Why I Hate Canadians

There are two things that I really like: being entertained, and learning new stuff. So being entertained while learning is really the best! And lucky me, that's what this book delivered. Not all of it was educational, not all of it was funny, and I didn't always agree with his politics, but overall, it was a really fun read.

I had heard about this book but wasn't particularly interested in it. Until I saw it in the university bookstore--this term it's one of the texts for a Canadian Studies course--and after browsing through it I couldn't resist it's call. A caveat: I'm not sure it would hold much allure to someone who didn't already know a bit about Canadian culture; the audience is obviously people who have spent time in Canada. But show more for this Canadian, I not only had a laugh, but learned a little about our history (YES! We do have an interesting one!), and about other areas of this huge country (geographically speaking only, as the author points out). show less

I was very impressed with the writing style in this book. A combination of personal stories, Canadian history/politics, and humour/rants that reminds me of the writing of Farley Mowat.

"With extra paint, we decided to update a globe of the world, 3 meters tall, which stood beside the church. The globe was faded and still contained pre WWII boundaries.. Needless to say when we repainted it, we made Canada REALLY BIG, so that even today in a small village in the Andres highlands of Ecuador, travelers are surprised to discover that Canada has serendipitously conquered most of New England, all of Oregon, much of Montana and a good deal of Alaska. We cackled to ourselves while we did it. It was a typically Canadian act of defiance: Sneaky, show more clever, and completely ineffectual". show less

Beautifully written educational satire makes this book one that I keep on going back to whenever I want a good chuckle or a smile. It's the truth within it that makes it hilarious and the humor is within tiny details that Canadians often simply take for granted as a part of being Canadian. Will Ferguson is an author that inevitably when the subject of books comes up I ask if the person has read any of his work and if not I've been known to grab one of his books off my shelves and read excerpts to them.

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In this book, Will Ferguson (one of my favourite Canadian authors) takes a mostly-humorous, somewhat-serious look at what it means to be Canadian. Far from being a boring political study, he draws personal anecdotes and other strange stories, in an attempt to examine his own attachment or connection to 'Canada' and 'Canadianness'.

Before continuing with my review, however, I feel obliged to mention, in the interests of full disclosure, that I read this book on the plane to, and immediately after arriving in, Japan, while Will Ferguson wrote this book pretty much immediately following his return to Canada after many years of living and teaching in Japan. That is to say, there might just be some show more weird alignment of the stars which caused me to enjoy this book. Or it is simply a good book. I still haven't figured out which.

Though he makes many sweeping generalizations about the whole mess we like to call 'Canada', I found him to be, more often that not, fairly on the mark. Through his political musings and wanderings, Ferguson attempts to pin down why Canadians are what they are (what makes us tick) and also what personally keeps him going as a Canadian. In particular, I had a hearty laugh at his exposure of the Canadian Dream (success without risk) and the three Great Themes (keeping the Americans out, keeping the French in, and trying to get the Natives to somehow disappear).

Sometimes funny, often tongue-in-cheek, while it doesn't provide as many belly laughs as the other books I have read by him, I'd recommend this if you're into books about Us. show less

After a five-year sojourn in Japan, Canadian humour author Will Ferguson moves back to Canada. And once back here, he suffers a huge amount of culture shock – especially regarding to Canadian’s images of ourselves. Why I Hate Canadians explores Fegurson’s musings, revelations, and the like from when he returned to Canada.

The Response
What I love about Ferguson’s stuff is that while it is educational and informative, it is still absolutely hilarious. This one, however, seemed a lot more bitter than his other books. And while it seems like he is taking a dig at Canada and Canadians, being spiteful, and such, well… the way it’s written, it’s obvious that he would have had the same attitude towards any other nationality that he show more was writing about.

In this book, like the majority of the others, Ferguson takes a look at difference facets of Canadian life – everything from the mighty beaver, to the history between the French and English Canadians, to the Native Canadians, etc etc. Instead of focusing on touristy things to see, or how to be a Canadian, Ferguson this time focuses on how all of these aspects have formed who we are as a nation.

I think the chapter I enjoyed the most was the one on comic books. Now, Ferguson throws a little hissy fit about how Canadians call Superman Canadian even though he apparently isn’t (and he still can’t convince me that Superman isn’t Canadian – Heritage moments wouldn’t lie to me!), but mostly everything else he mentioned was stuff I didn’t know. I didn’t know, for example, that Captain Canuck has made three reappearances after he was initially created! He also spoke about the comic book industry in WWII – comics weren’t considered one of the necessities that needed to be imported over the border from the USA, and so the Canadian presses decided to take up printing comic books for a few years until the war was over and comic books could again be imported into Canada. Then the Canadian comic book industry pretty much disappeared until recently.

The Bottom Line
Again, as I normally do with all of Ferguson’s stuff, I did love this book. Thoroughly enjoyable, and recommended to those who would like to know why Canadians are the way they are. show less

I hate Canadians. They have more issues than the English. Mounties are hot though