Vanderhaeghe 'astonished' by Canada Reads win
Writer Guy Vanderhaeghe was "both delighted and astonished" that his novel The Last Crossing was named the 2004 Canada Reads winner Friday.
"It was a great pleasure to listen to books being debated in such a passionate, intelligent and decidedly not sombre fashion," said Vanderhaeghe.
"I was flattered to find myself in the company of such remarkable writers, some of whose work I admired long before I dared to write. Now I am both delighted and astonished by the final outcome."
During this year's competition, broadcast over the past five days on CBC Radio and CBC TV, five panellists each championed a work of Canadian fiction as the one that all Canadians should read.
The author of The Last Crossing also extended his thanks to Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy for his "spirited championing" of his novel.
As the winning panellist, Cuddy graciously praised his colleagues/opponents: journalist and filmmaker Francine Pelletier, writer Zsuzsi Gartner, opera singer Measha Brueggergosman and Winnipeg Mayor Glen Murray.
"It's impossible to sit around the table with people such as Measha, Glen, Francine and Zsuzsi and not have a new-found admiration for their intellect and their commitment to the whole experience," Cuddy said. "It was good to survive and it was invaluable to read so many Canadian novelists in preparation for it."
The other contenders included Alice Munro's The Love of a Good Woman, Mordecai Richler's Barney's Version, Monique Proulx's The Heart is an Involuntary Muscle, Thomas King's Green Grass, Running Water and Vanderhaeghe's novel, a tale of an unlikely posse travelling through the 19th-century American and Canadian West.
Each day, the panellists voted a book off the shortlist until Vanderhaeghe's novel was left as the book for all Canadians to read.
Pelletier was the kingmaker Friday, as the other panellists were equally split. Gartner joined Cuddy, while Brueggergosman joined forces with Murray for his original choice, King's Green Grass.
Although she tipped her hat to Murray's "powers of persuasion," Pelletier ultimately cast her vote against his chosen title.
"[Murray] did a fantastic job ... I have to admit that he made Green Grass look extremely interesting," Pelletier said. "I was tempted to vote for it because of the novel's qualities. However, I really do think that, as a successful piece of literature, I [like] The Last Crossing for its style, for its story, for where it takes you."
Even after Vanderhaeghe's novel was named winner, Brueggergosman continued to disparage the choice, which she claimed was too traditional and "comfortable."
"We didn't want anything that challenged us," she said. "We just wanted something that was easy. It's so Canadian."
Gartner noted that since Barney's Version "hit the dust" in round two, she had fought for Vanderhaeghe's historical epic. As a fan of "urban" fiction, this spoke volumes about the power of The Last Crossing.
"The point here is the power of literature to sway somebody outside of a rigid esthetic comfort zone," Gartner said.
She also jokingly added that after being such a vocal critic of two of the other books, "I can never go to a literary festival again. I'm going to run into Monique Proulx, I'm going to run into Thomas King."
The five Canada Reads choices will be celebrated at events taking place across the country through April, and McClelland and Stewart, publisher of The Last Crossing, will donate a portion of the proceeds from the book's sales to ABC Canada Literacy Foundation, a nonprofit national organization supporting literacy.