Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

What We All Long For

3.39 of 5 stars 3.39 · rating details · 423 ratings · 53 reviews

“They were born in the city from people born elsewhere.”

What We All Long For follows the overlapping stories of a close circle of second-generation twenty-somethings living in downtown Toronto. There’s Tuyen, a lesbian avant-garde artist and the daughter of Vietnamese parents who’ve never recovered from losing one of their children in the crush to board a boat out of Viet...more “They were born in the city from people born elsewhere.”

What We All Long For follows the overlapping stories of a close circle of second-generation twenty-somethings living in downtown Toronto. There’s Tuyen, a lesbian avant-garde artist and the daughter of Vietnamese parents who’ve never recovered from losing one of their children in the crush to board a boat out of Vietnam in the 1970s. Tuyen defines herself in opposition to just about everything her family believes in and strives for. She’s in love with her best friend Carla, a biracial bicycle courier, who’s still reeling from the loss of her mother to suicide eighteen years earlier and who must now deal with her brother Jamal’s latest acts of delinquency. Oku is a jazz-loving poet who, unbeknownst to his Jamaican-born parents, has dropped out of university. He is in constant conflict with his narrow-minded and verbally abusive father and tormented by his unrequited love for Jackie, a gorgeous black woman who runs a hip clothing shop on Queen Street West and dates only white men. Like each of her friends, Jackie feels alienated from her parents, former hipsters from Nova Scotia who never made it out of subsidized housing after their lives became entangled with desire and disappointment.

The four characters try to make a life for themselves in the city, supporting one another through their family struggles.

There’s a fifth main character, Quy, the child who Tuyen’s parents lost in Vietnam. In his first-person narrative, Quy describes how he survived in various refugee camps, then in the Thai underworld. After years of being hardened, he has finally made his way to Toronto and will soon be reunited with his family – whether to love them or hurt them, it’s not clear. His story builds to a breathless crescendo in an ending that will both shock and satisfy readers.

What We All Long For is a gripping and, at times, heart-rending story about identity, longing and loss in a cosmopolitan city. No other writer has presented such a powerful and richly textured portrait of present-day Toronto. Rinaldo Walcott writes in The Globe and Mail: “… every great city has its literary moments, and contemporary Toronto has been longing for one. We can now say with certainty that we no longer have to long for a novel that speaks this city’s uniqueness: Dionne Brand has given us exactly that.” Donna Bailey Nurse writes in the National Post: “What We All Long For is a watershed novel. From now on, Canadian writers will be pressed to portray contemporary Toronto in all its multiracial colour and polyphonic sound.”

But What We All Long For is not only about a particular city. It’s about the universal experience of being human. As Walcott puts it, “Brand makes us see ourselves differently and anew. She translates our desires and experiences into a language, an art that allows us to voice that which we live, but could not utter or bring to voice until she did so for us.”(less)

Paperback, 318 pages

Published December 27th 2005 by Vintage Canada (first published January 11th 2005)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje

That Night In Toronto

12th out of 71 books — 36 voters

Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat

Caribbean/West Indian Diaspora Literature - Women

42nd out of 130 books — 38 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 721)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Jun 14, 2013 Buchdoktor rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: canada, coming-of-age, immigrants

Tuyen, Carla, Jackie und Oku sind als Kinder von Einwanderern offiziell in Kanada geboren. Kurz vor ihrem Schulabschluss stellen sie übereinstimmend fest, dass sie offenbar falsche Pässe besitzen; denn sie fühlen sich unter ihren "weißen" Klassenkameraden als Außenseiter. Alle vier würden gern unabhängiger von den Eltern leben, allen fielen die Anforderungen der Schule leicht und alle sind ein Leben in zwei Dimensionen gewohnt. Jeder von ihnen ist zu Hause einer Peinlichkeit auf Gegenseitigkeit...more Tuyen, Carla, Jackie und Oku sind als Kinder von Einwanderern offiziell in Kanada geboren. Kurz vor ihrem Schulabschluss stellen sie übereinstimmend fest, dass sie offenbar falsche Pässe besitzen; denn sie fühlen sich unter ihren "weißen" Klassenkameraden als Außenseiter. Alle vier würden gern unabhängiger von den Eltern leben, allen fielen die Anforderungen der Schule leicht und alle sind ein Leben in zwei Dimensionen gewohnt. Jeder von ihnen ist zu Hause einer Peinlichkeit auf Gegenseitigkeit ausgesetzt. Eltern und Geschwister sind ihnen so peinlich, dass sie am liebsten ganz darüber schweigen; die Eltern schämen sich der aus ihrer Sicht unangepassten Kinder, die nicht ihren traditionellen Vorstellungen von Respekt, Leistungswillen und Dankbarkeit entsprechen. Das Leben der Vier im Toronto des Jahres 2002 wird vom Warten aufeinander und auf ein unbestimmtes Glück bestimmt, sowie durch heftige Konflikte in ihren Ursprungsfamilien.

