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Coastal Reads

By Joe Wiebe
On: Tue, May 1, 2007 , Tagged:

Welcome to Coastal Reads, a column devoted to books with a connection to the West Coast. This month, we look at a novel set in Vancouver’s Chinatown and the memoir of an incredible two-year, h

uman-powered journey around the world that began and ended in Vancouver.

The End of East

Thirty-year-old Vancouverite Jen Sookfong Lee makes a strong literary debut with this compelling novel The End of East
By Jen Sookfong Lee
Knopf Canada
243 pages, $29.95exploring three generations of a Chinese-Canadian family.

Seid Quan leaves his rural village in China at 18 for a new life in Vancouver, suffering separation from his family for much of his life. His son, Pon Man, meets his father for the first time when he steps off a boat at 15 years of age, and never quite finds his place in this new world. Samantha, the youngest granddaughter, searches for her own identity through her family’s history.

Lee’s writing shines a vivid light on Vancouver, past and present. The divide between east and west runs through this richly layered book on several levels, from the contrast between the old ways of China and the New World opportunities in Canada to the poverty of East Vancouver compared with the relative wealth of the West Side.

Beyond the Horizon

Beyond the Horizon
By Colin Angus
Doubleday Canada
384 pages, $29.95Vancouver Islander Colin Angus calls himself an adventurer, and rightly so. After rafting the Amazon and Yenisey Rivers (world’s second and fifth longest) from source to sea, the 35-year-old tried to do something no one else ever had—circumnavigate the globe under human power only.

Beginning in June 2004, Angus cycled from Vancouver to Alaska, rowed across the Bering Sea, trekked through Siberia in winter, cycled to the coast of Portugal, rowed across the Atlantic Ocean, and finally cycled back home to Vancouver—43,000 kilometres in total.

During this two-year expedition, Angus faced death several times and suffered an ignominious split with his travel partner. He completed the journey with his fiancée, Julie Wafaei, who joined him on a 145-day rowboat crossing of the Atlantic.

This rich travelogue, filled with adventure, romance, drama, and humour, is a must-read for any travel enthusiast.