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reidjk's review against another edition
Life got busy. It was beautiful! But other things came up
stevierae's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
4.5
cjaharder's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
megan_prairierose's review against another edition
4.0
Magical realism set in the tragedy of colonialism.
alyson7's review against another edition
3.0
The novel begins with two Cree brothers living in a small community in Northern Manitoba. The brothers are happy and healthy, and even at a young age, they demonstrate a lot of artistic potential. One day, the eldest brother, Champion Okimasis, is swept away from his home and parents and carried off to a residential school hundreds of miles away. At this school, Champion is renamed Jeremiah. He is taught English in hopes of eradicating his native tongue. A few years later, Jeremiah’s brother Gabriel (original name Ooneemeetoo), is subjected to sexual assault from a priest at the school.
Years later, Jeremiah and Gabriel find themselves living in the city trying to make their way as artists. At this point I found it rather interesting that Highway decided not to focus a great deal more on life at the residential school. This suggests that for Highway, the aftereffects of attending the residential school and being immersed in a society which seeks to eradicate Indigenous culture is much more devastating. It becomes clear that although the brothers have received an education which has allowed them to pursue their artistic interests, they become isolated individuals as a result. If they go home, they cannot fully adapt into their family life and culture. If they stay in the city, their Indigenous heritage turns them into outcasts. They appear to inhabit both worlds at once without fully being able to root themselves firmly in either world.
This book is extremely valuable for a non-Indigenous Canadian or even American person if they wish to begin to understand Indigenous issues. The effects of residential schools may appear to be a facet of the past (the last one closed down approximately 21 years ago in 1996 in Canada), but the trauma is very much alive today. Although there is a slight blending of Indigenous myth that I certainly had no experience with, Highway writes in a particular way which is conscious of his audience. You do not need to be an expert in Indigenous culture to understand this novel, and any Cree words used in the novel are conveniently translated in a glossary at the back of the book.
Years later, Jeremiah and Gabriel find themselves living in the city trying to make their way as artists. At this point I found it rather interesting that Highway decided not to focus a great deal more on life at the residential school. This suggests that for Highway, the aftereffects of attending the residential school and being immersed in a society which seeks to eradicate Indigenous culture is much more devastating. It becomes clear that although the brothers have received an education which has allowed them to pursue their artistic interests, they become isolated individuals as a result. If they go home, they cannot fully adapt into their family life and culture. If they stay in the city, their Indigenous heritage turns them into outcasts. They appear to inhabit both worlds at once without fully being able to root themselves firmly in either world.
This book is extremely valuable for a non-Indigenous Canadian or even American person if they wish to begin to understand Indigenous issues. The effects of residential schools may appear to be a facet of the past (the last one closed down approximately 21 years ago in 1996 in Canada), but the trauma is very much alive today. Although there is a slight blending of Indigenous myth that I certainly had no experience with, Highway writes in a particular way which is conscious of his audience. You do not need to be an expert in Indigenous culture to understand this novel, and any Cree words used in the novel are conveniently translated in a glossary at the back of the book.
weaselweader's review against another edition
2.0
“Visit by visit, word, by word, these sons were splitting from their subarctic roots, their Cree beginnings.”
Residential schools; hijacked children separated forcibly from their villages, siblings and parents; forced baptisms; violent discipline and brutal beatings, even unto death; inadequate nutrition and medical care; sexual abuse; and religious and cultural terrorism! Check! From their first implementation in Canada to their final demise in the late stages of the 20th century, the reality that religious-based aboriginal residential schools, most notably the Roman Catholic versions, were guilty of de facto cultural genocide has been admitted by the Canadian government. This crime against humanity has been acknowledged as demanding reparation and compensation for the victims. It’s the heady stuff of current headlines across North America and there’s plenty of meat for both novels and non-fiction journalistic exposés and histories.
Two thumbs up for KISS OF THE FUR QUEEN’s novel approach of making only passing reference to the trials and tribulations that two Cree brothers clearly suffered during their actual time in a residential school in northern Manitoba. The interesting focus of the novel is on the mental anguish that both boys suffered, their falling into alcoholism and even gay prostitution, during their attempted assimilation into a modern white man’s world in Winnipeg and beyond as a result of the destruction of their minds’ links to their cultural and linguistic Cree background. Except here’s the thing! KISS OF THE FUR QUEEN fell in love with its own literary pretentiousness and went WAY over the top with its disjointed conversations and disrupted timelines, day dreams, night dreams, and even tortured flights of fantasy that included conversations with Weesageechak, the wily, shape-shifting, aboriginal Trickster.
I wanted KISS OF THE FUR QUEEN to work. I really did. But despite moments of acknowledged, breathtaking brilliance, the novel as a whole just didn’t win me over. Your reaction may be different, of course, and, by all means, current circumstances in Canada might demand that you give it a shot but, for me, I’m setting it aside and looking elsewhere on my aboriginal reading list.
Paul Weiss
Residential schools; hijacked children separated forcibly from their villages, siblings and parents; forced baptisms; violent discipline and brutal beatings, even unto death; inadequate nutrition and medical care; sexual abuse; and religious and cultural terrorism! Check! From their first implementation in Canada to their final demise in the late stages of the 20th century, the reality that religious-based aboriginal residential schools, most notably the Roman Catholic versions, were guilty of de facto cultural genocide has been admitted by the Canadian government. This crime against humanity has been acknowledged as demanding reparation and compensation for the victims. It’s the heady stuff of current headlines across North America and there’s plenty of meat for both novels and non-fiction journalistic exposés and histories.
Two thumbs up for KISS OF THE FUR QUEEN’s novel approach of making only passing reference to the trials and tribulations that two Cree brothers clearly suffered during their actual time in a residential school in northern Manitoba. The interesting focus of the novel is on the mental anguish that both boys suffered, their falling into alcoholism and even gay prostitution, during their attempted assimilation into a modern white man’s world in Winnipeg and beyond as a result of the destruction of their minds’ links to their cultural and linguistic Cree background. Except here’s the thing! KISS OF THE FUR QUEEN fell in love with its own literary pretentiousness and went WAY over the top with its disjointed conversations and disrupted timelines, day dreams, night dreams, and even tortured flights of fantasy that included conversations with Weesageechak, the wily, shape-shifting, aboriginal Trickster.
I wanted KISS OF THE FUR QUEEN to work. I really did. But despite moments of acknowledged, breathtaking brilliance, the novel as a whole just didn’t win me over. Your reaction may be different, of course, and, by all means, current circumstances in Canada might demand that you give it a shot but, for me, I’m setting it aside and looking elsewhere on my aboriginal reading list.
Paul Weiss
opalamber's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
wawayaga's review against another edition
5.0
this book was so fkcign good it's stupid. i finished it and immediately scrolled back to the beginning to start it over. we LOVE A CIRCLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!