Today was the first day of Canada Reads and I'm so happy that it's back. I thought the panelists did a great job defending their books, and I felt that Adam Copeland was the weaker debater. Day 1 really reminded me that it's not just about which books I liked, and which ones I didn't. The theme this year is about starting over. In regards to the theme, sometimes people choose to start over and sometime people are forced to start over. In each of the books, the characters have to start over and evolve as a person.
I'm hoping that The Hero's Walk wins but it did get 2 votes today which makes me really worried. I wonder where the panelists are coming from. Last year Thomas King, was voted off so suddenly that the whole audience gasped. I felt like it was a strategic move to get it out of the way because so many people loved that book. I'm wondering what happened with The Hero's Walk today. Maybe it'll turn around tomorrow. It didn't seem to be going the route of being voted off, and suddenly it had two votes and it was tied with Minister Without Portfolio.
The Illegal really seemed to fly under the radar today. This didn't surprise me, i'm expecting it to go far in this competition. It wasn't discussed very much, as was Birdie. In keeping with the theme, I don't feel like Birdie was a great example of starting over. While I agree with what Bruce Poon Tip is saying about aboriginal communities and the injustices that Canada needs to fix, I don't feel like readers will take that away from the book. The book is so confusing and I wasn't able to connect with the characters. I struggled with figuring out who was who in the book.
Minister Without Portfolio wasn't my favorite but I didn't expect it to be voted off first. I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it. The style wasn't my favorite and I felt that the story seemed to slow down and I wanted to finish it. Adam Copeland's closing argument about it being the only book taking place in Canada, and it had the type of character that you would be sitting in a bar watching hockey with really annoyed me. Bone and Bread also takes place in Montreal. He was trashing the other books. I think he was caught off guard, and was shocked to have been eliminated on the first day.
What did you think about today's debate?
I'm okay with the result of the vote, especially since I was afraid that it would end up being The Hero's Walk. MWP wasn't my favourite either, although I did like it. Unfortunately, Copeland's remarks after it was voted off put a bad taste in my mouth that I'm associating with the book, even though I know that's not fair.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad he stopped talking before he said something worse!