Flirt: The Interviews.

Naomi Brun is a freelance writer and a book reviewer for The Hamilton
Spectator.

Lorna Jackson, an assistant professor of English at the University of Victoria, has published in Canadian magazines, produced a collection of short stories, and written a novel. Flirt, her latest endeavour, is hard to classify in any of these forms, as it consists of mock interviews with eight celebrities across various genres.

The interviewer in Flirt is really the central character in the book, presumably female but never named. As interviewers go, she breaks all the rules by asking leading questions, telling her subjects what they should do and how they should think, and making the interviews really all about her. Apparently this is supposed to be funny, and if the heavy-handed wit is any indication, the interviewer herself thinks she’s quite a card. To the reader, she comes across as obnoxious, and perhaps a little insecure. This unfortunate combination interferes with the reader engaging in the work in any meaningful way, and that’s a pity. The concept behind Flirt is whimsical and has the potential to be a lot of fun, but its execution misses the mark.

Jackson has obviously researched her interview subjects well and does a good job of getting into their headspace; perhaps it would be more enjoyable to read interviews with Jackson herself as the interviewer.