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Loading... Letters from Johnnyby Wayne Ng
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. After his historical fiction in "Finding the Way", I was intrigued to see Wayne Ng try his hand at a different genre and style. Writing an epistolary novel is tough for conveying plot, character and setting, but the author does an excellent job of all three. In "Letters from Johnny" he takes us to 1970s Toronto and into the mind of 11-year-old Johnny, whose teacher tasks him with writing to a pen pal. The story that emerges is more than his teacher bargained for. At the same time it's a cathartic experience for the young boy, as he shares a unique perspective on his neighbourhood and family as well as national news headlines about the FLQ. It's not the historical Chinese setting I enjoyed from this author before, but something more directly relevant to our times: shades of racism, "child warfare" (perfect malapropism from an 11-year-old), acts of terrorism and violence in our own backyard, and the importance of bridging differences to connect with one another over what all of us have in common, our need for family and belonging. ( ) no reviews | add a review
Set in Toronto 1970, just as the FLQ crisis emerges to shake an innocent country, eleven year old Johnny Wong uncovers an underbelly to his tight, downtown neighbourhood. He shares a room with his Chinese immigrant mother in a neighbourhood of American draft dodgers and new Canadians. In a span of a few weeks his world seesaws. He is befriended by Rollie, one of the draft dodgers who takes on a fatherly and writing mentor role. Johnny's mother is threatened by the "children's warfare society." Meany Ming, one of the characters by the rooming house is found murdered. He suspects the feline loving neighbour, the Catwoman. Inspired by an episode of Mannix, he tries to break into her house. Ultimately he is betrayed but he must act to save his family. He discovers a distant kinship with Jean, the son of one of the hostages kidnapped by the FLQ who have sent Canada into a crisis. No library descriptions found. |
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