Book Review: Dual Citizens by Alix Ohlin Scotiabank Giller shortlisted book 2019

Does Lark's sister Robin inspire her or hamper her development?

Because their mother Marianne can't be tamed by motherhood, Lark must mother her sister. Because Robin is the captivating star, Lark is left in the shadows--the silent observer. Because Robin is wild, Lark is tame. The two sisters are forever linked--dual citizens in the world.

'If you juxtapose two images...no matter how different, the viewer will make meaning from the montage. The second image in the sequence will alter the meaning of the first... My sister next to me changed how I thought of myself.' (p. 260)

'the world found my sister as exceptional as I did, and myself as ordinary' (p. 83)

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Published by House of Anansi

Published in 2019

Scotiabank Giller prize finalist 

When I work-shopped my young adult novel, I was told to begin with the most compelling scene--it pulls the reader in. Dual Citizens begins this way and did pull me in. Like assembling a jigsaw puzzle, I read carefully waiting to slip the scene into where it fit in the story.

Except for the opening scene, Dual Citizens unfolds in chronological order beginning with Lark's birth to a Canadian mother and an American father. Lark narrates her life with Robin. Through school, through boyfriends, through finding their place in the world the sisters'--at times strained--relationship continues.

The book concludes with an epilogue. I'm a big fan of this additional chapter. It's like getting a peek into the characters lives after the story ends.

Interview with Author Alix Ohlin

Book Review:  Inside by Alix Ohlin

photo by ldyck

April on this blog...

We'll celebrate Easter with a short story

Be Gentle
published on this blog on April 12th

We'll celebrate Poetry month with three lists

My Poetry Collection

a collection of poems that I wrote
Yeah? Me.
Why are you so surprised?
(Just playing. I know why.)

published on this blog on April 5th

Poetry Publishers--magazines

a list of magazines that publish poems

published on this blog on April 19th

Poetry Book Publishers

a list of publishers that publish poetry books

published on my blog on April 26th

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photo by ldyck

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Sharing my author journey...

Have you noticed what a positive place the Internet has become?
Musicians and authors and photographers and...--we've all come

How writing short stories can improve your writing by Leanne Dyck

(What is housed in this tent? And why is it good news for my writing?
For the answer, stroll down to the very end of this post.)

'An ordinary day--but with a suitcase it in. -Arleen Pare (Leaving Now)

'There is a story always ahead of you.' -Michael Ondaatje (The Cat's Table)

'They would always go home; they belonged to the place they came from. Other people were destined to keep leaving, over and over again.' -Alix Ohlin (Inside)

'She swung the thick, strong rope of her voice round the words, coming down hard on them, cinching them together. Then she flung the notes bold up in the air, high and hornlike.' -Esi Edugyan (Half Blood Blues)

'It was a wisp of a dream, like trying to catch wind in your hand.' -Will Ferguson (419)

'It was like walking into joy.' -Louise Penny (The Beautiful Mystery)

How do you learn to write like this?

Perhaps by learning how to pick the right word.

And how do you do that?

By chiseling away at your writing so that plot; character development--nothing matters but the words. By writing flash fiction... 

Flash fiction:  a self-contained short story (meaning the story has a beginning, middle, end) with a limited word count (usually under 1,000 words).

As you can imagine, such a reduced word count is extremely limiting. You are limited to one moment in time. Such writing relies on the author's ability to choose the correct word. You don't have the luxury of padding. It's challenging but very enjoyable. And many authors find it to be the perfect counterbalance for working on longer work.

'The challenge of flash fiction is to tell a complete story in which every word is absolutely essential.' -Jason Gurley

For sale:  baby shoes, never worn.
This six word story by Ernest Hemingway's is an extreme example of flash fiction.
More about this story

Here is one of my attempts at extreme flash fiction...

One sunny day a worm went for a wiggle. He meets a robin.

1,500...1,000...500...20...6? How low will you go?

More tips...

Stories in your pocket:  how to write flash fiction



Sharing my author journey...

