Joyland

Illustrated By Nate Powell One could become a Toronto lit-culture junkie based on Emily Schultz’s contributions alone. Though Joyland is her first novel, Schultz has already released a short story collection (Black Coffee Nights, Insomniac), a biography (Michael Moore: a Biography, ECW) and an anthology (Outskirts: Women Writing from Small Places, Sumach), played the part of editor for magazines THIS and Broken Pencil and created The Pocket Cannon series. Schultz’s Joyland touches on an ignored past—coming of age in the era of Cheez Whiz and Donkey Kong. It is a familiar Grade 8: terrific awkwardness, small-town inescapability. Told in the language of video game, at a time in the protagonists’ lives where the arcade served as the church, Joyland is the story of Player 1 and Player 2, brother and sister Tammy and Chris Lane. Joyland is thick and quick in the story it tells, turning the reader through mazes and scoring points in secret chambers, slowing down only to pick up coins and cherries. But it’s no mindless princess-saving, beginning-middle-game-over kind of game. Schultz has carefully selected her words and pours obvious intellect into her pages. The references are precise, perfectly timed and colourful (Space Invaders, Christie Brinkley, Hulk Hogan). Schultz sets the bar high, attempting what may have been too much for a book so laden with themes. But Joyland is not a concept book and Schultz pulls off all she sets out to achieve without seeming contrived. And one cannot comment on Schultz’s work without mentioning what it is most recognized for—humour, humility and unconventional girl heroines. Read it once if you love a good story; read it a second time if you love words. It’s articulate, rich with the good, the bad and the very bad of the 1980s, and beautifully illustrated. Simply put, Joyland is a joy. For more on this book, check out: http://www.ecwpress.com/books/joyland.htm