Customer Reviews

Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw: Travels in Search of Canada

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I have lived outside of the U.S. for six years with the past two in Canada thus I had about the right amount of distance from everyday life in the U.S. and enough daily interaction in Canada to find this book hilarious. Page after page I keep laughing out loud. I kept finding my self blurting out things like "exactly" and "I have seen that too". This author has nailed the North American male and has a very clear view of the differences between the States and Canada. If you are a resident of either country you will find this book full of humor and uncanny observations that ring true to anyone with an eye to individual behavior. I would have no hesitation in recommending the book.

Being a resident of the southeastern United States, I have traveled just a little in Canada. Since Canadian news and history seem to be mostly ignored in the U.S., I found BEAUTY TIPS FROM MOOSE JAW to be an enjoyable way for someone in my situation to find out about our neighbor to the north. Ferguson takes the country one province at a time, discussing people and places with often funny incidents, and weaving in a history background of each area. I must say, though, I did not find Ferguson to be as hilarious as some people do. I thought the history sections were particularly interesting and well-written, and they follow so naturally from the travel narrative that even people not really wanting to know the history would find themselves drawn into it. And although the book has decent maps for each section, I missed the total lack of any photos. There's not even one of the author! For someone like myself who has not seen much of the country, it was useful to keep a Canadian travel book full of photos nearby. Thus armed, BEAUTY TIPS FROM MOOSE JAW provides an entertaining way to learn about Canada.

Canada! What a place. Americans, sure... as in "North Americans" (as are Mexicans, Panamanians and Cubans, not to mention Madawaskans and Acadians). Well, that's about where the comparisons begin and the similarities end. Ferguson refers to the US as "the great carnival to the south" - I don't think I've ever read a more fitting indictment of the colossus itself. This is surely a funny, witty read, but it also is filled with a lot of real information and good perspective on Canadian life. I've traveled extensively through that vast land, and like Ferguson, have found Canada to be a loose affiliation of countries within a huge state. Canada has the saving grace of being able to laugh at itself regularly, and mercifully is missing the British stiff upper lip attitude, at least according to this book (and my travels as well). Sometimes reading a book about a place makes me want to jump up and go there, and it looks like the Hotel Frontenac in Quebec City will see me pretty soon. Ferguson actually makes Saint John's, NL appear to be a pretty cool place (I always thought of it as downright cold and quite dour, but now it sounds like one could actually have some fun there). The discussions of old Victoria are sharp and righteously funny, but the best part of the book to me is the story of the author's rambling around "looking for Canada" and finding... of all things, Uncle Tom. That's just one example of the subtle skill Ferguson brings to this writing, and when expecting to be humored one is educated, that is a very good thing indeed.

These essays about a variety of Canadian cities are a lively mix of history and personal commentary. They contain just the right amount of history interspersed with humorous observations to keep readers with a broad spectrum of interests engaged.

The narratives move from the westernmost Victoria - east to L'Anse Aux Meadows at the tip of Newfoundland. Ferguson didn't make the cross-country trip in one fell swoop, or in one "fair swoop" as he prefers. Nor do these works proceed in chronological order. They are the reports of different sallies he made to distinctive locations over a period of several years, alone and with different family members as companions.

The chapter on Churchill, where he went to observe polar bears, will be a special delight to nature lovers. The chapter on St. John's, Newfoundland contains some of Ferguson's best writing. "If Victoria is our nation's veranda, sun-dappled and drowsy, then St. John's is the attic, stacked with shelves and boxes and old sea-chests...and rumors of lost treasures."

I was lucky enough to find this book just as I was beginning my own cross-Canada journey via Greyhound. So Ferguson's adventures in a city often preceded me and guided me. I was tipped off to the "entertainment value only" nature of the underground gangster and Chinese immigrant tours in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. I was alerted to look for "Uncle Tom's Cabin" near Chatham, Ontario.

What's more, this book, like many movie DVDs, contains some entertaining extras, including "out-takes" from Ferguson's first draft of the book, an excerpt from another one of his books, and an imagined interview with himself in which he reflects on what his travels taught him about the essential nature of Canada.

This book can serve as an example to follow in writing your own journal account of your travels - through Canada, through other exotic locales, or through life. It's a keeper.

With wit, humour and even a bit of wisdom, Ferguson tackles the enduring questions of Canadian identity, "Who am I? Does it matter? Who cares?"

In so doing, he presents a wonderful sketch of a truly unique country. Canada is not to be found in Orillia, where Ferguson was awarded the 'Leacock Medal for Humour' and which Stephen Leacock once described as typical of small towns throughout Canada.

Instead, Canada is the sum of free-ranging, often humourous and seldom self-assured diversity. Canadians are confident of who they are where they are, but they're always in doubt if such local individualism and distinction truly creates a united nation.

It's very different than being 'American', as in the United States where mandatory faith in individual freedom creates a straight-jacket of conformity. The image of America is the lone pioneer settling a lawless frontier; the contrasting image of Canada is a mass migration that brings its own peace, justice and good government.

Compare Canada's Yukon Gold Rush with any gold, silver, land or oil stampede in the U.S. Compare the implicit law and order of a Mountie to the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral -- the American Way of settling disputes. Compare the "Birther" challenge to President Barack Obama to the resigned acceptance of living in Harperlandia.

Canada was settled by planned immigration from France, and later England. The United Empire Loyalists are a noted example. Orillia was founded by veterans of Wellington's army in Spain, complete with officers for guidance, discipline and order. Their duty was to create a town on the Trent-Severn waterway, part of the defence of British North America.

From the courir de bois to Harvesters' Excursions to the modern influx into the Athabascan tar sands, Canada tends to order instead of a greedy stampede. Americans tend to rush like lemmings into a new venture; Canadians tend to adapt and adopt new situations with the clever, often humourous and always effective ingenuity of coyotes.

Ferguson astutely portrays the wonderful diversity and good humour of Canada; perhaps he's just too 'Canadian' to recognize the rich identity it gives the country.

I loved this book! See also George and Condi: The Last Decayed: A Collection of Poems from the Last Decade Beaver Tales and a Canada Goosing: Poems Illustrating a Uniquely Canadian Perspective (See ArtisanPacificPublishing Website).