When journalist/author Joel Yanofsky passed away on December 23, 2020, at the age of 65 after a battle with cancer, the Montreal literary scene lost one of its standout personalities.
Armed with a highly observant, detailed writing style and an entertaining, self-deprecating sense of humour, Joel shared his talents with the reading public thanks to contributing pieces to a number of well known publications such as the Village Voice, the Montreal Gazette, Chatelaine, the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail; as a journalism instructor at Concordia University; and as an author of several books, including a collection of short stories, an appreciation of his favourite author Mordecai Richler, a novel, a memoir of how he and his wife Cynthia raised their autistic son Jonah, as well as a companion guide for parents who are raising autistic children of their own.
His latest book, How To Move On, which was posthumously published last month, serves as his literary coda. It details how he coped with the passing of his parents and sisters, and how he learned to have the courage to continue and move on, even when he faced the spectre of cancer himself.
However, salvation for the book came in the form of Brian Demchinsky and Elaine Kalman Naves, two fellow Montreal authors and journalists whom Joel befriended during their days as book reviewers for the Gazette. When he got progressively sicker and realized he would not be able to complete his manuscript, Joel asked Elaine if she could help with its completion.
In the book’s introduction, Demchinsky writes that the finished product is a “short book…but a real book with a structure that Elaine and I devised. And all the words are his. We did not add any of our own. We only helped him over a finish line.”
And thanks to their diligent work of editing, polishing and finishing, Demchinsky and Naves took what on the surface was an insurmountable challenge, and made Joel breast the tape over that finish line with a clean, cohesive book that will certainly serve Joel’s literary legacy with a great deal of pride.
The stories that make up How To Move On are filled with plenty of wisdom, observations, and humour that give the reader a sense of empathy because he tackles sensitive personal and family issues that everyone can relate to. It ranges from suffering and surviving the ordeal of the shiva (the seven-day mourning period in the Jewish religion following the passing of a loved one) and all the enormous amounts of food — and hypocracy — that goes along with it; dealing with an impossible brother-in-law (or any other in-law you may have) during a tough time; and the difficulties of trying to piece together and deliver a eulogy, especially if it’s for a relative where there was no love lost (case in point, Joel’s Aunt Sally, whom his father said that she was a person who “hasn’t had it easy”). This may sound like the premise for an edgy TV sitcom about a dysfunctional family, but remember, this is real life, no matter how painful or absurd it is.
But don’t despair, dear reader. How To Move On also contains its share of stories with a lighter side. This includes life with the family pet Shi Tzu dog Harv W. (who ignored any and every command given to him, whether it was in English or French); his Sunday walks along The Boulevard in Westmount with Cynthia and Jonah (which gave them the opportunity to engage in plenty of witty repartee); and growing up in the Laval suburb of Chomedey during the 60s and 70s, when open field spaces outnumbered completed single family dwellings.
How To Move On is an absorbing, heartfelt literary farewell. Through Joel Yanofsky’s words, we can learn to cope and strengthen our sense of resolve with the ups and downs of life, especially when it serves us endless curve balls from left field. At the end of the book, Joel stated that he hoped to spend his final years towards the inevitable, according to what American humorist S.J. Perelman described as follows: “Death, where is thy sting-a-ding-ding?”
This book certainly lives up to Mr. Perelman’s description with flying colours.
by Stuart Nulman