C a r l a und Tuyen wohnen in benachbarten Einzimmerwohnungen, die zum Treffpunkt einer Szene der Unangepasssten geworden sind. Carla arbeitet als Fahrradkurier, Tuyen dokumentiert als freischaffende Künstlerin in Fotos und Skulpturen das städtische Leben und sammelt Aussagen, wonach die Menschen sich sehnen. Tuyens unausgesprochene Hoffnungen auf eine Zweierbeziehung zu Carla kompliziert das Verhältnis der Frauen. Carla, die sich nicht entscheiden kann, ob sie auf Frauen steht, wird völlig von ihrem missratenen Bruder Jamal mit Beschlag belegt. Jamal war schon immer ein wildes Kind mit einem Talent sich in Gefahr zu begeben. Er möchte von seiner Schwester wie ein Kleinkind umsorgt werden und fordert aus der Haft heraus von ihr die Beschaffung einer üppigen Kaution. Carla war gerade alt genung, um das Baby zu halten, als ihre Mutter ihr Jamal in die Arme drückte und dann vom Balkon in den Tod sprang. Seitdem sind Bruder und Schwester, die schwarze Vorfahren haben, in eine verfahrene Familiensituation zwischen Vater und Stiefmutter vertrickt. Oku wartet ebenfalls, auf eine Beziehung zu Jackie.

T u y e n s vietnamesische Eltern haben mit ihrem Restaurant bescheidenen Wohlstand erarbeitet. Zwei ältere Schwestern sind noch in Vietnam geboren. Der ältere Bruder Quy ist bei der Flucht aus Vietnam von der Familie getrennt worden und wird seitdem vermisst. Die Mutter sucht ihn seitdem und hat an angebliche Helfer eine gehörige Geldsumme eingebüsst. Quys Geschichte wurde in der Familie nie ganz erzählt, nie ganz übersetzt. Die Eltern Vu leben in einer fernen Vergangenheit jenseits des chinesischen Meeres; Vater Vu erwartet Dankbarkeit dafür, dass er seinen Kindern den Teppich für ein besseres Leben ausgelegt hat. Tuyen und ihr Bruder B i n h müssen von klein auf ihrer Umwelt die Eltern erklären, dolmetschen und alle Behördenangelegenheiten der Familie erledigen. Die Lotsentätigkeit in der fremden Kultur, die sie innerlich ablehnen, überfordert die Kinder, macht sie aber auch gewitzt. Inzwischen sind Binh und Tuyen längst erwachsen, können sich aber immer noch nicht aus alten Mustern ihrer Geschwisterbeziehung lösen. Die zweite Generation der Vus ist auf der Suche nach ihrer Rolle und will sich endlich von der Last der Verantwortung für die Familie befreien.

"Binh war ein Söldner, der in den Schützengräben der Kindheit gelernt hatte, seinen Willen zu bekommen. Und bei dem speziellen Krieg, der im Hause der Vus geführt wurde, bestand das darin, alle Aufmersamkeit aufzusaugen. Wie seine Geschwister nahm er das Vakuum wahr, das durch jene längst vergangene Nacht in der Bucht an der vietnamesischen Küste in seinen Eltern zurückgelassen worden war, und er ging sehr weit in seinen Bemühungen, diesen namenlosen Raum zu füllen." (S. 149)

J a c k i e betreibt einen Secondhand-Laden. Ihre Eltern kamen als sehr junges Hippie-Paar jamaikanischer Herkunft aus Nova Scotia nach Toronto. Während die Eltern in Musikkneipen unterwegs waren, wuchs Jackie zu einem Kind heran, das auf sich selbst aufpasste. In den Wunschvorstellungen der Eltern wird Halifax rückblickend zum Paradies und Toronto zur Höllle. In Jackies Geschichte (die ein neutraler Erzähler vorträgt) werden die Veränderungen der Stadt deutlich. Wo früher die Lieblingskneipe der Eltern war, wird heute längst mit Drogen und Menschen gehandelt.

O k u ist einseitig in Jackie verknallt, eifersüchtig auf ihren deutschen Lover, den er "Bubi" nennt. Oku hofft auf dem Umweg über Carla und Tuyen, an Jackie heranzukommen. Offiziell studiert Oku Literatur, seine Eltern fragen sich, warum es nicht ein anderes Fach sein kann oder warum ihr Sohn nicht Geld mit körperlicher Arbeit verdient. Nuyens und Okus Familien wollen als erfolgreiche Aufsteiger nur das Beste für ihre Kinder. Wie sie sich dieses bessere Leben vorstellen, darüber ringen die beteiligten Parteien unversöhnlich miteinander.

