North of the Equator

Britta Santowski is a freelance writer in Victoria.

Cyril Dabydeen is an internationally recognized and award-winning author
who was appointed poet laureate by the City of Ottawa. In this
collection of 14 short stories, he explores the themes of Canadian
identity and what it means to be a foreigner trying to make a new home
in another country. In spite of the diverse ethnicity and colorful cast
of characters, there is a tiresome inundation of Western cultural icons
such as Dickens and Darwin, as if to verify the author’s scholarly
credentials.

The characters have a tenuous hold on sanity. The sheep herder in
“Canine Sun,” the cricket champion in “Faster They Come,” the
tourist/adventurer in “Canadian Shaman” are all convinced that
people are laughing at them; their paranoia is tedious. The stories
themselves become difficult to follow as the narrative becomes mired in
fantasy, leaving the reader frustrated and confused.