Points of View

by Rex Murphy

With TV commentator and journalist Rex Murphy, it's easy to put a twist on the old parable: when he is good he is very very good, and when he's angry, he's awesome. Uncommonly dignified, relentlessly honest, unencumbered by de rigueur political correctness, and solidly grounded by his Newfoundland roots, Murphy is that rarest of TV types. He's an everyman who happens to be a Rhodes Scholar, and a personality treasured for his brain, not his looks. This collection of monologues and op/ed pieces originally written for broadcast on CBC's The National and the Globe and Mail among others gives us Murphy full-stop, weighing in on everything from Canadian icons (Glenn Gould, Wayne Gretzky) and celebrities and their culture (Spice Girls, rappers) to politics, immigration, cell phones, the state of the union, and anything else that's made headlines during his tenure as the country's foremost barometer of current events. That Murphy is singularly wise is a given; even those who disagree with his viewpoints would grant him his due as an intellect. A cranky intellect, maybe, but an intellect just the same. It's Murphy's almost reluctant cynicism--delivered in language as sharp as shattered glass and aimed squarely at those in ivory towers--that makes Points of View a must-read. Take his frosty summation of Liberal MP Tom Wappel, who infamously told a legally blind, 80-year-old veteran and constituent to buzz off. "There are worse ways to get publicity than Tom Wappel. You could nail a five-day-old kitten to the floor and use it as a doorstop. You could take a chainsaw to the last redwood that was also the home of the last eagle and have it fall on the last panda." Or his take on music of the esteemed Dylan era: "The hootenanny was a horror of my youth, an ersatz festival of acoustic guitars wedded to mush so ripe it invited seizure." Or best, his indictment of Ottawa over the deportation case of Nancy Latetia Cables, a live-in nanny whose error was "exceeding the work quota for a live-in nanny": "Well naturally, Canadian Immigration is not going to stand by idly while people come to this country and work harder than expected… who set an example by not bleeding the welfare services or mocking the courts or arriving by the hundreds as camouflage refugees." It's one thing to give voice to the dispossessed but it's quite another to kick ass and name names. Murphy does both in rants so eloquent and with arguments so considered that the pages practically hum. --Kim Hughes

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor

312 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Rex Murphy was born and raised near St. John's, Newfoundland, where he graduated from Memorial University. In 1968, he went to Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. Afterwards, returning to Newfoundland, he soon established himself as a quick-witted and accomplished writer, broadcaster and teacher.

Rex Murphy's primary interest is in language and English literature, but he also has a strong link with politics. As well as host of CBC Radio's Cross Country Checkup, he contributes weekly TV essays on diverse topics to CBC TV's The National, and also writes book reviews, commentaries, and a weekly column for The Globe & Mail.

He is much in demand as a speaker. His oratory -- a volatile mix of insight, humour and biting political commentary, powered by an extraordinary vocabulary -- brings audiences to their feet at events from coast to coast.

Rex Murphy has won several national and provincial broadcasting awards and has been awarded honorary doctorates in letters by Memorial University, St. Thomas University, and Nipissing University.

Reviews

[Steve Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an insightful thinker and writer.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poignant and hilarious.

[Sharon Ouderkirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't ready to let go of Rex Murphy after his recent death, so I ordered the two collections of his work, and I am glad that I did. Being in the presence of such a fine mind, a critical thinker whose clarity and erudition was leavened by a great sense of the absudity of life was a true pleasure. LIke millions of Canadians, Rex Murphy was my daily 'must-read' - most recently in the National Post - and Canada is poorer for the loss of his insights.
I didn't always agree with Murphy, but reading him sharpened my own thinking, and just as often made me laugh at myself for my intellectual follies exposed in his commentary. He was a Rhodes Scholar, on his way to becoming a professor when he changed course and became a journalist. Academia's loss was journalism's gain. I remember when, during the height of COVID lockdowns, he suggested that reading poetry could be a comfort. I took his advice, and he enriched my life with that observation.
This collection is somewhat dated; the columns are from the late nineties to about a year after September 11, 2001. The subject matter varies - elegies on the deaths of famous Canadians (Pierre Trudeau among them), politics, book reviews, literary criticism, absurdities like the Monica Lewinsky affair, and the horrible fallout from September 11. Throughout it all, he quotes poetry, discusses daily events in their historical and contemporaneous context, and writes like a mischievous Puck, explaining 'what fools these mortals be.' I laughed out loud at many lines, I was forced to rethink my own points of view, and remained thoroughly engaged. The subject matter may have been dated, but Murphy's perspective includes timeless ideals of honour, and commitment, as well as the critical capacity to discuss how to think about who we are. I will always miss him as a part of my daily routine; it is an end of era for me.

[Paula Dembeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a selection of pieces from years of Rex Murphy’s reviews, columns, and commentaries. They include pieces from his show on CBC “Cross Country Check-up”, columns from the Globe and Mail, as well as speeches and some book reviews.

Murphy is so many things---highly literate, witty, articulate, clear thinking and full of passion for the potential of ideas to affect the way we live our lives. Although sometimes fierce and unforgiving in his criticisms, he also has moments when he is tender and sympathetic.

Reading the words of this accomplished and well informed Rhodes Scholar is always a treat. He challenges the reader’s thinking as well as providing him with the occasional guffaw couched in the serious debate of an issue. He is not shy to give full sail to his criticisms, but he is never rude or profane.

Murphy is a born in the wool Newfoundlander and although he currently lives in Toronto, it is clear he still pines for his homeland.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to enjoy a man's work when, at times, he can be SO brilliant, SO deliciously scathing, SO perceptive...and then, at other times, such a conservative-apologist GIT!

[Michael Peiffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book you pick up and read a few pages at a time...

[Doug Adamson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Murphy is a master wordsmith. The book, a collection of his articles and commentaries, offers many good observations and insights. It is also somewhat dated.