Zeitlich versetzt erinnert sich Q u y in Rückblenden, wie er während der Flucht aus Vietnam von seiner Familie getrennt wurde und plötzlich auf einem Boot mit lauter Fremden unterwegs war. Jahrelang lebt er in einem Barackenlager in Malaysia, verdient dort seinen Lebensunterhalt selbst. Später wird er von einem buddhistischen Mönch unterrichtet und in Thailand als Bote für dessen merkwürdige Geschäfte eingesetzt. Werden Quys Wege noch einmal die seiner Familie kreuzen?

Fazit:
Die komplexen Beziehungen ihrer vier Einwandererkinder unterlegt Dionne Brand mit dem Zauber der Stadt Toronto, die weltweit als Synonym für kulturelle Vielfalt und gelungene Integration ihrer Einwanderer steht. Carla auf ihrem Botenrad erlebt die Stadt als Anordnung von Hindernissen, die sie umfährt. Tuyen will als Chronistin des Zeitgeschehens Torontos polyphones Rauschen dokumentieren. Jamal nimmt die Stadt mit Sinnen auf, die im Verteilungskampf um Reviere und Absatzmärkte trainiert wurden. Verwerfungen zwischen Herkunft und Nationalität ihrer Protagonisten deutet Brand nur an. Im Kanada der Gegenwart kann man häufig nur schwer ergründen, woher jemand "stammt", wenn z. B. alle vier Großeltern unterschiedliche Wurzeln haben. Solch feine Nuancen, ob die Vorfahren nun aus Jamaica oder aus Afrika einwanderten, sind meist nur für ausländische Besucher interessant. Carla hat zwar schwarze Vorfahren, wird aber nur von Schwarzen als eine der ihren erkannt. Für wen sollte ihre Abstammung wichtig sein, außer für Carla selbst, wenn sie Jamal gerade mal wieder als bemitleidenswertes schwarzes Opfer von Polizeiwillkür sehen will?

Den tiefgreifenden Konflikten in Einwandererfamilien, die z. B. auch Christina Chiu treffend in ihren Kurzgeschichten Schwarze Schafe und andere Heilige zeichnete, spürt Brand bis weit in die feinen Verästelungen der Beziehungen nach. Ungelebte Trauer, Eifersucht, Minderwertigkeitsgefühle, sich als Sohn oder Tochter unverstanden fühlen, den Eltern und sich selbst das Scheitern unrealistischer Pläne eingestehen - den familiären Verschiebungen und Facetten ihrer Figuren forscht hier eine kluge, warmherzige Autorin nach, die sich seit langem für Einwanderinnen und gegen Rassismus engagiert. Schicksale wie das Tuyens oder Carlas könnte es in vielen Großstädten geben, "Wonach sich alle sehnen" lässt sich mit großer Allgemeingültigkeit als Familien- oder Großstadtroman lesen. Es überrascht mich, dass dieses auch sprachlich herausragende Buch in Deutschland bisher kaum Beachtung gefunden hat. (less)

like · see review

Jul 27, 2011 L rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 23, 2010 Matthew Rogers rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I liked this book somewhat, but it was the main character Tuyen who I didn't like out of everything. I found Oku (and when I read the last part that had him, I was upset that it was a chapter that talked about Jackie's parents more than him) Jackie and Carla more interesting than her. Yes they all suffered because of their parents, but those three actually suffered and did their best to deal with it. Tuyen on the other hand is a lazy, manipulative, hypocritical 20-something year old. She's lazy...more I liked this book somewhat, but it was the main character Tuyen who I didn't like out of everything. I found Oku (and when I read the last part that had him, I was upset that it was a chapter that talked about Jackie's parents more than him) Jackie and Carla more interesting than her. Yes they all suffered because of their parents, but those three actually suffered and did their best to deal with it. Tuyen on the other hand is a lazy, manipulative, hypocritical 20-something year old. She's lazy because as she is living on her own trying to be an artist (which everyone knows is very hard to do) and she has no job at all and doesn't plan on getting one, so what does she do to cover her obvious money problems? Well the answer leads to the manipulative part of her, as from when she was a child and she made her parents get whatever she wanted, during the novel she goes to her parents home to get her mother to give her money, which also leads to her being a hypocrite. While her friends try to actually keep away from their parents 100%, if Tuyen is running short on cash or is hungry, she goes home to get either things (sometimes her brother Binh actually brings her food), and yet she wants to stay away from her family so badly because she feels like they are "suffocating her" when she was living there before. So yeah, she is a hypocrite through and through, if she wants to stay away from her family then she should completely stay away in all aspects like Jackie and Carla do, Oku does break away later on from his father as part of his character development.

