Hotline

Canada Reads 2023 certainly had five amazing books chosen for debate. I wasn't able to read them all before the debate started but I knew that I would have to a copy of this book after so many people praised it. My public library obviously had a lot of other patrons who felt the same way as this book has a lengthy hold list.

Muna Heddad moved to Montreal with her young son Omar from Lebanon. As a trained French teacher she thought she would be able to get a job in a school but no school wanted an immigrant to teach French. She was close to running out of funds when she saw an ad for telephone solicitors for a weight loss company. On the telephone to the company's customers she was Mona and it didn't matter that she had dark skin and show more wasn't born in Canada. She can even save money on food by taking home the boxes of the company's products. Still, it's a hard existence for her and Omar living in a one bedroom apartment with little to call their own. Muna spends the few hours after Omar goes to bed lying on the sofa bed watching old movies on TV and thinking about her husband, Halim. It was Halim's idea that they leave Lebanon and move to Canada but before the papers were approved Halim was kidnapped and never seen again. Muna believes he is dead but in her loneliness she can almost feel him next to her. Muna turns out to be good at the job and starts earning substantial commissions. However, the winter weather in Montreal is so fierce and the clothing she bought is of such poor quality that neither she nor Omar can be outdoors for any longer than absolutely necessary. One bright spot in this time is Omar getting asked on a play date with a Chinese school mate. When Muna takes him to the boy's apartment and meets his mother her good French skills are noticed. The Chinese woman talks Muna into teaching her French and soon Muna has lots of adult students to teach on weekends. This also provides a source of funds that she will need in order to find better accommodations. As spring finally comes to the city Muna realizes that she is capable of raising her son and being successful in Canada. And then she gets an unexpected phone call about her husband.

The author says at the end of this book that he based it on his mother's experiences when she came to Canada. I was most impressed with how well a man could verbalize a woman's thoughts. His mother must have made a lasting impression on him. show less

3.5 stars

Muna and her young son have immigrated to Canada (Montreal) from Lebanon in the mid-1980s when there is a war in Lebanon. Her husband has disappeared and is presumed dead. Before arriving, as a French teacher, Muna was told it would be easy to find a job. Of course, it wasn’t, so to make ends meet, she ends up working for a diet/food company, counselling people and selling them food packages.

I listened to the audio and I thought it was done well; accents were done very well. I was kept interested. I was even interested in Muna’s clients’ lives! Oddly, the one thing that I was a bit less interested in was Muna’s husband and discovering what had happened to him. I suspect (suspect because I’ve not been there) there show more were some very good descriptions of winter in Montreal in the book. From the note at the end, it seems that the author and his mother immigrated to Canada from Lebanon in the ‘80’s, so at least the bones of the story appear to be taken from his own life. show less

This is the story of Muna, a refugee who has come to Montreal from Lebanon with her young son. Her husband has been kidnapped and is presumed dead. The book tells of the challenges Muna faces in finding a job and a place to live. Though a qualified teacher and fluent in French, the best job Muna can secure is at a weight-loss company's call centre. As we follow Muna in her first year in Canada, we share her struggles and successes. She is a strong character and I enjoyed getting to know her.

That said, the book was a bit light in exploring Muna's challenges and her feelings about the husband she left behind. It didn't really show the ugly side of racism and the despair a single mother would feel at leaving her child alone when he is ill. show more It's a little too "feel good" to be an accurate portrayal, I think. show less

Hotline, Dimitri Nasrallah's fourth novel, is a wonderful narrative that introduces Muna Heddad, a refugee from the late twentieth century conflict in Lebanon, who is now living in Quebec. She's young, educated, French-speaking, and a single mother to Omar. She's finding it challenging to find work as a French teacher (go figure in a province of French speakers) and will soon completely run through monies given to her by her in-laws to help with her transition to a new life.

So, Muna becomes a Mona, as she is hired by Nutri-Fort, a program designed to assist the overweight as they struggle to control their eating habits and to understand what propels them to overeat. Mona is perfect as a hotline active listener who responds to the fears show more and the loneliness her clients face even as she sells the Nutri-Fort meals in boxes that each client purchases to help with daily [XBR] meal planning.

At the same time, she shares with the ghost of her husband, Halim, her own fears and loneliness. She endures life in Quebec, where she doesn't understand the French spoken by locals and where the city "fights off every advance"� she makes. She attempts to protect her son from the impatience of his teachers, whose major focus is protecting their beloved French language.

Still, in the end, she triumphs in her own way and embraces Quebec as her new home and the Quebecoise as her community. show less

An Immigrant woman and her young son, trying to come to Canada from their worn-torn country, finally arriving with nothing but each other. All the systems stacked against them, and the harsh realities of being strangers in a strange land. Trying to fit in when the dreams are a far cry from the reality of the harsh Canadian weather and temperment.

The story is set in the 1980s but really, I don't think much has changed other than the countries that these people are fleeing from. With the political climate in Canada, it might even have gotten worse, but I was a very sheltered toddler in the 80s, so I can't say for sure.

It's a reminder to be kind and check in on your neighbours. The strength and resliancy to leave your country, your show more language, your culture, your home, and most if not all of your family....for most of us, if we haven't faced it, our parents, grandparents, great grand parents, certainly did. show less

There were a few missed opportunities in the story. Ones that could have lead to more depth. I was disappointed with Muna becoming Mona. Anglasing her name felt like a bad choice. She could have moved on without doing that.