read, write, repeat.

When I grabbed Whittall’s book off the shelf during my most recent library adventure, I had no idea that she was Canadian. Luckily for me, she is. 

Whittall’s novel feels very Canadian. I’m not sure how to describe this feeling. It’s not through idiotic stereotypes - beavers, the winter, maple syrup, et cetera. It might be through recognizing various locations? It’s nice to be able to spatially understand the layout of a story. This particular one takes place in Toronto, which is near where I grew up. As such, I recognized many of the nearby cities and other landmarks in Toronto. This isn’t just because Whittall is a Canadian - if you grew up near Kansas City, then see the sentence above, but sub in “Kansas City” for where I said Toronto. Even so, I think the pleasure of being able to correctly visualize and understand the culture of a place is one often lost on Canadians, as we get most of our entertainment and media from our southerly neighbours - picking up a book and recognizing places and a way of life that overlap with your own is rare, and, for me, a wonderful experience.

But I’m not entirely convinced that is the source of HSFALAP’s Canadian-ness. I could tell, reading it, that the author was Canadian, just as sure as I know that Mordecai Richler and Heather O’Neill are Canadian. 

It might be the LGBT theme (for lack of a better word) that runs through it. The three main characters, Josh, Amy, and Billy all identify somewhere along the LGBT ‘spectrum’ - Josh is transsexual (and straight), Amy is bisexual, and Billy (short for Hillary) is also bisexual. I’m not saying that Canada is home to a larger-than-normal population of LGBT people, but I do feel that I have encountered more of them as characters in (modern) Canadian literature than in (modern) American literature; or, perhaps, I encounter them equally frequently, but it’s just that they are presented less sensationally in Canadian literature? I’m not sure. 

All three main characters are in their early 20s, living in Toronto, trying to navigate the dangerous waters that lie between adolescence and adulthood. At the beginning of the novel, Josh and Amy are involved in a long-time relationship and live together. Josh works as a paramedic, and, through his eyes, the reader sees a number of gory, ridiculous, and sad scenes. Amy works for a film company, is beautiful, and comes from a wealthy background; this is the source for some tension between the two, and also as a source of disconnect between Amy and some of the other characters. That latter statement is more ‘in my opinion’ - Billy snidely notices her expensive clothing that is meant to look shabby; Amy reflects that she is seen as the more ‘vanilla’ member of her friend group in Toronto (white, wealthy, relatively nonradical, bisexual but dating a guy), where she is seen as totally radical by her childhood friends. 

Billy is a former child pop sensation who suffers from anxiety attacks. The novel opens up with her breaking up with longtime girlfriend Maria, and studying at the University of Toronto, in an effort to get a university degree so that she can actually do something with her life. I found the look into Billy’s anxiety attacks very, very interesting, and somewhat unnerving, but I didn’t really like Billy as a character. In a somewhat unfortunate series of mental connections, when I hear Canadian child pop star, my brain instantly thought of Robin Sparkles. I know, I know. What can I say? I just don’t have Bieber Fever. 

Also, I found Billy sort of annoying. Not because of her near constant anxiety attacks, but for other reasons more intangible. I think it was because I sensed that she didn’t really like Amy, who I liked the most. I’m not sure if I identified with Amy (because I don’t really think we’re much alike), or if it’s because I know a lot of Amys out there in the world, but I liked Amy the best, and therefore felt somewhat hostile to Billy. 

Holding Still For As Long As Possible follows the lives of these three characters, as well of that as Roxy (Billy’s roommate and Josh’s friends) as they try to sort out their complicated personal and romantic lives. It’s a bit light on plot, but the characters are interesting, and feel very, very real - and the climax of the novel had me flipping pages as fast as possible to find out what happens.

I wouldn’t say it’s any sort of classic of Canadian literature, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and I’d recommend it. I’m definitely going to check out her other novel and her poetry. 

Aha! - I think I’ve got it. It’s not that the places are Canadian, it’s that everything is Canadian, and therefore familiar. The places, the brands, the speech, the mindset - everything is familiar and overlaps with our own lives. In an age where you constantly find yourself confused when the milk’s in a bottle on TV (until you remember, of course, that’s it’s American)*, it’s refreshing and comforting to find a novel that makes you feel like you’ve come home.

*Although, that of course, is an Ontario thing, I shouldn’t generalize.