Also what really upsets me about Tuyen is how throughout the novel the reader finds out that she has a crush on Carla, and Carla knows this but is not a lesbian. Carla has stated many times that she is not interested but this doesn't stop Tuyen from trying to manipulate her friend into finding the lesbian side of herself, so she (Tuyen) can finally have sex with her crush and claim her (Carla) as her own. It's like she doesn't care for Carla's feelings at all, even though she does care about Carla's feelings. But why she doesn't understand her crush completely is because as stated in the beginning, all four friends never revealed anything about their lives with their family. So Tuyen does not know why during the novel Carla is not interest in sex and distant, but that doesn't stop her from trying to seduce Carla when she should be respecting her boundaries. It's only at the end after finally breaking free from what binds her that the reader gets the sense that Carla will open up to Tuyen, but god throughout the whole novel it's like someone should spray Tuyen with a hose to cool her off.

Aside from that factor the book is decent, the way Brand uses language to describe the feeling of the city, the people, and everything in between is amazing. Like I said Oku, Jackie and Carla are great characters, but because the story focuses more on Tuyen the reader does not get a more in depth look like they do with Tuyen and her brother Quy. While we do see them develop and move past their problems the story is about Tuyen's family and that's what we have to look at a lot more.

Overall good story, most characters are great, main character is mehand the ending is meh as well. Though I love the language and now I'm interested in reading more of Brand's work.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Mar 19, 2012 Kyle rated it 3 of 5 stars

I can imagine a scene in Canada's House of Commons, Stephen Harper or one of his cronies holding this book up as an example of why we need more prisons: "these children of immigrants flooding into our country, what else can we do with them?" The young ones depicted in the novel may not have had the opportunities to "better" themselves from the conservative point of view, and the frequent backstories and family histories woven into the narrative point out how the new-comer parents had a lot to an...more I can imagine a scene in Canada's House of Commons, Stephen Harper or one of his cronies holding this book up as an example of why we need more prisons: "these children of immigrants flooding into our country, what else can we do with them?" The young ones depicted in the novel may not have had the opportunities to "better" themselves from the conservative point of view, and the frequent backstories and family histories woven into the narrative point out how the new-comer parents had a lot to answer for by not assimilating fast enough. Their kids, on the other hand, boldly strive not to follow in their footsteps, and each becomes heroic doing what otherwise looks like slacking off and occasionally mooching off their bewildered families.

Much of the novel tells the story of Toronto, a city I have only been acquainted with for several stop-over hours in total, but it really is anywhere in Canada (or at least seems to be exactly the same situation at my end of the country). I really liked the assessment of anonymity early in the book, as "the big lie of a city" (p. 3) and how this remark is answered by Quy, the only outsider whose first-person narrative often breaks up the cycle of chapters on other people, by the end of the book. Are the daily doings of Tuyen, Oku, Carla and Jackie the illustrations of Quy's adventures in Southeast Asia, like the monk who thinks himself a butterfly's dream? - At least we also get a glimpse at how thuggish these monks can be in their waking lives.

So back to that imagined scene in the House of Common, whoever said it and whatever proof was provided, that person ought to take a moment to read through Brand's book to get the other side of the story. Those immigrants did not come to Canada to be milked of their money and corralled into the poorer neighbourhoods or wealthier, secluded suburbs. Instead, they are filling the empty spaces of the second-largest country with the least percent per capita in the world; less and less "Canadians" with more people denied basic rights of citizens in the already overcrowded prison system.(less)

like · see review

Apr 15, 2013 LaTissia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Canadian author Dionne Brand is woefully overlooked in the US. She is a celebrated poet, but has published three novels. Her last novel What We All Long For is a lament about contemporary Toronto. In Brand’s hands, the widely heralded diversity of the Canadian metropolis gets fragmented into a series of richly observed life stories. As the title indicates, a web of desires so complex, enough even to render Freud mute, binds the characters to one another. However, it is the very yoking of these c...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 04, 2012 Jenny rated it 5 of 5 stars

