CALGARY – After seeing all the hype surrounding the award-winning novel The Hornet’s Lament, 34-year-old Reagan Turner is excited to borrow the book from the library, read a few pages, then give up and skim increasingly succinct plot summaries online until he gets the gist of it.
“I’ve heard nothing but good things about WordCrusher’s reading of the Wikipedia page of the Netflix adaptation, but I just don’t have the time to sit down and watch an entire 11-minute video,” Turner said. “Thankfully, DingleBoi97 gets Crusher’s video down to a tight 90 seconds while still leaving room for interesting details like the main character’s name.”
Turner, who already visited a bookstore to read the back cover before getting bored halfway through the first paragraph and looking at the Netflix poster on his phone, is pretty confident the novel is either an upbeat romp about a jazz musician or a serious exploration of intergenerational trauma.
“The main character in the poster is holding a trumpet, but he looks sad. And I’ve seen a meme of a young woman who’s wearing a cowboy hat and holding a rifle, but she’s also eating Kraft Dinner, so I’m not sure what she’s feeling,” Turner said. “Thankfully, as an experienced reader I’m smart enough to notice when TikTokers are talking about a YouTuber talking about Wikipedia’s ‘Symbolism’ section.”
The Hornet’s Lament is already the bestselling Canadian novel of 2024, with nearly 800 copies sold and several of them opened.
“It feels like the whole country is talking about the Netflix adaptation, and I want to be part of that conversation,” said Turner. “That’s why I intend to sit down tonight, pour myself a nice glass of wine, and watch most of DingleBoi’s summary.”
“You know, unless I get distracted,” he added. “But if that happens the emojis in the comments will tell me the book’s general vibes.”
At press time, Turner was telling his book club he was free any night if they wanted to get together to discuss the novel.
