Monday, January 07, 2008

No Sacrifice Too Great

Sunday's Toronto Star carried a farewell by Philip Marchand, who is changing beats at the Star, from book reviewer to film critic. He'll be missed. The best book reviewer in the country for nearly 20 years, you could count on Marchand to give you an honest appraisal of the books he was reviewing. "Be just to a book, by all means," Marchand writes, "is the credo of a book reviewer, but more important, be just to the reader." Too few seem capable of doing this, or understanding it when they see it.

One of Marchand's last pieces of book criticism, it would seem, appears in the current issue of CNQ. His 'The Problem with Alice Munro' is worth a gander, and has already generated some interesting reader response. Marchand would have it, I'm certain, no other way.

Marchand's entire farewell can be found here: www.thestar.com/article/291298

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