In Dionne Brand’s novel What We All Long For, four friends, each from a different cultural and ethnic background and with their own unique and tragic stories, struggle to find themselves, reconcile their pasts, strive to build an identity and determine their specific purpose in the heterogeneity of the City of Toronto. To say, however, that it is only a story about the interconnected lives of friends is to do the novel a disservice. It is, in fact, a rich, deeply felt and realistic portrayal of...more In Dionne Brand’s novel What We All Long For, four friends, each from a different cultural and ethnic background and with their own unique and tragic stories, struggle to find themselves, reconcile their pasts, strive to build an identity and determine their specific purpose in the heterogeneity of the City of Toronto. To say, however, that it is only a story about the interconnected lives of friends is to do the novel a disservice. It is, in fact, a rich, deeply felt and realistic portrayal of the universal themes of forgiveness, place, family, identity, memory and belonging. At the same time, it acts as a nuanced commentary on the multicultural cities within our country and the role they play in shaping not only how we see ourselves but also how we see and interact with others.
One of the themes which Brand reflects on most often in the novel is that of identity and establishing a sense of belonging. The main characters of Tuyen, Carla, Jackie and Oku are the children of immigrants, each of whom has to bear the weight of their family’s choices and actions. Brand brings to light the difficulty of bearing this weight while simultaneously trying to free oneself from it and sculpt an individual identity. For these characters, identity is not stable. In sharp and striking prose, Brand suggests that each one of them is caught between running away from and running toward different identities. Each seems to want to dissociate from his or her family but at the same time, the characters cannot completely divest themselves of their family’s past and must come to terms with how past experiences have inevitably shaped who they have become. As the novel progresses, the reader learns more about each character, and through flashbacks, also uncovers more about their family and the challenges each has faced. From Jackie’s parents feeling lost when the nightclubs in her neighbourhood shut down to Carla’s mother’s suicide, Brand writes about the difficulty of finding a place to belong and to feel safe. In exploring themes such as identity and memory, the novel throws into question what is meant by the word and concept of “home”. Brand asks the reader to think about the word “home” – both how it can be defined and how we know when we have found it. Brand suggests that home is not so much a place as much as it is a feeling that has an individualized and specific meaning for each person. Each character in the novel defines the term in his or her own way, in many cases, presenting the concept of home as an idea(l) and not a place.
Within the context of this novel, Toronto is positioned as the tangible representation of the concept of “home”, which, in addition to family, acts as one of the primary contributors to each character’s identity. What We All Long For is a novel that depicts a more realistic, and at times, grittier vision of Toronto. The city is more than just a setting. Rather, it is depicted as a character in and of itself. As Brand sees it, Toronto is a living, breathing organism. It has power in its own right, and it wields this power over its citizens to embrace or to hurt them. It is not only a multicultural city but also a city in which this diversity can be ignored and immigrants can be seen or made to feel as inferior contributors. They are identified by what they can offer the city: food, electronics, manicures and not by what they have brought with them from their past or the changes that have shaped them.
The book concludes with a suspenseful and heartbreaking scene, which, in a comment on memory and identity itself, Brand chooses to never resolve. What We All Long For is a novel which is not easily forgotten. As the last page is turned, the reader experiences a range of thoughts, and, perhaps more importantly, is forced to reflect on his or her own life and the people surrounding him or her, be they family or strangers they pass on the street. As any good novel should do, What We All Long For makes us think and illuminates perspectives which we may never have considered. Just as the disappearance of their son, Quy, haunts Tuyen’s parents, What We All Long For is a book that will haunt readers and compel them to re-examine their own identity and concept of home. It will also touch on emotions of empathy and understanding that will resonate long after it is finished.
(less)

like · see review

Feb 23, 2007 Emily Koenig rated it 2 of 5 stars

Highly overrated. Serious lack of character development left me cold.

1 like · like · see review

Aug 15, 2012 Rand Harker rated it 3 of 5 stars

Very interesting themes of conflicts between generations of new immigrants and how children and parents see their place in the new land in different ways. But though themes are well developed, there are problems with over-explaining (analyses of why characters behave as they do very Victorian in nature; these analyses worked then because at the time it was believed such questions were answerable; doesn't work so well any more because why we do what we do seems much muddier than it used to) and w...more

1 like · like · see review

May 13, 2012 Alexandra rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

What We All Long For is an enjoyable read for those who are interested in Toronto's history and lyrical narratives. Brand expertly captures the intergenerational family tensions that occur during immigration and assimilation in a new country. The book resonates with me because I see elements of my parents' experiences as Canadian-born children of immigrants. At times, the characters' personalities rubbed me the wrong way-- but this is probably an indication of Brand's ability to bring these char...more

like · see review

Feb 11, 2012 Ben Babcock rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: not-my-cup-of-tea, 2012-read, canadian-author, owned

Race-conscious and class-conscious but with a young, street-smart cast of characters, What We All Long For should have been amazing. It should have deserved every bit that “Globe and Mail Best Book” seal on its cover. Dionne Brand should have wowed me with her portrayal of first-generation Vietnamese Canadian Tuyen versus Tuyen’s immigrant parents and sisters. The troubled relationship between Carla and her kid brother, Jamal, should have opened my eyes to the subtle difficulties of living in a...more

6 likes · like · see review

Apr 02, 2011 Manoja K. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own, school-readings, 2011-reads, fiction, reviewed

