Firesong by Adam Garnet Jones

Shane is torn between the person he is on the inside and the person he feels he needs to be on the outside.  In secret, he loves his boyfriend David and how close and understanding they are of each other and their needs.  On the outside, he is attentive to his girl friend Tara and goes through the motions expected of a dating couple.  At the same time he is struggling to accept the recent suicide of his younger sister Destiny and how it has devastated their mom.  He has been relying on Evie, a tribal elder, to help keep his mom at all functioning and yet he keeps hiding his relationship with her grandson.  A gay male on the rez is far from being an accepted thing.

Attending a university far from the rez is Shane's dream.  He figures it will be the only way for him to have a future with David.  Of course, it's far more complicated than he can cope with at that time.

I thought that this was going to be a nice romance between two young men on a rez, but it turned out to be much more.  First, Shane had to deal with his feelings of his mom letting him down during the toughest time of his life when he really needed her guidance.  The time had arrived when he had to address and fully embrace his sexual nature.  This wasn't easy to do on a reserve where male gay relationships were greeted with hostility.  What it brought to light for me was the politics that exist between the various tribes.  In my mind, I had an image of the different tribes working closely together for the benefit of all indigenous peoples.  I was naive in this respect and should have realized that each tribe/reserve is akin to an individual town with respect to bylaws and budgets.

Author Adam Garnet Jones really made me think and question what I thought were truths and any biases I held.  This would be an excellent study novel in high school classes.   Parents and teachers should be sure to check the study guide for this book at Annick Press.


I received an advanced reader copy of this book from Indigo Books & Music in exchange for an honest review.

Cover image courtesy Annick Press.

The Break by Katherena Vermette

This book took me into the heart of the Charles family.  The four generations have known the joy of love and children as well as the despair of betrayal and addictions.  On a cold winter night, the family is drawn tight together by the sexual assault of one of it's youngest members.

Emily is a carefree thirteen year old who can't imagine that anything bad could happen to her.  When she urges her friend Ziggy to join her in sneaking out to attend a gang party, her life is forever changed.

I did love this book, but it wasn't easy to read.  The subject matters of abuse and broken families are sensitive topics.  Not all novels can be filled with balloons and rainbows because real life is gritty.

Author Katherena Vermette took her time introducing the large assortment of characters, their backgrounds and connections.  Kind of slow reading at first as I kept referring back to the Charles family tree at the front of the book.  Once I had met everyone, the story sped up and grabbed me in close.

I could feel the closeness of the family as the narrative moved back and forth between the different women.  None of them have had a dream life, but also,  none of them had ever given up.  They were held together by the love and stories of Flora (Kookom) mother, grandmother and great grand mother.  This family has had it's hardships, but they have dropped everything and drawn in tight when needed.  That is their strength which left me feeling hope for Emily and her generation.

Does it make a difference in the story that the extended family is Metis.  I feel that it does indeed.  Over the past decades, the treatment of the various family members was determined by their heritage.  The bullying at school, dismissal of their health concerns, and currently the initial dismissal by the police of the reported incident were all directly a  result of them being Metis. .  Hopefully this book is reaching a wide audience who realize that biased and unequal treatment due to a person's heritage is not acceptable and will not be tolerated in our society.

First Nations Friday is an occasional post where I review books by  First Nations, Metis and Inuit authors.

Cover image courtesy House of Anansi.

I received and advance reader copy of this book from Indigo Books and Music Inc., in exchange for an honest review. 

#IndigoEmployee  #CanadaReads

First Nations/Aboriginal Fridays - People of the Buffalo: How the Plains Indians Lived by Maria Campbell

This  1975 children's book is a good introduction to the life of the various Indian tribes living in the short-grass areas and the prairie.  Ms. Campbell covers many aspects of daily life: respect for territory, music, beliefs, ceremonial smoking, housing, food, clothing etc.  She felt that the book had to include physical as well as spiritual needs to be complete:

"It was not possible for Indians to separate their life as people do today into different categories such as work, play, relgion and art.  To them, every part of life and all forms of life made up 'the whole'.  To ignore one part was to lessen, even destroy one's self."

The book is heavily illustrated with line drawings by Douglas Tait and Shannon Twofeathers.  Douglas also illustrated 'Mouse Woman and the Mischief Makers' by Christie Harris.

Native Wiki has a comprehensive biography of Maria Campbell.

I searched widely to try and find a biography for Shannon Two Feathers, but was unsucessful.  I am assuming that he is the same person that I found touted as a Legendary Aboriginal Musician who passed away in 1980 and was inducted into the Manitoba Aboriginal Music Hall of Fame, but can't confirm this.  If you have additional information on Shannon Two Feathers, leave a comment with details.  Thanks.

At the Spirit Wrestler Gallery I found pictures of grass baskets decorated with quills similar to the ones described in the book.

Teddy Rose has also posted a review at 'So Many Precious Books So Little Time'

April Raintree by Beatrice Culleton

I was relieved to find that this is a fictional account of the lives of two Metis sisters growing up in Winnipeg, Manitoba. April and her sister Cheryl have been removed from their parents' home and placed with a series of foster families. By chance, April has a lighter complexion and identifies herself with the white population while Cheryl has a darker complexion and identifies herself with the Metis population.

I was captivated by both girls. I would have welcomed either of them into my family.

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I don't fault April for choosing to play on her light colouring, after all, her heritage is part white. I don't walk around with a banner exclaiming all parts of my ethnic make up, so I didn't expect her to do the same. I found it mostly positive the way Cheryl embraced the Metis and how she did her research about them and presented her findings in her various school reports. Without having her parents to provide a sense of identity, she went and found it for herself.

 

Without unveiling a plot development, I was sad with what happened to April when she returned to Winnipeg to help her sister. It seemed too much to play up to stereotypes, but I suppose that it's also a reality. That in the end it had nothing to do with being Indian, but rather with choices that Cheryl made me accept better that it had to happen for the story to progress as it had.

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I cried lots of tears as the story turned back to Cheryl. She had so much hope and she seemed at first to do all the right things. I really wanted her to succeed and do good work at the Friendship Centre and for the Metis people.

I am glad to find that this book has 're-written from the original "In Search of April Raintree" for use in high schools', otherwise I would have kept searching for a copy of the other thinking that it was a sequel or prequel to this one. . It is currently the chosen books for the On the Same Page: Manitoba Reads project. The aim of which is to have 12 000 people read this book prior to April 2009. If you live in Winnipeg and have read the book this year, go to this link and register your read. update: October 24, 2009 - voting is over, though the link takes you to the City of Winnipeg Library website.

Thanks to Beatrice Culleton for creating a book that has provided such a good opportunity for reflection.

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Thanks to my online friend author Kathleen Molloy for sending me this book as a surprise to help me along with my quest to read 13 books by First Nations Authors as part of the 2nd Canadian Book Challenge.