Hello friends, happy Wednesday! I hope everyone’s week is going well so far. Today I’m posting my review of Christina Wong’s novel Denison Avenue, illustrated by Daniel Innes.

This novel was short-listed for Canada Reads 2024.

Denison Avenue by: Christina Wong, illustrated by: Daniel Innes: In the middle of all the hustle and bustle in Toronto’s Chinatown, live an elderly couple Wong Cho Sum and her husband See Hei Wong. When See Hei dies unexpectantly, Cho Sum is left to navigate a changing world around her. Not only has her own life completely shifted but the city continues to shift and change around her, leaving her in the dust. This was a poignant novel that really looked into the aging population, specifically the elderly Chinese community. The majority of this novel was sad, and the reader’s heart went out of our main character Cho Sum because she suffered such a huge loss, and then she continued to suffer the loss through the changes of the time. The author did such an amazing job of tying it all together in such a way that it was blinding not to see how the two went hand in hand. This reader really enjoyed getting to know Cho Sum and getting a glimpse into a life that many live in Toronto today. The plot was well developed, it wasn’t too fast, or too slow, the pace was great and kept the reader engaged throughout. The way this was both written in English and the Toisan dialect really gave this an extra layer and made it feel that much more special and helped it to stand out and be an even more memorable read. The characters were beautifully developed, we got a sense of who they were right from the beginning and the reader loved them from the start. What also made this so special were the illustrations that were added. This was such a cool idea and this reader loved it so much, the fact that there was an illustration of what used to be, versus what is there now in Toronto and it was so artfully striking and just so moving. It really showed what the novel was conveying in words, with visuals and it was just so stunning to see. In the end, this was such a sorrowful novel, but also one that really sits down and reflects life, it was truly beautiful.