I had to read this book for one of my classes and at first I thought it was kind of slow so I stopped, but then I picked it up again. The book does not have a core plot (which is why I found it slow in the beginning). But I really liked this book. I like it because of the conflicting cultures between the different generations. It's more about the conflicting cultures of the parents and their children, each character dealing with their own issues - which is what I really like because I can relate...more

like · see review

Sep 29, 2010 Moktoklee added it

Didn’t like this book much. There wasn’t very much to the plot and I felt myself relieved when each section ended. I felt there was a lot that I could have connected with in a few of the characters but I was prevented from doing so by my hatred of them. Linda or Martha or whatever her name was was a bike messenger and for a while near the beginning I wanted to bike through the streets of Toronto with her. But by the end, I hated her as much as the other characters. I can’t remember what the guy’...more

like · see review

Jul 24, 2008 Lesliemae rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Torontonians

Recommended to Lesliemae by: Andrew Lesk

Shelves: course-list-favourites, canadian, women-writers

This book made me feel a part of the entity Toronto. Torontonians do not just live in the city they live with it. Brand captures that sense of Toronto streets, bars, culture, music, the life of beauty and struggle.

Inscription: (July.08)
I've lived in Toronto since 2003. The SARS outbreak had just subsided while the blackouts were beginning. I lived in the bubble of my marriage for the next year, and then the shattered pieces of it for another year. This book, written in 2005, emerged on the marke...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 21, 2008 Jesse rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Alex Leslie

Dionne's Brand's mcuh celebrated novel is supposed to be good. It has all the makings of a excellent foray into literature; complex metaphors, well-written and in depth descriptions of people, places and their history, and a compelling back story running throughout. So why was I left feeling only slightly touched and mostly mediocre?

Brand broke her way into the literary world being a poet first and a novelist second. This is clear in her writing. "What We All Long For" has moments of poetic bril...more Dionne's Brand's mcuh celebrated novel is supposed to be good. It has all the makings of a excellent foray into literature; complex metaphors, well-written and in depth descriptions of people, places and their history, and a compelling back story running throughout. So why was I left feeling only slightly touched and mostly mediocre?

Brand broke her way into the literary world being a poet first and a novelist second. This is clear in her writing. "What We All Long For" has moments of poetic brilliance throughout. But somewhere along the line, Brand must have felt that unlike a poem, a novel deserved less personal interpretation than a poem, much less. In fact so much of the book is spelt out for us, from the way the characters are feeling to the entire back history of a minor character passed in the street that by the time we get to the end of the book abosolutely nothing is left to ponder or reminisce. The fact that the book ends without telling us the future of it's characters only makes this worse; Brand has already told us their entire emotional history, and the end of the book seems sudden in comparison.

By the second half, I realized that "What We All Long For" would have worked better as a series of inter-connected shorts. The stories of Carla's mother, father and step-mother, and Jackie's parents in the swinging 70s are perfectly told and perfectly wonderful on their own. Set amongst the greater novel however, the feel out of place and underdeveloped. And yet I cared more about these minor characters than I did about the main ones; a bunch of self-indulgent 20 somethings who threw out their middle-class (and one lower class) backgrounds to live the "high" life of drugs, art and cheap apartments. Everything in their life is so artistic it's hard to relate to them. They seem shallow in their starving artist roles, even when backed up with their parent's complex histories. Even Quy, who has his own complex back story, seems forced. It seems doubtful that Brand knows much about being a Vietnamese criminal in Palau Bidong, as the character supposedly is.

Overall, Brand's books has impeccable writing, but for something so character driven, the characters didn't grab me as much as they should have. I would have been much happier reading each story as a separate entity, tied together by the events happening at the books end. (less)

1 like · like · see review

Oct 03, 2007 jSarie rated it 2 of 5 stars

A disappointingly uneven portrait of contemporary Toronto. The story follows the interlocking lives of four twenty-something second-generation and traces their daily interactions with an undercurrent of their alienation from their parents.

It’s well enough written, but doesn’t feel real at any level. The title comes from a question that Tuyen, one of the main characters, asks of shoppers when she’s behind the counter – and that one scene illustrates both what’s right and wrong about the book. The...more

like · see review

Feb 03, 2012 Devin rated it 4 of 5 stars

The story of twenty-somethings in 2002 Toronto looking to escape their own families and cultural baggage in a city that promises an escape. Each one is drawn back into their own histories and this book has a shocker of an ending that nearly resolves the multiple plot lines. Dionne Brand brings a lyrical, poetic quality to this prose that gives each of the characters a believable eloquence. I found these characters and the story arc each one was living to be enormously likable and I'm going to mi...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 05, 2012 Bobby Kline rated it 5 of 5 stars

My favourite book. I heard Dionne Brand read the opening passage in Guelph several years ago at a queer reading event with Sky Gilbert and Anna Camilleri. The poet Brand... nothing compares. Set in Toronto, this novel traces the lives of a group of 20-somethings as they struggle to negotiate their identities as young adults, children of immigrant parents, lovers, siblings, Torontonians. The premise 'six degrees of separation' gives this book a postmodern edge. Enjoy!

like · see review

Jul 30, 2012 George Ilsley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: canada, fiction

Any book that opens with a lyrical evocative description of Toronto will win me over. Not having lived there for many years, many of the details and settings in this novel make me feel sentimental. Brand even briefly mentions a homeless person who I have also written about. Many many times, while reading this book, I say to myself, I love this book.

