Book packs serious punch under cloak of humor

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Funny, You Don't Look Like One

Observations from a Blue-Eyed Ojibway

By Drew Hayden Taylor

125 pages, Theytus

$12.95 (pb.)

Somewhere, under the quick one-liners and the pretty evident puns, there's a message in the collected essays and commentaries of Drew Hayden Taylor. Sometimes it even comes to the surface.

You'll be reading along, laughing a little, when it comes out of nowhere. Something serious this way comes. Drew Hayden Taylor has a nasty habit of interrupting a good laugh with something thought provoking. But that is probably why he is Canada's most popular Native writer (and this should get me a free lunch the next time he's in town).

Funny, You Don't Look Like One is a book of essays that have appeared previously in Windspeaker, the Globe & Mail, Kahtou and the Toronto Star, among others. He's made a niche for himself by being irreverent, outspoken and Native, and not necessarily in that order. He is also one of the most articulate commentators on Native issues without being too serious.

There was some disappointment for me when reading this book, though it wasn't caused by what I found on the inside.

When reading the back cover, I noted this puffing: "In addition to writing for stage and screen, Taylor has contributed essays and commentaries to the Globe & Mail, The Toronto Star and This Magazine." I was disappointed because there was no mention of Windspeaker, in spite of the fact that nine of the pieces printed in this book were first printed in Windspeaker (if you're counting, and we are, that compares with four for This Magazine and seven each for the Star and the Globe). Drew might want to mention this to the people at Theytus Books.

Now, for the inside of the book. Fans will know what to expect, but the book is not only for those who have seen most of his columns. It is particularly for those who haven't.

For those who haven't the book will be a treat. Taylor is witty and he points out things that we all should know, but seme to have forgotten. In his many travels across this country, he has been in situations that allowed him to see and hear things that many people would love to see and hear.

For those who have seen most of these columns, reading them to gether will give you an opportunity to really see the serious side of a writer who can be taken too lightly, too easily. It is the syntheis of his writings, when put together, that shows us a serious mind taking on serious issues. And through humor, Taylor may have done more to bring those issues to the surface than a host of ponderous commentators.

There is one group, however, that the book is specifically not for: those looking for answers. Taylor's the first to admit that answers may not be what you find in his observations.

He summarizes by saying: "So I guess after all's said and done (and there's a lot that's been said and done), there are still no answers. Not even questions. Welcome to Canada."