Reviewed by Matthew Firth for the Canadian Lit-Mag Front & Centre

I don't often compare one book to another in a review, preferring to assess books on their own. But there's a link here I can't resist. The publisher of "Six ways to Sunday" uses word and phrases such as "brashly…gritty settings…shining bright and battered in the dingy recesses of the bar…" After reading Tony Nesca's excellent novella, "La Gioconda", I'm tempted to go back and rewrite my review of McPherson's book because it is none of the things it claims to be when held up next to Nesca's true example of down and out, gritty, yet sincere Canadian literature. McPherson's book plays at being tough and stylistic, Nesca's book is the real deal.

"La Gioconda" takes readers to Winnipeg, a city known for its dark side. In the novella Tony is a twenty-seven year old bohemian semi-student trying to be a writer. He hangs out in dingy bars, not because he's looking for material, but because he's a regular working class joe in Winnipeg and that's what there is for him to do. Here's the authenticity, the sincerity that McPherson cannot duplicate in his faux urban settings.

Tony, through an old University friend, falls hard for and hooks up with Jasmina, a visiting French teenager. The two strike up a quickie romance and live for the moment, drawn together to Winnipeg's thriving underground music and literary scene and its – on the surface – seemingly strange crossover with the aforementioned dingy bars. Jasmina savors Winnipeg's authenticity as well and thinks about leaving France for good. But instead the pair live fast and hard (their sexual relationship becomes increasingly kinky) and leave it at that. This is a story of experience. It is about what happens when two people come together and get it on. There is no contrived moralizing, no redemption or glory. Tony and Jasmina drink and fuck and carry on and that's all it takes to make a great story. When it's over and done with, Tony is where he started. The memories of his experience are enough and they make him smile. He goes back to Winnipeg's crappy bars pleased that he let life and love in.

Nesca writes in a rollicking, free-flowing style. The sentences are often long and rambling but uncluttered. It goes well with the vibe of "La Gioconda", of freedom and living in the moment and grabbing what life presents you with. Nesca has written a short, sharp gem of a book that truly represents the gritty and the urban.


Matthew Firth is the editor of Front & Centre magazine and of Black Bile Press –

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