I hate Canadians. They have more issues than the English. Mounties are hot though ( )

Beautifully written educational satire makes this book one that I keep on going back to whenever I want a good chuckle or a smile. It's the truth within it that makes it hilarious and the humor is within tiny details that Canadians often simply take for granted as a part of being Canadian. Will Ferguson is an author that inevitably when the subject of books comes up I ask if the person has read any of his work and if not I've been known to grab one of his books off my shelves and read excerpts to them. ( )

I was very impressed with the writing style in this book. A combination of personal stories, Canadian history/politics, and humour/rants that reminds me of the writing of Farley Mowat.

"With extra paint, we decided to update a globe of the world, 3 meters tall, which stood beside the church. The globe was faded and still contained pre WWII boundaries.. Needless to say when we repainted it, we made Canada REALLY BIG, so that even today in a small village in the Andres highlands of Ecuador, travelers are surprised to discover that Canada has serendipitously conquered most of New England, all of Oregon, much of Montana and a good deal of Alaska. We cackled to ourselves while we did it. It was a typically Canadian act of defiance: Sneaky, clever, and completely ineffectual". ( )

http://books.moonsoar.com/archives/2011/02/10/why-i-hate-canadians/ ( )

http://pixxiefishbooks.blogspot.com/2...

In this book, Will Ferguson (one of my favourite Canadian authors) takes a mostly-humorous, somewhat-serious look at what it means to be Canadian. Far from being a boring political study, he draws personal anecdotes and other strange stories, in an attempt to examine his own attachment or connection to 'Canada' and 'Canadianness'.

Before continuing with my review, however, I feel obliged to mention, in the interests of full disclosure, that I read this book on the plane to, and immediately after arriving in, Japan, while Will Ferguson wrote this book pretty much immediately following his return to Canada after many years of living and teaching in Japan. That is to say, there might just be some weird alignment of the stars which caused me to enjoy this book. Or it is simply a good book. I still haven't figured out which.

Though he makes many sweeping generalizations about the whole mess we like to call 'Canada', I found him to be, more often that not, fairly on the mark. Through his political musings and wanderings, Ferguson attempts to pin down why Canadians are what they are (what makes us tick) and also what personally keeps him going as a Canadian. In particular, I had a hearty laugh at his exposure of the Canadian Dream (success without risk) and the three Great Themes (keeping the Americans out, keeping the French in, and trying to get the Natives to somehow disappear).

Sometimes funny, often tongue-in-cheek, while it doesn't provide as many belly laughs as the other books I have read by him, I'd recommend this if you're into books about Us. ( )