Saul is such a strong character. I don't think many would make it through what he goes through at such a young age and then all through childhood. To have such focus on a sport while he is being abused and his culture and way of life have been completely ripped away from him shows a strong will to survive.
Thoughts on Saul?
Pictured is a Birch Bark Canoe - one of the main forms of transportation for the Ojibwe.
Another major part of the book is hockey. Saul manages to find an escape through hockey although it only masks the suffering he is going through. It isn't until much later in life that he digs deep into that past so that he can truly heal.
Thoughts on the hockey portion of the book? Did you know this book was originally only supposed to be about hockey?
A Residential School is a big part of this book. Saul is sent to one after losing both his siblings to them, his parents to grief and his grandmother to the cold. Due to his hard work and skills in hockey he manages to find a way out but not until he has suffered from many abuses. This will require him to take his own healing journey.
Thoughts on Residential Schools and/or that aspect of the book? Crazy that 1996 was when the last one was closed!
Constantly moving to try and keep your kids from being kidnapped - all while trying to preserve your culture, faith and beliefs. Multiple generations damaged by stealing and abusing kids, trying to destroy an entire peoples and pushing them to live on a Reserve. Many battling addictions due to their suffering.
These are all topics throughout the book - general thoughts on the book?
pickA Minor Chorus, by Billy-Ray Belcourt (2022 🇨🇦)
Premise: An Indigenous graduate student, jaded by the institutional game and the broader lack of effective action on Indigenous Reconciliation in Canada, returns to his home community to find the voice for the novel he knows he has within him.
Review: This is incredibly well-done and is thought-provoking in all the best, most challenging ways. Cont.
pickThis author is interesting. He tells a good story. His text is non-linear. The subjects are not cheerful. I recommend it anyway.
#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks
I also had an #ARC from #Netgalley 😂 oops.
pickI needed something completely different from my last reads and this book about a father and daughter living off the grid due to events in his past jumped out at me. After 8 years in the woods strangers cross their paths and their precarious world is threatened. I found this so engrossing as you learn what drove Cooper to choose such an isolated life and see Finch become more curious about what she is missing. A good distraction and a solid story.
pickThis book is just as good as a reread. Wagamese is masterful when it comes to writing - you are truly transported into the time and place of the book. He even makes hockey sound magical. I could have done with a little bit less hockey - but that's not a big deal. Truly terrible that any of this was allowed to happen but I'm so glad he wrote about it as it is important to remember and know this part of history.
#DoubleBookSpin @TheAromaofBooks
pickWhat an extraordinary book! The outrage of the treatment meted out to indigenous people in the mid C20th is all the more affecting because it is depicted in such a matter-of-fact way. There are direct parallels with Australia. In contrast, the hockey scenes are sublime. I can‘t imagine such transporting writing about Aussie Rules 🤣 I‘m glad I‘m sufficiently hockey literate to be able to appreciate it. Looking forward to the discussion. #OhCanada
