Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.47 AVERAGE
4.47 AVERAGE
I’m of two minds about this book. So much more intelligent than your average book about a sport (hockey) or about recovery from abuse (in this case, in Canada’s notorious Indian residential schools), and yet still more limited in scope than your typical literary novel.
Wagamese is a captivating storyteller and a confident writer, and it’s a real pleasure to be in his writing. He writes fiction with a journalistic hand, something that he uses to great effect, but which I also felt kept the reader at a distance. I also couldn’t help feeling somewhat cheated by the big reveal at the end, even though thematically I understand why he did it.
All in all, I would have preferred more of the nuance and depth of exploration, and character, that I tend to look for in literary fiction, but a compelling story nonetheless, and one that non-Indigenous Canadians desperately need to hear.
Wagamese is a captivating storyteller and a confident writer, and it’s a real pleasure to be in his writing. He writes fiction with a journalistic hand, something that he uses to great effect, but which I also felt kept the reader at a distance. I also couldn’t help feeling somewhat cheated by the big reveal at the end, even though thematically I understand why he did it.
All in all, I would have preferred more of the nuance and depth of exploration, and character, that I tend to look for in literary fiction, but a compelling story nonetheless, and one that non-Indigenous Canadians desperately need to hear.
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This really is a great book. It's not huge and complex, and it's not full of characters and pretensions and ambitions. It's full of reality. It's full of pain. It's full of struggle and survival and humanity. It will make you feel better and worse about the world, and in particular about Canada.
I really prefer not to write anything bad about this book -- it's a good story and, more importantly, the type of story we need more of. And to be fair, it's more like 3.5 stars. The trouble (for me) was that it's really two books.
Book One is the first 80 or so pages, and the last maybe 50 pages. This tells the story of Saul Indian Horse, the losses he suffers and the pain he endures, his communion with the land, and with his culture, and his slow road to reclamation. It's the story of the residential school system, racism, loss of culture, addiction and healing. The images of northern Ontario ring true. The narrative is spare and beautiful and I found it quite moving.
Book Two, the one sandwiched between the two sections above, is about Saul the hockey player and the experiences he encounters. There's a reason for this section in the book, and it takes on heightened importance when we get to know more about Saul. The trouble is, it's written at a different level than the rest of the book. It lacks nuance, relies on (irony of irony) stereotypes and two-dimensional character, and worst of all, there's little evidence of Saul in this section -- and that part isn't redeemed when we later learn the reason for Saul's intense passion for hockey. This part of the story reminds me of those books I read when I was 10-12 or so: the only black kid in the school joins the baseball team. Or the short kid goes out for the basketball team. Or the ... you get the idea. There are pages upon pages of hockey action that are all pretty much the same: Saul, a natural hockey talent (who works hard of course) encounters stiffer and stiffer competition as he moves up the hockey ranks right through to Jr. A with the Toronto Marlies. Thing is, all the players are lunkheads, they all play at the same level themselves except for him (he's always better), and all the non-native players (and this is set late 60s to about 1970) are racist.
Just not realistic (did Jr. A players even wear helmets in those days? Did they call each other "pussy" or did people say "you suck" at that time? Quibbles, perhaps, but the story is steeped in an era different than today). When Saul joins the Marlies and is billeted with a Toronto family, we never find out what part of Toronto: is it downtown? This would be the height of culture shock, never mind that Toronto in 1970 was very tame outside of the Yonge Street Strip. Or is the leafy mid-town or suburbs? Or the woebegone virgin lands further away? There's only the briefest allusion to his reaction to Toronto and the city is portrayed monolithically.
But here's the real gripe: even as a "hockey book" this section fails for more reason than the two-dimensional aspect of the games described. The Marlies played in Maple Leaf Gardens in those days. Saul watched Hockey Night in Canada growing up. MLG was a shrine to every hockey-loving boy in Canada. So imagine Saul stepping out onto the ice at MLG, the very same ice played by the Toronto Maple Leafs of the NHL. Imagine the thrill rushing through him.
Go on and imagine it, because it's never mentioned. MLG is never mentioned. Hockey Fail.
OK, enough of that. The rest of the book? Should be required reading.
Book One is the first 80 or so pages, and the last maybe 50 pages. This tells the story of Saul Indian Horse, the losses he suffers and the pain he endures, his communion with the land, and with his culture, and his slow road to reclamation. It's the story of the residential school system, racism, loss of culture, addiction and healing. The images of northern Ontario ring true. The narrative is spare and beautiful and I found it quite moving.
