The Words of My Roaring is weird but energetic and readable. A roughneck Alberta undertaker stands in the provincial elections against the long established Member, a doctor who is his father figure. Although there is a good deal of repetitive emphasis on the undertaker's size, strength and preoccupation with death, which is compared with the doctor's orientation towards life, and scenes of rustic festivity, like enforced farm sales, it goes with a swing. The author says, "the Messianic nature of prairie politics made an impression on me—the peculiar combination of fundamental religion and radical political theory." The fascination with the material comes through and hefts the tale over the sticky bits.