The Sensuous Canadian

David E. Kemp is head of the Drama Department at Queen’s University.

Stifling my initial response, which was that the title is a
contradiction in terms, I delved deeper into Will’s comic spoof of the
Canadian sensibility. The book purports to be a witty and provocative
collection of everything a sensuous Canadian should be to
himself/herself and to the rest of the world. An excellent premise, but
unfortunately Will fails to deliver the goods.

Fourteen chapters cover a wide variety of subjects ranging from sports,
love, and vacations to art, cooking, and independence. It’s not that
the book is obscure or difficult to read—it just doesn’t have a
great deal to say, and what it does say isn’t very funny. The chapter
on the Canadian people, for example, includes a long story about a
Canadian meeting an Athenian beauty. There are some ramblings on
national pride; a suggestion that Solomon was the true father of
Confederation; a blast at CBC sports; some examples of Canadian
eccentricities, which are not followed up on; and a couple of dialogue
scenarios that make little or no sense. Enough, perhaps, to merit a
couple of smiles but certainly nothing as significant as a laugh.

This book is pretentious and overwritten. It tries too hard to be
funny, controversial, and informed, and it fails on all three counts.
Nearly all the jokes quoted are of the “groaner” variety, while some
are sexist and others just plain offensive. What they are not is funny.