Hair for Men by Michelle Winters
A Fiction Review by Naomi MacKinnon
Louise is a barber and she’s good at what she does. She was always destined to cut hair, having traveled around to hair salons with her charismatic father as he sold shampoo to the stylists who were happy to greet him when he came to call. Those were happy times when women loved men and men loved the attention, and a little girl was soaking it all up. Some day she, too, would cut hair and love men.
Those imagined days never arrive. Instead, she is humiliated by a boy in high school and to cope with the shame and anger she transforms herself and joins the hardcore punk scene. Her parents never know what caused their daughter to change so abruptly; they die not long after in a car accident, leaving Louise alone.
Louise is offered a job at a high-end salon for men. Here, she finally feels a sense of belonging and begins to heal from her childhood trauma. Here, the men feel comfortable talking to the women cutting their hair about things they don’t talk about with their friends or family. Here, Louise begins to let go of her hatred and fear of men as they open up to her about their dreams and insecurities.
“I had a fascination to feed, a sadness to forget, and my nineteen-year-old brain itched to know the kind of man who frequents an expensive men’s hair salon in a remote Mississauga industrial park.”
But that is not how this story ends. Louise suddenly finds herself in the position of having to reinvent herself once again. Again, she has to take a leap of faith and learn to trust others to move on. And again, she has to confront the events of her past. Can she figure out how to let go of her hurt and let new people and experiences into her life?
As does Winters’s first book I Am a Truck, Hair for Men features offbeat characters and a distinctly Canadian feel. Louise’s travels include the Big Stop and Tim Hortons, and there is an underlying thread throughout the novel featuring Gord Downie and the music of The Tragically Hip.
“Louise takes us to places unexpected. The reader gets the feeling that even Louise is surprised by where her life has led her. And whatever happens next, we wish her well.”
When Michelle Winters was interviewed by Trevor Corkum at 49th Shelf after the release of I Am a Truck, she said that, when she’s both reading and writing, she loves it “when anything can happen.” That is certainly the feeling one gets when reading Hair for Men: Louise takes us to places unexpected. The reader gets the feeling that even Louise is surprised by where her life has led her. And whatever happens next, we wish her well.
After reading Hair for Men, I recommend checking out the interview with Michelle Winters at Open Book where she sums up the book in one sentence, talks about her desire for Louise to have a home, and points out the complexities of patriarchy.
About the Author
MICHELLE WINTERS is a writer, painter, and translator born and raised in Saint John, NB. Her debut novel, I Am a Truck, was shortlisted for the 2017 Scotiabank Giller Prize. She is the translator of Kiss the Undertow and Daniil and Vanya by Marie-Hélène Larochelle. She lives in Toronto.
About the Reviewer
Naomi MacKinnon lives in Nova Scotia with her husband, three kids, a dog, three cats, and a bunny. She works in the children's department at the beautiful Truro Public Library where she loves to read all the picture books and play with the puppets. She blogs about (mostly) Canadian and Atlantic Canadian books at Consumed by Ink.
Book Details
Publisher : House of Anansi Press (Aug. 20 2024)
Language : English
Paperback : 216 pages
ISBN-10 : 1487011911
ISBN-13 : 978-1487011918