About the
Author
Lee Gowan grew up on a farm near Swift Current, Saskatchewan. He has published short stories and poetry in numerous periodicals and anthologies, including Canadian Fiction Magazine, Grain and Prairie Fire, and was twice nominated for The National Magazine Awards. His collection of stories, Going to Cuba, was published to critical acclaim in 1990 and was a Critic's Choice selection in The Vancouver Sun. He lives with his wife and their young son in Toronto, where he teaches writing at the University of Toronto's Shool of Architecture.
Make Believe Love was published in the New Face of Fiction program in 2001.
Books
by this author
Confession (Knopf Canada, 2009)
The Last Cowboy (Vintage Canada, 2005)
The Last Cowboy (Knopf Canada, 2004)
Make Believe Love (Vintage Canada, 2002)
Make Believe Love (Knopf Canada, 2001)
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Literary
Awards
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Book Reviews and Quotes
Praise for Make Believe Love:
"It is easy to forget, sometimes, that writers write because they are in love with words, their endless combinations, their energy, their echoes, the clues they might provide. In Make Believe Love, Lee Gowan reminds us."
-Bonnie Burnard
"Gowan makes some marvellous observations about small- and large-town life [told with] wry, insider wit. [The] tension between what is and what seems to be – unrequited love or scary obsession, fame or notoriety, truth or history – is at the core of this strong first novel."
-Quill & Quire
"Make Believe Love is lively and entertaining."
-National Post
"Wonderfully comic [with] a quintessentially Saskatchewan touch…. [Gowan] evokes the province in amusing yet loving detail. A fable about love in the electronic age… a romp [with a] breezy style, zippy dialogue and lightly drawn characters."
-The Toronto Star
"Extraordinary…. Make Believe Love arrives as a sly look at modern day celebrity, a whimsical indictment of hero worship in our society, a guileless attack on our obsessions wit fame, a satirical fable for the new millennium…. Gowan handles the comedy deftly…. A quirky read. With his scattergun plot twists and eccentric characterizations, Gowan owes a sizeable debt to American cult favourite Tom Robbins. To his credit, the novel works on many levels. As a caustic critique on celebrity in our times, Make Believe Love is the real deal."
-The Hamilton Spectator
"[A] smart and funny first novel… a lightly caustic comedy that has some startlingly dark things to say about love, intimacy and self-delusion…. Gowan exhibits a sure hand with plotting…. But the most appealing aspect of his writing here is how he sidesteps the sterotypes readers have about the sort of people and places that are scattered across the Prairies."
-Eye Weekly
"[An] offbeat tale…. The characters he creates…are highly imaginative, and the twists and turns the plot takes are more so. [A] fast-paced story…. Gowan sketches in a carefully drawn sense of place…. Engaging."
-The Star Phoenix (Saskatoon)
"Intriguing… skillfully drawn…. Gowan [has a] talent for exceptional characterization…. A worthy read."
-Calgary Herald (Pearl Luke)
"[Gowan] writes with a clean, crisp style and an engaging, well-paced narrative…. [An] entertaining read."
-Winnipeg Free Press
"A promising debut…. Gowan's command of language, his sense of place, his subject matter all make him a writer worth watching – and his main character, Joan Swift, is hard to forget. Most of all, she's believable even when you're not sure you believe her."
-The Gazette (Montreal)
"The book is quirky, entertaining and beautifully conveys the languorous atmosphere of the prairie landscape."
-Anne Tobin, Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 1 Apr 2001
"The real pleasures of this book are the dark wit and often striking perceptions that spill from Joan's pen as she attempts to get real, and get even."
-Jim Bartley, Globe and Mail
"Make Believe Love is a comedy that refuses to get cynical or mean. Its daffy story and evenness of temper evoke some of Canadian fiction's past accomplishments, such as the small-town sketches of early Robertson Davies by way of… Maragret Atwood's… Lady Oracle… Lee Gowan's debut is funny and laid-back… shot through with affection…"
-Vancouver Sun
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Links to Extra Resources
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