Reviews for The Canadas in 1841

The average rating for The Canadas in 1841 based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-01-28 00:00:00 Arthur Freitas I liked it. It wasn't a real page-turner, just a fairly leisurely, gentle - and gently amusing - account of a 3 month driving trip from Ontario to the eastern tip of Canada, then all the way across the country to the west coast, and back to Ontario (although the description of the trip from the west back to Ontario is very short). The trip took place in the mid 1990s, but since it's simply a description of where the author and his wife went, and what they saw, it doesn't feel exceptionally dated.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-12-09 00:00:00 Calvin Gordin A mixed bag for me. The bad: frequent put-downs and snide remarks of things and people the author seems to feel superior to, these rubbed me the wrong way. I'm willing to believe this is a language gulf, though; it may simply be a way of speaking that I'm not accustomed to. The book really needs an index or a glossary, or both, as the author makes a lot of unexplained allusions. Some of these are almost certainly to things that all Canadians probably are familiar with, but as I am not, I find references flying over my head. On the other hand, others are to things that the author has mentioned in passing oh, 100 pages or so ago, and for which a few qualifying words would go a long way. There are no pictures. A travel book without a picture? Really? There are little maps at the head of each chapter showing an outline of the travel done during the chapter, but they are so tiny that all they do is cause eyestrain. Couldn't they have put them crosswise on their own page? The good: the mere facts of the trip. Just thinking about it makes me want to get in the car, turn the key, and go. He often does a pretty good job describing the things encountered: landscapes, scenery, people, places (tho again, many of the references he drops are opaque to me). Allusions aside, the book does point out how very little I know about Canada, and that's a shame. I ought to fix that, somehow. Neither: it's also a bit hard to relate to the author. I'm not saying that's good or bad; if either, it's probably good, for who wants to read about someone exactly like themselves? Still.. I think his standards are higher than mine -- the sorts of places he stays in, even though he claims to be economizing, would mostly be out of my reach. Indeed he has great disdain for the concept of staying at a motel where you park in front of your room, which for me is the ideal situation. He also seems to have friends or property almost everywhere he goes; being able to visit people in every town or stay a few days on your own private island would be ideal, no? I could probably go on, but that's way too much already..