Book Two, the one sandwiched between the two sections above, is about Saul the hockey player and the experiences he encounters. There's a reason for this section in the book, and it takes on heightened importance when we get to know more about Saul. The trouble is, it's written at a different level than the rest of the book. It lacks nuance, relies on (irony of irony) stereotypes and two-dimensional character, and worst of all, there's little evidence of Saul in this section -- and that part isn't redeemed when we later learn the reason for Saul's intense passion for hockey. This part of the story reminds me of those books I read when I was 10-12 or so: the only black kid in the school joins the baseball team. Or the short kid goes out for the basketball team. Or the ... you get the idea. There are pages upon pages of hockey action that are all pretty much the same: Saul, a natural hockey talent (who works hard of course) encounters stiffer and stiffer competition as he moves up the hockey ranks right through to Jr. A with the Toronto Marlies. Thing is, all the players are lunkheads, they all play at the same level themselves except for him (he's always better), and all the non-native players (and this is set late 60s to about 1970) are racist.
Just not realistic (did Jr. A players even wear helmets in those days? Did they call each other "pussy" or did people say "you suck" at that time? Quibbles, perhaps, but the story is steeped in an era different than today). When Saul joins the Marlies and is billeted with a Toronto family, we never find out what part of Toronto: is it downtown? This would be the height of culture shock, never mind that Toronto in 1970 was very tame outside of the Yonge Street Strip. Or is the leafy mid-town or suburbs? Or the woebegone virgin lands further away? There's only the briefest allusion to his reaction to Toronto and the city is portrayed monolithically.
But here's the real gripe: even as a "hockey book" this section fails for more reason than the two-dimensional aspect of the games described. The Marlies played in Maple Leaf Gardens in those days. Saul watched Hockey Night in Canada growing up. MLG was a shrine to every hockey-loving boy in Canada. So imagine Saul stepping out onto the ice at MLG, the very same ice played by the Toronto Maple Leafs of the NHL. Imagine the thrill rushing through him.
Go on and imagine it, because it's never mentioned. MLG is never mentioned. Hockey Fail.
OK, enough of that. The rest of the book? Should be required reading.
An easy read that is filled with heart, passion, and pain with an ending that tore out my heart.
4.5 stars. I watched the movie first (I know, I know, and I call myself a reader), and loved it, so I wanted to give the book a try. Saul’s story is devastating - especially towards the end - and all the more so because although this is fiction, we know it’s also real. Residential schools, the blatant racism - it never fails to make me furious. The author definitely makes us feel it here.
That’s not all we feel, though. Kudos to the author for making a sport I have absolutely no interest in come alive on the page. Saul’s love of the game is perhaps the best part of this book. I loved all the descriptions of him on the ice.
My only real complaint is I lost a sense of how much time was going by in the last part of the book. The pacing didn’t match the rest of it. I would have liked to have spent more time learning about his recovery.
This book was powerful, and one that I would recommend to anyone, whether you are doing your reconciliation work or not!
That’s not all we feel, though. Kudos to the author for making a sport I have absolutely no interest in come alive on the page. Saul’s love of the game is perhaps the best part of this book. I loved all the descriptions of him on the ice.
My only real complaint is I lost a sense of how much time was going by in the last part of the book. The pacing didn’t match the rest of it. I would have liked to have spent more time learning about his recovery.
This book was powerful, and one that I would recommend to anyone, whether you are doing your reconciliation work or not!
A must read for all. Such a gifted storyteller whose clear message is honestly shared.
Although a work of fiction, Indian Horse gives real insight from an indigenous point of view into a dark period of Canadian history. During the 60's the residential school system was an almost fatal blow to first nations life and culture.
As a non-indigenous person, I've really failed to understand just how bad residential schools actually were and why they were so destructive. The novel gives a first hand view of the experience of one boy and it's heartbreaking.
On the other hand Indian Horse is a celebration and exploration of some of the old ways which prove to be evocative reading.
It also one of the best books I've read which captures the feel of hockey.
An excellent if difficult read that is hard to put down.
As a non-indigenous person, I've really failed to understand just how bad residential schools actually were and why they were so destructive. The novel gives a first hand view of the experience of one boy and it's heartbreaking.
On the other hand Indian Horse is a celebration and exploration of some of the old ways which prove to be evocative reading.
It also one of the best books I've read which captures the feel of hockey.
An excellent if difficult read that is hard to put down.
There's a lot of writing about hockey which isn't really my thing, but I get what it means to the character. Still for me in brings down the rating because it wasn't that interesting when it talked hocket.