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| Late Nights on Air | 
 enlarge | Author: Elizabeth Hay
Publisher: Emblem Editions
Category: Book
List Price: CDN$ 22.00
Buy New: CDN$ 16.06
You Save: CDN$ 5.94 (27%)
New (2) Used (3) from CDN$ 16.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 266
Media: Paperback
Pages: 376
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.9
ISBN: 0771040199
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780771040191
ASIN: 0771040199
Publication Date: April 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 Giller Prize ?? July 4, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
How this book could have won the "ScotiaBankCorporateLabelOfTheYear" Giller Prize is beyond me. Am I supposed to sympathize with any of these characters? Or is the point of the novel to make me despise them, two dimensional card board cutouts, all equally? The prose is overblown and just made me cringe. Occasional nice bits of imagery and a certain feel for the north didn't do enough to overcome the cringe-worthiness of this endeavour. Story telling? God no, a collection of emotions spread out over many, many pages.
Maybe it won the prize for the title? Late Nights on Air. Good title.
I'm giving it one star because it won the Giller Prize, and didn't deserve it. Oh yeah, and because I hated it. I picked up Oil! by Upton Sinclair immediately after throwing this down and was blown away by the quality of the story telling compared to Late Nights on Air.
 It Has Some Hot Moments June 22, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
In early 70's, Harry Boyd returns to Yellowknife to work at the local radio station, there he falls in love with Dido Paris, a novice broadcasters with a voice "like a tarnished silver spoon". Both are part of a cast of loveable eccentrics at the station. Reviving their pasts and what attracted them to the North is the centre of this story. Several affairs are set among the station staff and the story extends into the landscape where four of them embark on a six week canoe trip exploring the Artic wilderness.
Not only it is my first experience reading a novel by Elizabeth Hay, it is also my first one set in Northern Canada. I have never been to Yellowknife or to the Artic, Ms Hay's descriptions of the area are most interesting and in many ways "exotic". Her chosen words are throughout the novel colourful and pleasant, she is very soft spoken. The novel is more than a story around a radio station, which was the only form of entertainment at the time; it is about history of the area and the lives of the local inhabitants. The characters are a group of "shy" faceless performers who are outgoing when alone in front of a microphone. The book has a romantic streak about it with its share of hot moments portrayed very modestly, leaving a lot to the imagination, the same can be said about the description of the canoe trip. I was left often wondering if parts of the story were missing and did I arrived at the right scenario. Although I found the book to have had its appealing moments it missed intrigue and mystery leaving my mind to wander way too much, for that reason, at times I was bored and contemplated abandoning it.
 Deeply Moving and True to Life May 25, 2008
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
Its 1975 Yellowknife where Harry arrives on the scene to temporarily manage the small town radio station, back where his radio career started. When he arrives, he is enchanted by an exotic and sensual female voice on the air, that of Dido. He falls instantly in love but finds out that Dido is more than what her voice portrays.
There is also Eleanor, the wise and supportive receptionist, Gwen the woman who drove cross-country hoping for a producer job behind the scenes, but instead is put on as an amateur announcer, and there is Ralph the book critic and photographer. Of course, Yellowknife is also a central character with its beauty and biting cold.
In the background, we learn about the real life controversy of the proposed Mackenzie River Valley natural gas line, which threatens to go into the Arctic and destroy native people's land. We also learn the rich history of the extraordinary explorer John Hornby, which prompts Harry, Eleanor, Gwen, and Ralph into an ambitious and difficult 6-week journey through the harsh climate on foot and by canoe.
Throughout the entire book Elizabeth Hay allows us to get to know and love the richly-textured characters that come to life. I felt as if I was part of the book as I was reading it. Having to bundle up when reading about the harsh winters and in awe of the beauty both sounds and sights that Hay paints. The characters seem like people who are true to life, which makes the book very readable and believable.
Hay won the prestigious Giller Prize for this work and I couldn't agree more. This book is a must read and will appeal to readers of literary fiction, fine character studies, and historical fiction alike. This was my first voyage through Elizabeth Hay and it has left me yearning for more by this outstanding author.
 slow starting.... May 20, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I found this book quite hard to get into. It took me a couple tries without getting too bored and giving up, to really get into it. Once I did, I found that the second half of the book was very well written and much more interesting. I wouldnt say this was an exciting read in any way. All in all, it was just another book I think I could have done without.
Dissapointing for a Giller Prize Winner April 13, 2008
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
I finished Late Nights On Air by Elizabeth Hay this past weekend. I decided to read this book because it won the Giller Prize in 2007. Did I like this book? Yes. Was it a great book? No. Did it deserve to win the Giller? Maybe. Would I recommend the book to someone else? Not sure.
The book though is most definitely what I would categorize as "Chick Lit". There's nothing wrong with Chick Lit, especially if you're a woman. But as a guy, obviously I don't read a lot of the particular genre.
What I liked most about the novel is the focus it gave to the CBC. As someone who has been interested in the inner workings of the Mother Corp, I thought Hay did a great job of explaining the politics behind the scenes. She also did a good job of explaining the loneliness that takes place in northern Canadian communities, and how the winter seasons can drag on and on and on.
So what didn't I like? Specifically I was not a fan of how Hay wrote about the First Nations. She tried to portray them as being "one" with the landscape and therefore deserved some type of special treatment by the Berger Commission looking in to the proposed oil and gas pipeline. Whatever. I would have enjoyed the book more if Hay had focused more on the story line and less on politics.
Read this book if you're interested in life in Northern Communities. Read this book if you like reading novels that have won the Giller. Don't read this book if you're expecting the great Canadian novel.
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