What do you feed a writer?
Good books, of course.
Where do you get good books at a price a writer who is establishing 

Guest Post Author Alix Ohlin

Alix Ohlin's novel Inside (Knopf) and her story collection Signs and Wonders (Vintage) were both published on June 5, 2012.  She is also the author of The Missing Person, a novel, and Babylon and Other Stories. Her work has appeared in Best American Short Stories, Best New American Voices, and on public radio’s Selected Shorts. Born and raised in Montreal, she currently lives in Easton, Pennsylvania, and teaches at Lafayette College and in the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers.

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How/why did you start to write?

I started writing as a child.  I grew up in a house full of books, and reading was how I understood the world.  My Grade Two teacher, Grace Tugwell—I used her name in INSIDE, as a tribute—encouraged me to write special assignments outside of class.  I still have some of the things I wrote for her, like an illustrated fable that I stitched into a little book bound with construction paper.

How did you become an author?

After I graduated from university I began writing seriously, and secretly.  I thought I would cultivate my genius in private until I could spring it full-blown on the world with a series of brilliant stories in The New Yorker or something.  Eventually I realized it probably wasn’t going to happen this way, and I went to graduate school in creative writing instead.  There I began to publish my stories in literary magazines, and eventually got a book contract.

What was your first published piece? Where was it published? How long ago?

It was a short story published in Western Humanities Review, a journal in Utah, in 1998.  It was actually part of a whole book-length story cycle, but I only published one story from it.  I still have the acceptance letter framed.

What did you do before embarking on your writing career? Was it an asset to your writing? How?

I worked a variety of jobs, like editorial assistant at a publishing company, temp, freelance writer, bookstore clerk.  I learned early on to make time for my writing around a work schedule, which was helpful discipline.  And working in book publishing and bookstores taught me a lot about the business that helped me as a writer—mainly by making me grateful for the people who devote their lives to those fields.

What inspires you?

I’m inspired by art museums, eavesdropping, gossip, family history, strong coffee, and the work of other writers both contemporary and classic.

Please share one of your successful author platform building technique

I don’t think much about platform building, but I do think about participating in communities of writers—both online and in person.  I believe in sharing ideas and offering support.  Maybe the best platform is to be a good literary citizen: be a reader, support independent bookstores and literary journals, be part of the conversation.

Parting words

Just because I’m excited about them, here are some recent books I’ve read and loved: Middlemarch, The Gate by Natsume Soseki, and The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner.

Author website

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Leanne Dyck discusses Inside

Book Review: Inside by Alix Ohlin

I've said it before. I'll say it again. I like cleverly crafted books. And so I loved Inside.

From the dust jacket:  When Grace, an exceedingly competent and devoted therapist in Montreal, stumbles across a man who has just failed to hang himself, her instinct to help kicks in immediately. Before long, however, she realizes that her feelings for this charismatic, extremely guarded stranger are far from straightforward. In the meantime, her troubled teenage patient, Annie, runs away from home and soon will reinvent herself in New York as an aspiring and ruthless actress, as unencumbered as humanly possible by any personal attachments. And Mitch, Grace's ex-husband, who is a therapist as well, leaves the woman he's desperately in love with to attend to a struggling native community in the bleak Arctic. We follow these four compelling, complex characters from Montreal and New York to Hollywood and Rwanda, each of them with a consciousness that is utterly distinct and urgently convincing. With razor-sharp emotional intelligence, Inside poignantly explores the many dangers as well as the imperative of making ourselves available to -- and responsible for -- those dearest to us.

By its very nature, this book could be disjointed. We follow the stories of three distinctly different, well-developed characters. (see above) And, on top of everything, as the novel unfolds, we jump forward and backward through time. But, in the hands of master storyteller Alix Ohlin, this story flows seamlessly. She bends and twists the separate threads of each character's story. Sometimes the threads marry and sometimes they part. However, throughout it all, the reader remains engaged. No wonder Inside was short-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2012. 


Three sentences that caught me... 'People like Hilary and Alan were only temporary runaways. They would always go home; they belonged to the place they came from. Other people were destined to keep leaving, over and over again.' (p. 229)

I bought Inside from Chapters Indigo