Any Day But This

Lori A. Dunn is an ESL teacher and an event coordinator, with a
background in linguistics and education in Okanagan, B.C.

Kristjana Gunnars’s latest offering is a collection of people’s days
that, whether momentous or quiet, reactionary or reminiscent, recount
life changes. Deeply rooted in Canadian locales, from Saskatchewan to
the Sunshine Coast, the protagonists in these stories resolve their
moments of transformation with unremarkable satisfaction or subtle
discontent. An academic seeking peace, “wavering between ennui,
comfort and anxiety,” is reminded of people and events by the
provenance of items around her; her colleague, in Edmonton, remembers
past pains while the most recent pain of his wife leaving encompasses
him.

Gunnars exercises masterful command over the emotional content of her
characters: the truth of their inner lives resonates throughout the
stories. Part of that truth comes from the vivid realizations of the
cities and towns where the stories take place. What is familiar to the
characters, whether it is a city street, the local Save-on- Foods, or
IKEA, is also familiar to readers of these richly satisfying tales.