely book for today,
as struggles ensue over several pipeline projects and relations with our native
populations are in turmoil.
On a personal note, two situations in this
book got me thinking about a woman that I was friends with long ago. She became involved with a very possessive
man and I think she mistook it for “love” as opposed to power. I often wonder about her, as when I last
talked with her it was obvious that he was controlling her to an extreme extent
and I was very worried. I was cut out of
her life rather quickly, as he was busy separating her from her friends and
family. Recently we had a significant
milestone school reunion and the organizer sent out lots of email to see who
all she could round-up to celebrate. My
former friend, a gentle, polite woman, replied in a rather hostile manner and
asked that she never be contacted again.
From this, I assume that she is still with her controlling partner and
still acquiescing to his wishes. I
continue to wonder how she is, where she is, whether she will ever escape.
Perhaps that is why this book left me in a
melancholy mood. But for me, that
melancholy feeling is a desirable one in literature and I enjoyed wallowing in
it for the remainder of the evening.
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