''Common Ground'' is a 2014 book by

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

, the current

Prime Minister of Canada The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the Confidence and supply, confidence of a majority the elected Hou ...

. Written while he served as Leader of the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' ...

, ''Common Ground'' is a memoir of the experiences that shaped Trudeau from his childhood at

24 Sussex Drive 24 Sussex Drive, originally called ''Gorffwysfa'' and usually referred to simply as 24 Sussex, is the official residence of the prime minister of Canada, located in the New Edinburgh neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario. Built between 1866 and 1868 by ...

through to his entry to Parliament and leadership of the Liberal Party.

Background and synopsis

The book was described by CBC as "widely seen as his attempt to define himself before his political opponents do it for him" and is both a political and personal memoir. Trudeau addresses his childhood, the breakup of the marriage of his parents

Pierre Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

and

Margaret Trudeau Margaret Joan Trudeau ( Sinclair, formerly Kemper; born September 10, 1948) is a Canadian activist. She married Pierre Trudeau, the 15th prime minister of Canada, in 1971; three years after he became prime minister. They divorced in 1984, du ...

, his mother's struggle with mental health issues, the death of his brother

Michel Michel may refer to: * Michel (name), a given name or surname of French origin (and list of people with the name) * Míchel (nickname), a nickname (a list of people with the nickname, mainly Spanish footballers) * Míchel (footballer, born 1963), ...

, and his decision to run for public office.

Reception

In '' The Tyee'', Crawford Kilian labelled the book a

Bildungsroman In literary criticism, a ''Bildungsroman'' (, plural ''Bildungsromane'', ) is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood ( coming of age), in which character change is impo ...

, writing that the biography was "a readable book that should be read, whatever your political views" and "his book reveals him as a very intelligent, observant, outgoing man, likely a smarter politician than his father ever was".

References

External links

*{{cite book, author=Justin Trudeau, title=Common Ground, url=https://archive.org/details/commonground0000trud, url-access=registration, date=20 October 2014, publisher=HarperCollins Publishers, isbn=978-1-4434-3339-6 on Internet Archive 2014 non-fiction books Books about politics of Canada Canadian memoirs Political memoirs HarperCollins books