Cautiously Pessimistic by Debbie McGee
Reviewed by Robin McGrath
Cautiously Pessimistic by Debbie McGee is a hard book to classify. On one level it is a memoir of a sometimes-tumultuous love affair, and an account of the long, painful death from brain cancer of one of the partners. On another level, it is an examination and critique of the new phenomenon of living life and death via social media.
For readers who have had little or nothing to do with Facebook or any of the other platforms that many people use to interact with friends, family, and even enemies and strangers, it is an eye-opener. For good or bad, social media has come to dominate the social interactions of people around the world, and it is imperative that both young and old understand something of how Facebook, Twitter, and similar programs impact individuals, particularly in a time of grief.
“Debbie McGee and her late husband, Gerry Porter, were two important figures in the burgeoning arts scene in Newfoundland.”
Debbie McGee and her late husband, Gerry Porter, were two important figures in the burgeoning arts scene in Newfoundland. An award-winning documentary filmmaker, McGee had a significant impact on viewers not just in Canada but elsewhere. Gerry Porter's work as a journalist, cartoonist, and eventually a highly respected administrator and distance education teacher at Memorial University's Centre for Innovation in Teaching and Learning in St. John's, was more local, but no less significant.
Much of this book was assembled from McGee's journals and emails to and from friends and family, but also from Porter's extensive posting about his life, and about the arts scene in St. John's. Porter was also an enthusiastic participant in on-line hashtag games, one of which mashed together alcohol and movie titles to produce such imaginary films as “How to Drain Your Flagon” and “The Single Maltese Falcon.” After Porter had emergency brain surgery to remove a huge mass in his skull, McGee used his computer to post the news to his Facebook friends and by the next day had received 149 reactions, 180 comments, and 7 shares. As his illness progressed, the number of messages increased.
The account of the couple's life and Porter's death moves back and forth between the days of their early intense but fraught relationship, exacerbated by far too much alcohol and far too many sexual partners. Their later settled, and stable family life was abruptly interrupted by a diagnosis of brain cancer.
Readers familiar with the Newfoundland arts scene will have no trouble recognizing the revolving door of characters who frequented the Ship Inn, the Crow's Nest, and the LSPU Hall, even when the individuals are not named. However, it's not important to know these people, or even to know who they are, to get a clear picture of the burgeoning and incestuous family of young film, music, and visual artists active there in the 1970s and 80s.
While an account of these youthful excesses and follies might appeal to--or embarrass--those who lived through them, there are two other narratives to carry the reader along. One is the day-to-day account of fighting serious cancer--the confusion, the fear, the medical appointments, the unwanted advice of friends, and the ongoing grind of chemotherapy.
The other theme is predicted by the very striking cover image of a man and woman in passionate embrace. A closer study reveals that the little black rectangle in the hand of one of the lovers is not a notebook or a clutch purse, but a cell phone, and both figures have an eye on the screen. McGee's involvement with her husband's Facebook friends changed as his death became more certain, and she felt increasingly sidelined as the number of correspondents swelled and began to edge her and her family out of the picture. She noted that many of Porter's Facebook friends from his university days “veered off-topic” and the photos and anecdotes gradually devolved until they were “having a kind-of party on-line.”
While McGee was gratified by the provincial and national attention her husband's death received in the media, she resented the way on-line correspondents from his early years seemed to assume they knew him better that his biological family did. In a short but insightful “Afterword,” McGee does a post-mortem on her own reaction to the Facebook method of grieving, suggesting that we need to reinvent “the grief wheel” as it appears on social media.
Quoting from articles on the problem of on-line wakes from The Atlantic, Reader's Digest and Upworthy, McGee argues that these days, social media is as inevitable as death, and “in the cultural chaos, we have to learn how to integrate the two respectfully.”
It's possible that readers of this book might think that memoirs might also need to develop new expectations. The mash-up of journal entries, letters, and social media posts makes for a very different type of memoir than those we are used to. Today, memoirs might not be written so much as assembled. It may not strike every reader as an improvement, but it is probably part of the new reality of twenty-first century literature.
About the Author
Debbie McGee made her first film in Vancouver in 1983, and her last film in St. John’s in 2013. In between those markers, she worked as a writer and director of short dramas and NFB documentaries before joining the Media Unit at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador as Producer/Director. She has been an active volunteer with arts organizations throughout her career, serving on many boards, juries, and councils. Debbie is a mother and a grandmother. She lives in St. John’s, Newfoundland, with her adorable puppy Cammie.
Her films and awards are available for viewing on her website: debbiemcgee.ca
About the Reviewer
Robin McGrath was born in Newfoundland. She earned a doctorate from the University of Western Ontario, taught at the University of Alberta, and for 25 years did research in the Canadian Arctic on Inuit Literature and culture before returning home to Newfoundland and Labrador. She now lives in Harbour Main and is a full-time writer. Robin has published 26 books and over 700 articles, reviews, introductions, prefaces, teaching aids, essays, conference proceedings and chapbooks. Her most recent book is Labrador, A Reader's Guide. (2023). She is a columnist for the Northeast Avalon Times and does freelance editing.
Book Details
Breakwater Books
ISBN: 9781778530579
Item Publish Date: 2025 / 06 / 10
Page Count: 216