After a brief return to romantic high fantasy with 2006’s Keturah and Lord Death, Martine Leavitt turns her sights to her other forte: troubled youth in gritty contemporary settings. And while it doesn’t get much grittier than teen prostitutes working the so-called “kiddie stroll” on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside at the time of the Pickton murders, the Alberta-born author handles the subject with uncommon grace. Read more…
downtown eastside
IN THE REALM OF HUNGRY GHOSTS:
Close Encounters with Addiction
by Gabor Maté
Gabor Maté’s latest book is a sprawling but fascinating look at addiction that is part science, part diatribe, part character study, and part confessional. Maté, a physician at the Portland Clinic in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, treats the hardest of hardcore substance abusers. The facility houses North America’s first supervised injection site, focusing on harm reduction rather than the nebulous aim of “fighting” addiction. Read more…