{"product_id":"9781554588558","title":"Cabbagetown Diary: A Documentary","description":"\u003cp\u003e Robert Fulford called it “a remarkable glimpse of the underbelly of Toronto,” but the reviews that greeted the publication of \u003ci\u003eCabbagetown Diary\u003c\/i\u003e in 1970 were decidedly mixed. The novel’s rowdy concoction of grit and violence and rooming-house sleaze had a strongly polarizing effect on its readers. Many admired the frankness of Butler’s depiction of a sordid environment, and others deplored the obscenity of the language and the dangerous and careless ways in which his characters behave, bent as they are on downward self-transcendence. But \u003ci\u003eCabbagetown Diary\u003c\/i\u003e was undeniably a promising debut by a young writer whose brash tone and pungent subject matter were unique in Canadian writing at that time. \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e The novel takes the form of a diary written by a disaffected young Toronto bartender, Michael, over the course of his four-month liaison with Terry, a naive teenager who is new to the city. Michael introduces her to his friends and his inner-city haunts, to drink and drugs, and to the nihilist politics espoused by some in his circle. With hard-bitten cynicism and flashes of dark humour, Michael relates the vicissitudes of their summer together. \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e This reissue of \u003ci\u003eCabbagetown Diary\u003c\/i\u003e includes a biographical sketch by Charles Butler and an afterword by Tamas Dobozy. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wilfrid Laurier University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47172565041392,"sku":"9781554588558","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781554588558_p0.jpg?v=1763754708","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781554588558","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}