There, I've said it. I love this book.

... Now I've finished it. The ending is surprisingly weak. Not sure what the last paragraph was doing there. I...more

like · see review

Mar 18, 2009 Elizabeth rated it 3 of 5 stars

I don't have any strong opinions on this book. It was all right, and that's about it. Sure, the starving-artist lifestyle is always interesting to read about. The Quy narrative should have been good, but wasn't. Tuyen and Oku's respective obsessions lacked fulfillment. The ending seemed forced and completely unrealistic. It was kind of like there were too many characters; the novel should either have focused more on a few or been a whole lot longer.

like · see review

Feb 16, 2011 Anabelle Bernard Fournier rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: urban literature afficionados, Canadians, Torontonians, anyone interested in diasporic literature

Recommended to Anabelle by: Professor

Shelves: contemporary-lit, canada

Read for a graduate course, I was easily transported by the poetic language of the book. Some of the characters lack definition, and the dialogue is a bit stilted, but the slow build-up and the shocking finale are worth the read. The description of city life as a second-generation immigrant I thought was fascinating, and I could feel the pulse of the city running through their veins. If you like poetical prose, then you will probably like this book.

like · see review

Jun 23, 2009 Lizzie rated it 2 of 5 stars

This acclaimed novel was a severe disappointment. More because it began with the most beautiful character sketches I have read in quite a while. I was dazzled. But then it stopped. Completely. Like a different author started writing. I couldn't even finish it. So sad. Don't bother to read past the first third. Well since I didn't finish it maybe I'll try to read it backwards and see if the middle was just the deathtrap and not the whole thing.

like · see review

Aug 02, 2008 Venessa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Anonymity is the big lie of a city. You aren't anonymous at all. You're common, really, common like so many pebbles, so many specks of dirt, so many atoms of materiality."

"What floats in the air on a subway train like this is chance. People stand or sit with the thin magnetic film of their life wrapped around them. They think they're safe, but they know they're not. Any minute you can crash into someone else's life, and if you're lucky, it's good, it's like walking on light."

Perhaps the best th...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 03, 2008 Luke Dani rated it 3 of 5 stars

Young, sort-of fuckups in toronto (dealing with love, relationships to family, taking responsibility, ethnic and immigrant identity or lack thereof, racism). kinda like my friends or people i'd be friends with. i read it while traveling which is the right way for this book, i think. smooth, clear, but not especially interesting prose; worth the read for the (mostly) vivid characterizations. felt like i was hanging out with people (some more real than others). also a good deal of interesting soci...more

like · see review

Jul 08, 2012 Amber rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: why-was-this-published, books-i-read-for-class

The ending was dumb. I hated Tuyen and Quy was boring. Jamal was awful, and Carla for loving him, likewise. The only interesting characters were Angie, Oku, and Jackie. And only Angie got resolution through Carla. Over 50% of the book was unnecessary details and memories. Harsh critics my ass. Why would you write about such spoiled awful people? Never again.

1 like · like · see review

May 04, 2013 Orla Hegarty rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: canada, daughter

If you've ever lived in Toronto you'll especially enjoy this book. And if you haven't you might enjoy this well told story of 4 early twenty somethings thrown together in high school and trying to come of age despite the powerful anchors their individual family narratives try to place on them.

Toronto is the most diverse city in the world and this novel poetically captures this fact.

like · see review

Jun 12, 2012 Denis rated it 5 of 5 stars

Life in young Toronto. Powerful description of a Black Jamaican family, a black family from Nova Scotia, and an immigrant family from Vietnam (boat people) that lost their son one their rushed way out of Vietnam.

Beautiful family dynamics, and friendships interractions.

Lots of suspense and poetry.

