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May 2, 2008
Library chooses Tulchinsky
Novel is about a Jewish boxer and the Christie Pitts riot in 1933.
RON FRIEDMAN
On April 23, Vancouver city councillor Elizabeth Ball declared Vancouver writer Karen X. Tulchinsky's critically acclaimed novel The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky as the winning title for Vancouver Public Library's seventh annual city-wide book club, One Book, One Vancouver.
"I am sure that the thousands of Vancouver residents who will be participating in the program throughout the summer will be thrilled with this year's choice," said Ball, the council's representative to the Vancouver Public Library board.
Tulchinsky is a respected film and television screenwriter, editor and novelist. The author of four books and countless magazine and newspaper articles, she is currently co-writing the screenplay for the television show The Guard, about the Canadian coastguard, for Global TV. The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky was released in 2003 to much praise and was a finalist for the Toronto Book Award. A large portion of the book was researched at VPL's central branch.
"The library's One Book, One Vancouver committee was captivated by this superbly crafted novel and believes Vancouver readers will be, too," said Janice Douglas, VPL's director of youth services and community relations. "An important consideration for One Book, One Vancouver titles not published in the past year is that the committee believes the book deserves a second look. This is definitely the case for The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky. We believe this book deserves to be read and that Vancouverites and Canadians will be fascinated by the little-known story at its core."
The novel is about a fictional Jewish-Canadian boxer – Sonny Lapinsky – and his family, and how their lives were forever changed by the Christie Pitts riot in Toronto in 1933. Tulchinsky said the book, while fictional, was in some cases based on stories her grandfather, a man she describes as "a natural storyteller," told her when she was a girl.
"I have all these memories of being a kid and sitting in my grandparents' apartment in Toronto on the crinkly plastic of their sofa – because my grandmother would never take the plastic off – while my grandfather would tell us stories of his escape from Russia."
While preferring to describe herself as a storyteller, rather than a writer on social issues, Tulchinsky acknowledged that the more she learned about Canada's past, the more she found out about deep-seated racism and anti -Semitism. Tulchinsky described a scene in her book, in which a man and his son are harassed by church-goers for peddling their wares on a Sunday, even though they were in a Jewish neighborhood, because of a law that forbade work on that day. She also used the fictional incident to stress the difference between the generations, with the older man behaving submissively, while his son expressed indignation.
Tulchinsky's book was chosen from a shortlist that included Soucouyant, a Caribbean ghost story by David Chariandy, and Loose End, a collection of short stories by Ivan E. Coyote. A selection committee made up of library staff members made the final choice.
Tulchinsky said she was thrilled when she heard that she had been chosen. "It's such a wonderful program – I've been aware of it since it's been around – it encourages people to read and I think it's fantastic that the library is encouraging everyone in Vancouver, and hopefully other places, to read my book."
Tulchinsky also said that she looks forward to participating in the line up of events associated with One Book, One Vancouver, including author readings, film screenings and even a boxing exhibition at Library Square. "I love reading for my work and I'm a bit of a performer when I do it, so I told them I'd participate in anything they want me to," said the author, who is even prepared to put on boxing gloves and learn a few moves.
The Vancouver Public Library has recently come under criticism by members of the Jewish community after hosting a lecture by Israel critic Greg Felton and later renting out its space to "New Historian" Ilan Pappe – many in the community thought that it was inappropriate for the library to be associated with those types of speakers. But library communications manager Jean Kavanagh told the Independent that the decision to feature Tulchinsky's book had nothing to do with the criticism and that it was chosen well before the Felton lecture. "Even though we didn't announced the decision until early in the new year, we had made the decision by late November." Kavanagh said that, anticipating that the issue might come up, she met with Tulchinsky to talk to her and assure her that her book was chosen on its merit. "We didn't want her to feel that there was any tokenism going on, because that's absolutely not what's happening," said Kavanagh.
Tulchinsky said she was aware of the controversy, but that she never got the feeling that she was being chosen because of her religion or the subject matter of her book. "I met all of the people on the committee and I think it's just one of those strange coincidences, to be honest. They were all really enthusiastic about my book and just felt like it was the best choice," she said.
For information on upcoming events or to reserve a copy of The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky, visit a branch of the Vancouver Public Library or go to www.vpl.ca.
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