The Malahat Review – Spring 2005
Number 150
March 2005
Sima Rabinowitz
The Malahat Review is characterized by a generous editorial vision. This issue is especially eclectic with poems by nine poets and nine fiction writers whose work ranges from experimental to solidly traditional. The Malahat Review is characterized by a generous editorial vision. This issue is especially eclectic with poems by nine poets and nine fiction writers whose work ranges from experimental to solidly traditional. Most original are Andrew J. Wilson’s political satire, “”Good Morning, Mr. President” (“From the National Palace of [Country Name Withheld]”) and Sarah Feldman’s “Seven Types of Ambiguity” (“After the photographs of Jenny Amber”) which reads like a cross between prose poetry and sudden fiction. Wilson’s clever portrait of a president who thinks more about the sugar on his breakfast cereal than the state of the world would be extremely funny if it weren’t so true to life, which makes it terrifying. The fiction is particularly appealing this issue, most notably stories by Patricia Robertson and Bill Gaston. Robertson’s “The Goldfish Dancer” is a beautiful, small story about a dancer in the clubs of Harlem during WWI. Robertson’s prose is graceful and understated and she manages to create a character of intense interest in a mere few pages. Gaston’s “The Night Window” is the effective study of a teenager’s relationship with his ex-hippie-turned-librarian-mother and her latest boyfriend. Gaston captures the adolescent’s voice and emotions in authentic and satisfying prose. [www.malahatreview.ca] – Sima Rabinowitz