CBC Canada Reads Halfway Point: A Heated Debate Sees M.G. Vassanji's Nostalgia Voted Off

Two of the four days of the 2017 CBC Canada Reads competition have passed, with a surprise tie-breaker on the first day knocking out The Break by Katherena Vermette (House of Anansi), which had been a popular prediction for this year's eventual winner. Today M.G. Vassanji's Nostalgia (Doubleday Canada) was voted off in a tense final moment, with votes from panelists Chantal Kreviazuk (who is defending The Right to Be Cold by Sheila Watt-Cloutier and is participating in the competition via a video link, due to a health issue in her family) and Candy Palmater (who was defending The Break). 

Today's debates got off to a warm and friendly start, with the panelists supportively talking each other up (Palmater even mentioned to Kreviazuk that she bought her wife, a big fan of Kreviazuk's, tickets to one of the singer-songwriter's concerts as a date early in their relationship). Kreviazuk for her part offered a heartfelt apology to panelist Jody Mitic (who was defending Nostalgia), worried she might have offended him during a heated debate the previous day.

But as the debate ramped up, the panelists came out swinging for their titles, each clearly passionate about his or her book. Kreviazuk repeatedly criticized André Alexis' Giller Prize-winning novel Fifteen Dogs (Coach House Books) for being too adult for young readers, while Measha Brueggergosman, who is defending Company Town (Tor Books) by Madeline Ashby, acknowledged the importance of the subject matter tackled in The Right to Be Cold, but called it "a sleeping pill of a book". Kreviazuk had strong words about Company Town, calling the novel "a futuristic The Young & The Restless". Palmater, although her book is out of the running, was still an active part of the debate as well. She objected to comments about Indigenous people made by Vassanji at a non-debate Canada Reads event, calling his remarks "hurtful", and opening a brief discussion about whether the books' authors, as opposed to the texts themselves, were fair game for criticism during the competition. 

Humble The Poet, who is defending Fifteen Dogs, was particularly eloquent in speaking on behalf of Alexis' novel. "I don't want this turned into a hierarchy of suffering," he said. "This isn't about the issues, it's about which book addresses its [own] issue best". He praised Fifteen Dogs "precision" (it's one of the shorter books in the competition) and the fact that it is "not simply looking at one issue... we need to look at the human experience."

In the end, the vote was a even spread, with one vote for each of the four remaining books, and the final vote (Palmater's) tipping the scales for Nostalgia to leave the competition. See the full vote breakdowns for both Day One and Day Two below, and stay tuned to Open Book for more Canada Reads coverage as the competition continues!

CBC Canada Reads Vote Tally 2017, Day One:

• Measha Brueggergosman voted to remove The Break
• Humble the Poet voted to remove The Right to Be Cold
• Chantal Kreviazuk voted to remove Company Town, but was forced to vote again as a tie-breaker, and voted to remove The Break
• Jody Mitic voted to remove The Break
• Candy Palmater voted to remove The Right to Be Cold

CBC Canada Reads Vote Tally 2017, Day Two:

• Measha Brueggergosman voted to remove The Right to Be Cold
• Humble the Poet voted to remove Company Town
• Chantal Kreviazuk voted to remove Nostalgia
• Jody Mitic voted to remove Fifteen Dogs
• Candy Palmater voted to remove Nostalgia