Reviews of Kameleon ManGlobe and Mail: “…a highly accomplished first novel... The novel has the energy of a neighborhood pick-up basketball game with language that snaps like elastic and bounces like the new kid in Nikes. Street-wise similes and clever phrasings abound without ever sinking into literary gruel… over and over again, Brunhuber writes scenes that sparkle with sassy humor… You know you are in good reading territory when you reach that point in a book where you balance on the delicious tension between wanting to see what happens next and wanting to slow down to make it last.”Ottawa Citizen: "...startling, insightful, funny... Brunhuber may never have made it on the runway, but he'll dazzle 'em in the aisles with his literary skills." The Georgia Straight: "There's nothing I like better than a book with good bone structure... Brunhuber frequently delivers dazzling passages of tight, lean, poetic prose...I look forward to more books by Brunhuber because he's got what only nature can give: talent and a unique perspective." George Elliott Clarke (author of the Governor General's Award-winning book Execution Poems):"Kim Barry Brunhuber's Kameleon Man is an acid-jazz update of classic 'black' novels like Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and the rebellious, uppity sociology of thinkers like Frantz Fanon. Snappy with subversive comedy and glimmering with beautiful writing, Brunhuber's novel is a cinematic tour-de-force of urban grit and urbane wit. Brunhuber describes unflinchingly, in flamboyant tints, the realities of living in Canada and between 'colours.' To read this book is to holler and to laugh--simultaneously." Quill and Quire: "Kameleon Man, the debut novel from broadcast journalist and writer Kim Brunhuber, is an insightful and affecting treatment of the issues surrrounding race, gender, and sexuality in the 21st century. That it is set against the world of male modeling only adds to its charm... At its core, the novel is an account of a developing individuality, a powerful assertion of self to which most readers will be able to relate." W.P. Kinsella (Books in Canada): "...crips, clear, ironic and humorous... Brunhuber shows considerable promise, and his next novel will be eagerly awaited." Capital Style Magazine's Books Worth Reading : "(the) deep, gritty novel has a subversive, disarming humour similar to Michael Ondaatje who also writes about characters outside the caste, ambivalent inside their own skin...it is sprinkled with vivid characters, street smart dialogue, great sex, and smashing lines...Decadent, unnerving and illuminating, Kameleon Man will open your eyes and make you question, and uncover, everything skin deep." Word Magazine: "Brunhuber's descriptions succeed with a raw uncontrolled feel... He doesn't tiptoe around what it is to be a Canadian of mixed origin or a Black Canadian. Armed with a journalist's nose for the truth, he leaves no racial stereotype untouched... Brunhuber does so in a comical way that makes for many laugh-out-loud moments... Kameleon Man unveils our daily auditions to garner acceptance, our fears of invisibility and getting trampled on life's runway." The McGill Daily: "Stylistically, Brunhuber is incredibly clear and concise, often summarizing whole philosophical dilemmas in quick interjected discussions with extraodinary accuracy and finesse. His often very cynical sarcasm does not kill Stacey's subtler, more beautiful moments of self-discovery, and his attentiveness to detail makes the book a delightful read." Tom Henighan (author of Presumption of Culture): “A tremendously promising novelist. He has huge range, depth of perception, honesty, and a truly demonic energy that seems to sweep all before it... I loved reading Kameleon Man, because it reminded me of those big, careless all-inclusive canvases such as we used to see in such books as The Adventures of Augie March and in Ellison’s Invisible Man.” Jeffrey Ross (author of Civil Disobedience): "Amazing. It does what the best of books do, gives the reader a perspective he/she has never considered... I have honestly not laughed so much in ages." Charles Gordon (Ottawa Citizen columnist): "Kameleon Man will be read by some as an expose of the modelling business, and it is true that some of its strongest parts are the behind-the-scenes, insider details of how the trade works. But the book is clearly about more than just that... The book is smart and funny." main |