The Seaboard Review of Books, November 10, 2025
Volume 2, Issue 48 of The Seaboard Review of Books, November 10, 2025
In this issue:
The Last of Its Kind by Sibylle Grimbert, translated by Aleshia Jensen (Fiction)
Animals by Jerrod Edson (Fiction)
A Ballet of Lepers: A Novel and Stories by Leonard Cohen (Fiction)
Ajar: Poems by Margo LaPierre (Poetry)
Cats and Us: A Ten-Thousand Year Fascination; and This Is a Tiny Fragile Snake (Children’s Books)
The Smiling Land: All Around the Circle in My Newfoundland and Labrador by Alan Doyle (Non-Fiction)
Thanks for reading this issue of The Seaboard Review of Books!
James M. Fisher, editor-in-chief
Fiction
The Last of Its Kind by Sibylle Grimbert, translated by Aleshia Jensen
Sibylle Grimbert’s The Last of Its Kind is a work of historical fiction. Despite its grounding in the past, this novel has much to say to readers in the present.
Animals by Jerrod Edson
True originality is rare. In Animals, a taut and occasionally gruesome novella-length narrative, Jerrod Edson has written an allegory that explores territory in the fictional landscape that (in this reader’s experience) remains largely uncharted. The problem with reviewing a book of such stunning uniqueness is that a significant portion of the pleasure …
Poetry
Ajar: Poems by Margo LaPierre
“I haunted me,” writes Margo LaPierre, a phrase that reverberates through her sophomore collection Ajar. The haunting in LaPierre’s work manifests as altered mental states, as suicidal ideation, the vertigo of swaying at the brink of imminent disembodiment.
Children’s Books
Cats and Us: A Ten-Thousand Year Fascination; and This Is a Tiny Fragile Snake
In “The Cat that Walked by Himself,” one of his Just So Stories (1902), Rudyard Kipling famously portrayed your typical cat as independent, happiest when alone. It’s a charming image that by now has become almost mythic—but perhaps, with today’s threats to the environment, we should also be encouraging children to read realistic depictions of animals.
Non-Fiction
The Smiling Land: All Around the Circle in My Newfoundland and Labrador by Alan Doyle
As tourist destinations go, Newfoundland will never rival Hawaii or New York, but it is gradually attracting more visitors, as becomes evident if you try to book a hotel room or a rental car there from June to September. Travel books about the province are not new. As early as 1931, Joe Smallwood produced a very respectable book about the place, aimed a…
Michael Greenstein Reviews
New, Old & Notable is a reoccurring column by Gordon Phinn in which he concisely reviews several books from the past and present.
Brief Notes on Books Present & Past
(Note: clicking on the underlined link takes you to the book’s publisher page or Amazon.ca for more information or for purchasing purposes. Support your local bookseller or independent publisher if you can.)
The Suicide Tourist by Myna Wallin (poetry)
In the past decade or so, there has been a lot of “let’s talk” mental health discussion in the media. However, this “talk” is usually sanitized and safe: excluding any conversations that would make some uncomfortable. That’s why Myna Wallin’s poetry collection, The Suicide Tourist, is so refreshing and important.
Written with an intimate, uncensored and raw honesty (and with humour), The Suicide Tourist will resonate with readers who have experienced mental illness, as well as encourage empathy in those who haven’t. Wallin is one of my favourite poets and this collection is one that I can see myself revisiting again and again. (Contributed by Heather Babcock)
Read an excerpt from The Suicide Tourist here at The Seaboard Review of Books.
In the Truro, Nova Scotia area? Visit The Happy Duck Bookshop & Readery!
Congratulations to Naomi MacKinnon on the opening of her new book store! Naomi is a frequent contributor to The Seaboard Review of Books, as well as her own book review blog, Consumed by Ink. The Happy Duck Bookshop & Readery (new and used books and local art) is located at 586 Prince St., in Truro, Nova Scotia. Their Facebook page is here.
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