Points of View

Julie Rekai Rickerd is a Toronto-based broadcaster and public-relations
consultant.

Opinion is Rex Murphy’s business. Whether in four minutes on CBC
TV’s The National, in “less than 1000 words” in his weekly Globe
and Mail column, or during the two hours during which he hosts CBC
Radio’s Cross Country Check-up, Murphy is never short on words, views,
or comments. Born and raised in Newfoundland, the Rhodes scholar left
his native province in his late teens and “has been writing and
talking” ever since.

This compilation of reviews, columns, and commentaries is “as
eclectic as the intelligence that put them together.” No stone is left
unturned. Politicians, Newfoundland, celebrities young and old,
literature, and day-to-day life are all viewed and reviewed through
Murphy’s amusing, articulate take on life and its foibles. Pierre
Elliott Trudeau, Ralph Klein, and Tom Wappel are “examined” under
the same magnifying glass as Céline Dion, Martha Stewart, Michael
Jackson, and Harry Potter. Prime Ministers Chrétien and Mulroney and
President Bill Clinton undergo scrutiny, as do Wayne Gretzky, Joey
Smallwood, and William Shakespeare. Oprah, Sally Jesse Raphael, and
Geraldo Rivera are here, too.

Murphy’s appreciations of famous and not-so-famous friends who have
passed on are heartfelt and poignant. He writes of Pierre Trudeau, “He
Has Gone to His Grace and That Leaves So Much Less of Ours,” and of
Peter Gzowski, “Gzowski Talked to Us All.”

Murphy himself has become a Canadian icon to his many readers, viewers,
and listeners. Agree with him or not, his keen observations make this
collection an enjoyable read.