We may be in the waning days of the elbows-up era, but a healthy dose of Canadian culture is never out of style. Fortunately, The Fun Times Brigade by Lindsay Zier-Vogel gives us a big, beautiful dose of Canadiana along with its compelling storytelling and layered characterization. Although not an epistolary novel, like Zier-Vogel’s must-read Letters to Amelia, the storytelling is not linear, but chapters set in the past are interspersed with those set in the present.
Chronologically-speaking, the story begins with a chance meeting at a folk festival between Amy, a young singer/songwriter, and Fran and Jim, an older folk music duo. After playing a set together, the seed is planted for a future collaboration. The result is the Fun Times Brigade, a band of children’s entertainers in the style of Sharon, Lois and Bram, who enjoy immediate success. Max, Amy’s partner, pursues his goal of becoming a professor of mathematics and the two have, by most metrics, a good, successful life.
But for Amy, her true dream, of being a successful folk musician, has gone unrealized. While touring as part of the Fun Times Brigade, Amy gets a chance to hangout with, then perform alongside a hot indie band called the Dovercourt Bicycle Collective, or BIKES for short. Her touring schedule with the Fun Times Brigade conflicts with her increasing involvement with BIKES, creating a tension with her work family, Fran and Jim, and we see that mirrored with her partner, Max, as he objects to Amy partying all night with the younger musicians in BIKES.
Woven in with these events are scenes set in the present, where Amy is struggling to balance mothering an infant and managing her artistic pursuits. The time, space and quiet needed for her to practice, or write songs, is just not there with an infant strapped to her body. The world seems to be passing Amy by while she’s raising her daughter, Alice.
The contemporary take on a familiar story, the mix of nostalgia and Canadiana, the modern discourse around marriage, all blend into a riveting novel.
The story of the talented artist who risks their relationships and stability in pursuit of achieving recognition for their art is a familiar one. It’s often very male, melodramatic and bogged down with clichés of sex, drugs and rock and roll. What makes The Fun Times Brigade exceptional is the story told through the lens of a woman not given the leeway typically allotted to men, a woman expected to settle down and make a home. For all our progress, it seems we are still more apt to forgive the reckless artist when they’re male. We forgive men who still pursue their dreams once they have children, instead of accounting for every minute they spend away from their child, as society tends to do for new moms.
The contemporary take on a familiar story, the mix of nostalgia and Canadiana, the modern discourse around marriage, all blend into a riveting novel. Though somewhat unfairly labeled as a “domestic novel” by certain websites, The Fun Times Brigade brings us on the road with Amy, the tour bus and the bars, as well as into her and Max’s home. The no-holds-barred portrayal of the early days of motherhood will certainly convince even the most ardent men’s rights activists to argue for a more even distribution of domestic labour.
Fans of the Canadian music scene will find a lot to love in this book, but there is so much more. The Fun Times Brigade at once an incisive and heartfelt exploration of chasing one’s artistic dreams and learning the value of the connections we make with others. The challenge Amy faces is not only one of achieving a dream, but holding on to those she loves in the process. Zier-Vogel gives us a raw and real look at what it takes to make it as both an artist and a mother. The Fun Times Brigade is a novel that strikes every emotional note, with a crisp prose style that works its way deep into the reader’s heart and soul.
Lindsay Zier-Vogel is a writer and arts educator and the creator of the internationally acclaimed Love Lettering Project. After studying contemporary dance, she received her MA in Creative Writing from the University of Toronto. Her writing has been widely published in Canada and the United Kingdom, and her hand-bound books are housed in the permanent collection at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library in Toronto. Since 2001, she has been teaching creative writing workshops in schools and communities. She is also a professor for the professional writing program at Humber College and is a columnist with Open Book. Her debut novel, Letters to Amelia, was published in 2021. Lindsay lives in Toronto, Ontario.
Publisher: Book*hug Press (May 1st, 2025)
Paperback: 8″ x 5″ | 362 pp
ISBN: 9781771669412
Jeff Dupuis is a writer and editor living in Toronto. He is the author of The Creature X Mystery novels and numerous short stories, which have been published in The Ex-Puritan and The Temz Review among others. Jeff is the editor, alongside A.G. Pasquella, of the anthology Devouring Tomorrow: Fiction from the Future of Food, which will be published in 2025 by Dundurn Press.
