Notes from the Outside: Episodes from an Unconventional Life

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

Allan Safarik is a writer who has a vivid eye for detail and a knack for
producing mind-boggling metaphors. Written at different times in his
life, the “episodes” that make up his memoir reflect a wide range of
moods and topics. In deeply poetic pieces like “Solitude,” the
author captures his memories in a flurry of images that continually
surprise. But the most successful essays in the book tend to be pure
reminiscences of the people, places, and events of his life. The wonder
and terror of being a kid is memorably evoked in “Terror Time” and
“The Day Billy Cooper Lost an Eye.”

The weakest piece in the collection is “The Traditional and Sacred of
the Northern Plains.” Written for the Wanuskewin Heritage Park in
Saskatchewan, this essay exhibits a careful, factual tone and is devoid
of the colourful metaphors that inform the rest of the Notes from the
Outside. But that’s a minor quibble about a book that deserves a place
in home and public libraries across Canada.