"Elbows Up" Canadian Voices of Resilience and Resistance Edited By Elamin Abdelmahmoud

Review by Autumn Trapani

The anthology Elbows Up is extremely timely and could even be said to be “ripped from the headlines.” This anthology features essays by over 30 Canadian personalities, all writing about their reaction to the threats of annexation by the 47th president of the United States.

To be honest, I was very surprised when I started reading. I was expecting a large number of essays expressing anger of some intensity toward the U.S. And yes, none of the writers welcomed the idea of annexation, but all of them used the essays as an opportunity to reflect on Canada’s past and to call for a unified Canadian identity.

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Image Source McClelland & Stewart

I also found out, much to my surprise, that this book was inspired by an earlier book titled The New Romans. Published in 1967, The New Romans was a collection of essays from leading Canadians of the time and their feelings about the U.S treatment of Canada. The “annexation” at that time focused more on absorbing Canadian cinema and music, but was no less disrespectful. There are a few essays from The New Romans included in Elbows Up.

Many of the essays written are personal in nature––describing a favorite childhood memory involving the U.S., time spent it the U.S. as an adult, etc. Some of the essays are more technical in nature. Many are focused on the arts––cinema, literature, music.

Most of the essays mention Canada’s own problematic history of annexation, particularly concerning Indigenous peoples and the residential schools. One of the essays was written by the granddaughter of a Chinese immigrant and was extremely moving. A favorite essay of mine involved a dystopian world where language is tightly controlled and a group of people tries to find one word to unite them. It is a beautiful tribute to the power of shared language. Another particularly moving essay was one penned by a Canadian musician who recounted his early years in Newfoundland and the power of listening to different types of music as he toured with bands around Canada. He makes the point that through listening, we become better connected.

Interestingly enough, the words “betrayal” and “grief” are used frequently throughout the essays. I did not find this difficult to understand as I, and I am sure, many other Americans are feeling similar senses of grief.

An added (and welcome) feature is the list of contributors at the end of the book, along with mini-biographies of each. This made it easy to place the authors in context, not to mention having resources to check to find out more about a favorite contributor.

In short, this collection has something for everyone. I highly recommend it. You will likely learn something about Canada’s history you didn’t know––and maybe something about our shared history.

You can click here to purchase this book. 

Autumn Trapani is an avid reader and enjoys letting others know about good books through her reviews. When not reviewing, you can find her working as a property manager - although she always has her nose in a book at lunchtime! Autumn lives in Portland, OR with her husband and two cats.

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.