Amazingly touching

1 like · like · see review

Sep 28, 2012 Molly rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: canadian-authors, glad-i-got-from-the-library, read-for-school

Not a huge fan of this book. Had to read it for my Can Lit course and the prof spent way too much time on it because it's one of her favourite books. I thought it was kind of weird.

like · see review

Jan 26, 2011 Mely rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: dont-own, contemporary-fiction, writer-poc

Because I love books about cities, Maggie Helwig* recommended this to me, and she was right: Full review.

like · see review

Jul 15, 2012 Jena rated it 4 of 5 stars

I didn't like this book at first because it was really hard to get into. But ever since I had to re-read it for one of my English essays I slowly fell in love with it.

like · see review

Apr 24, 2011 Angel Gardner-Kocher rated it 5 of 5 stars

What We All Long For by Dionne Brand is set in inner-city Toronto and evokes a strong sense of place with its lush descriptions of the mood of the city during winter, spring, and summer and the colorful descriptions of immigrant communities within the city. The city, like the four characters, Tuyen, Carla, Jackie, and Oku, is full of possibility, uncertainty, and longing. I fell for Brand's unique and beautiful poetic prose. As the novel unfolds, all of the characters struggle with issues of rac...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 24 25 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
ELEVEN READERS CL...: What We All Long For Media Assignment	1	3	Jun 10, 2012 08:50pm
ELEVEN READERS CL...: What We All Long For- Critical Assessment	1	5	Jun 07, 2012 06:50pm
ELEVEN READERS CL...: What We All Long For Update #5	1	1	Jun 06, 2012 07:21pm
ELEVEN READERS CL...: What We All Long For Update #4	1	1	Jun 06, 2012 06:45pm
ELEVEN READERS CL...: What We All Long For Update #3	1	2	Jun 06, 2012 06:20pm
ELEVEN READERS CL...: What We All Long For Update #2	1	4	May 30, 2012 08:55pm
ELEVEN READERS CL...: What We All Long For Update #1	1	3	May 14, 2012 09:00pm

combine
Other Editions (6)

More editions...

Genres

Cultural > Canada

9 users

Academic > School

7 users

Glbt > Queer

5 users

Literature > Canadian Literature

3 users

Glbt

3 users

Literature

3 users

Young Adult > Coming Of Age

2 users

Contemporary

2 users

Adult

2 users

Academic > Read For School

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Dionne Brand

As a young girl growing up in Trinidad, Dionne Brand submitted poems to the newspapers under the pseudonym Xavier Simone, an homage to Nina Simone, whom she would listen to late at night on the radio. Brand moved to Canada when she was 17 to attend the University of Toronto, where she earned a degree in Philosophy and English, a Masters in the Philosophy of Education and pursued PhD studies in Wom...more As a young girl growing up in Trinidad, Dionne Brand submitted poems to the newspapers under the pseudonym Xavier Simone, an homage to Nina Simone, whom she would listen to late at night on the radio. Brand moved to Canada when she was 17 to attend the University of Toronto, where she earned a degree in Philosophy and English, a Masters in the Philosophy of Education and pursued PhD studies in Women’s History but left the program to make time for creative writing.

Dionne Brand first came to prominence in Canada as a poet. Her books of poetry include No Language Is Neutral, a finalist for the Governor General’s Award, and Land to Light On, winner of the Governor General’s Award and the Trillium Award and thirsty, finalist for the Griffin Prize and winner of the Pat Lowther Award for poetry. Brand is also the author of the acclaimed novels In Another Place, Not Here, which was shortlisted for the Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Trillium Award, and At the Full and Change of the Moon. Her works of non-fiction include Bread Out of Stone and A Map to the Door of No Return.

What We All Long For was published to great critical acclaim in 2005. While writing the novel, Brand would find herself gazing out the window of a restaurant in the very Toronto neighbourhood occupied by her characters. “I’d be looking through the window and I’d think this is like the frame of the book, the frame of reality: ‘There they are: a young Asian woman passing by with a young black woman passing by, with a young Italian man passing by,” she says in an interview with The Toronto Star. A recent Vanity Fair article quotes her as saying “I’ve ‘read’ New York and London and Paris. And I thought this city needs to be written like that, too.”

In addition to her literary accomplishments, Brand is Professor of English in the School of English and Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph.

For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/dionne-b...(less)

More about Dionne Brand...

Books by Dionne Brand

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About What We All Long For

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from What We All Long For

“They were born in the city from people born elsewhere.” — 3 people liked it

“And on the sidewalks, after they've emerged from the stations, after being sandpapered by the jostling and scraping that a city like this does, all the lives they've hoarded, all the ghosts they've carried, all the inversions they've made for protection, all the scars and marks and records for recognition - the whole heterogeneous baggage falls out with each step on the pavement. There's so much spillage.” — 1 person liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: What We All Long For
avg rating	preview: What We All Long For Goodreads rating: 3.39 (423 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/153093.What_We_All_Long_For?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320537827l/153093.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/153093.What_We_All_Long_For?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]What We All Long For by Dionne Brand[/url]

What We All Long For

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website