While a 2,000-word paper may be a daunting task for some students, others take on a greater and even more creatively stimulating challenge—writing 50,000 words to draft an entire novel over the course of November. Besides being known as the month when exams start to loom, it also hosts National[Read More…]
Books
‘Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing’ is a moving, yet disappointing memoir
When thinking of Matthew Perry, it is nearly impossible to separate him from his popular role on the hit TV show Friends. While his name has largely been synonymous with Chandler Bing, it also is associated with a much more stigmatized term—addict. In Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,[Read More…]
‘Scenes from the Underground’ centres queer rave culture around the world
McGill alumnus Gabriel Cholette (MA ‘17) started his writing career by publishing true vignette-style stories about queer sex and party culture on an anonymous Instagram account for his friends. The vignettes range in length from a single sentence to a three-page whirlwind, with settings from Montreal to Berlin, but all[Read More…]
What we liked this fall reading break
As the second official Fall Reading Week comes to a close and McGill students are thrust back into the throes of midterm season, downtime can feel like a fleeting dream. For students who have time to read non-academic books or for those looking for a new study soundtrack, here are[Read More…]
Albert Camus: A visionary of pandemic-era life?
Albert Camus’ 1947 novel The Plague masterfully portrays the death and suffering that a fictional bubonic plague brings to the people of Oran, an Algerian city under French colonial rule. The events take place over many months, with protagonist Dr. Rieux working to both physically and psychologically help others suffering[Read More…]
The young adult dystopian genre is too close for comfort
When many think of the young adult (YA) dystopian genre, both in literature and in film, The Hunger Games immediately comes to mind as one of the defining trilogies of the category. The Hunger Games hit the big screen 10 years ago and made nearly $700 million in worldwide sales.[Read More…]
‘When We Lost Our Heads’ explores feminine obsession in 19th-century Montreal
“For there is no friend like a sister In calm or stormy weather; To cheer one on the tedious way, To fetch one if one goes astray, To lift one if one totters down, To strengthen whilst one stands.” Two little girls are tempted by sinister goblins in Christina Rossetti’s[Read More…]
What we liked this reading break
As another reading week comes and goes, McGill students once again return to the textbooks. Even so, the fleeting time away from school has served as a great opportunity to devour new content and re-discover some hidden gems. Here are The McGill Tribune’s favourites from Winter 2022 Reading Week. The[Read More…]
The Sally Rooney effect
In reaction to the pandemic, people have indulged in melancholy. Though Sally Rooney’s novel Normal People was neither her debut nor her most recent, it was the one that made her famous. The gloomy but beautiful novel was published in 2018, and adapted for television by the BBC two years[Read More…]
‘The Music Game’ explores the challenges and joys of adulthood
Transitioning into adulthood is never an easy feat; it comes with the anxiety of an uncertain future in a world of independence and responsibility that is still unfamiliar. The English translation of Stéfanie Clermont’s debut novel The Music Game, released on Feb. 8, perfectly captures the dread of being stuck[Read More…]
