This Is Not the Mainland, Either: A Bard's Tour of Cape Breton

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Although Gillis’s enthusiasm for Cape Breton is evident, his prose
fails to catch fire. The book is a rather flat brew of history,
geography, and culture in the form of Celtic music. Gillis describes his
rambles around Cape Breton by motorcycle, trail bike, boat, and car. The
material is organized geographically, with sections devoted to the Mabou
Highland, the Cabot Trail, the Bras d’Or area, Sydney, and other
areas. For each area, he describes the roads and trails, the scenery,
and his encounters with musicians. A listing of 10 must-see areas sums
up the review of the island’s scenic hot spots.

The style is that of a tourist guide produced by a committee—readable
but never achieving the individual touches needed to break the dead-even
sameness of chapter after chapter of more lovely trees, more secluded
coves, more back roads, more great views, more fiddlers. Dozens of color
photos provide visual relief from the monotonous text; unfortunately,
with a few exceptions, most are as bland as the text.

The puzzling title is an obscure reference to Gillis’s previous book
on Newfoundland, This Is Not the Mainland (1999).

The book’s strengths are the thoroughness of the coverage, the amount
of detail, and the narrator’s persistent cheerfulness.