The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.2005, Side 39

Vol. 59 #3
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
125
Book Reviews
Any Day But This
By Kristjana Gunnars
Reviewed by Krista Martin MacGregor
Red Deer Press, ISBN 9780889953116
Hard cover, $29.95
Kristjana Gunnars’ latest collection of
short stories, Any Day But This, will be
welcomed by admirers of her writing and
by fans of short fiction. Gunnars’ spare,
straightforward prose leads the reader into
the emotional lives of characters poised in
equilibrium. Reflecting upon pasts that
have bubbled to life’s surface, Gunnars’
characters must see the connection between
past and present before moving toward
new possibilities.
Born and raised in Reykjavik,
Kristjana Gunnars has been a professor of
creative writing at the University of
Alberta since 1990. Her numerous works
include: books of poetry, novels, nonfic-
tion, essays and translations. She has been
awarded the Stephan G. Stephansson
Award for Poetry, the McNally Robinson
Award for Fiction, the George Bugnett
Award for Fiction and has been nominated
for the Governor General’s Award for
Nonfiction. Gunnars currently lives in
Sechelt, on the Sunshine Coast of British
Columbia.
Gunnars sets the majority of these
thirteen stories on the Sunshine Coast,
locating her characters in a geography well
suited to their emotional state. While part
of the mainland, the Coast is isolated from
the larger population by mountains and
sea. Its feel is that of an island—a desirable
setting for those seeking privacy and
retreat. In Every Shade of Meaning, Martha
Abernathy wants her experience of moth-
erhood to be “owned” by her alone, not
shared with the complications and cata-
strophes of her past. Gunnars’ characters
wish to be cleansed of the accumulations of
their previous lives; they wish for the tran-
quility to consider and begin anew. This
harmony is not to be found in the outside
world where there is “good reason for all
the conflict and strife surrounding us all:
discord and friction are wanted. They are
what make people feel alive”.
The Sunshine Coast is home to many
who are retiring from one life to begin
another and this echoes throughout Any
Day But This. Gunnars’ stories are con-
cerned with people transplanted in hope
that a course change will bring emotional
peace. In some instances, this change is
actively sought. In Under Other Skies,
Tamara is leaving her career as a professor.