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4.47 AVERAGE
4.47 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Beautiful
Indian Horse is a must. This will be one of the most beautiful, masterfully told stories you ever read. Throughout this book I was full of anger and anguish for Saul Indian Horse. Left by his parents, losing his grandmother and taken from everything familiar.
This coming of age tale is incredibly moving, heartbreaking account of a dark part of Canada's history.
Indian Horse is a must. This will be one of the most beautiful, masterfully told stories you ever read. Throughout this book I was full of anger and anguish for Saul Indian Horse. Left by his parents, losing his grandmother and taken from everything familiar.
This coming of age tale is incredibly moving, heartbreaking account of a dark part of Canada's history.
I find it hard to describe how much this book moved me. I cried for two days after I finished reading it. So incredibily beautiful and affecting, one of those books that will stay with me for a long time
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Title: Indian Horse
Author: Richard Wagamese
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 5.00
Pub Date: January 1, 2012
T H R E E • W O R D S
Harrowing • Intimate • Bittersweet
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Saul Indian Horse has hit bottom. His last binge almost killed him, and now he’s a reluctant resident in a treatment centre for alcoholics, surrounded by people he’s sure will never understand him. But Saul wants peace, and he grudgingly comes to see that he’ll find it only through telling his story.
For Saul, taken forcibly from the land and his family when he’s sent to residential school, salvation comes for a while through his incredible gifts as a hockey player. But in the harsh realities of 1960s Canada, he battles obdurate racism and the spirit-destroying effects of cultural alienation and displacement.
💭 T H O U G H T S
Indian Horse was one of my 12 recommendations from 12 friends in 2022 that I didn't get to until now. And to be completely honest, I cannot believe it took be such a long time to pick up this book. From the opening pages, I knew this book was going to take me on an emotional journey, one that wouldn't be easy, but necessary.
In this fictional account, Richard Wagamese details the horrors of the residential schools, and the continued power the trauma has had on generations of people. But it isn't all trauma, Saul's passion for hockey is central to the story, as is his healing.
The writing is beautiful and intimate, flowing expertly between past and present. As a reader, I was immersed into the story to the point that it felt like Saul was a real person, whose memoir I was reading.
From the initial scenes with his grandmother, I knew the supporting cast of characters would also play a central role in Saul's journey. Wagamese certainly made me dislike the characters I was meant to dislike and want to hug the ones I was supposed to like. At the end of the day, Saul is one of the most memorable characters I have come across in my recent reading life.
While this was my first foray into Richard Wagamese's work, it most certainly will not be my last. I can already conclude he is a gifted storyteller, and I look forward to exploring more of his work. Indian Horse should be required reading for all Canadian high school students.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• all Canadians
• bookclubs
• everyone!
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"The rink was the place where our dreams came to life."
"I discovered that being someone you are not if often easier than living with the person you are."
"Sometimes ghosts linger. They hover in the furthest corners, and when you least expect it they lurch out, bearing everything they brought to you when they were alive."
"I understood then that when you miss a thing it leaves a hole that only the thing you miss can fill."
Author: Richard Wagamese
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 5.00
Pub Date: January 1, 2012
T H R E E • W O R D S
Harrowing • Intimate • Bittersweet
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Saul Indian Horse has hit bottom. His last binge almost killed him, and now he’s a reluctant resident in a treatment centre for alcoholics, surrounded by people he’s sure will never understand him. But Saul wants peace, and he grudgingly comes to see that he’ll find it only through telling his story.
For Saul, taken forcibly from the land and his family when he’s sent to residential school, salvation comes for a while through his incredible gifts as a hockey player. But in the harsh realities of 1960s Canada, he battles obdurate racism and the spirit-destroying effects of cultural alienation and displacement.
💭 T H O U G H T S
Indian Horse was one of my 12 recommendations from 12 friends in 2022 that I didn't get to until now. And to be completely honest, I cannot believe it took be such a long time to pick up this book. From the opening pages, I knew this book was going to take me on an emotional journey, one that wouldn't be easy, but necessary.
In this fictional account, Richard Wagamese details the horrors of the residential schools, and the continued power the trauma has had on generations of people. But it isn't all trauma, Saul's passion for hockey is central to the story, as is his healing.
The writing is beautiful and intimate, flowing expertly between past and present. As a reader, I was immersed into the story to the point that it felt like Saul was a real person, whose memoir I was reading.
From the initial scenes with his grandmother, I knew the supporting cast of characters would also play a central role in Saul's journey. Wagamese certainly made me dislike the characters I was meant to dislike and want to hug the ones I was supposed to like. At the end of the day, Saul is one of the most memorable characters I have come across in my recent reading life.
While this was my first foray into Richard Wagamese's work, it most certainly will not be my last. I can already conclude he is a gifted storyteller, and I look forward to exploring more of his work. Indian Horse should be required reading for all Canadian high school students.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• all Canadians
• bookclubs
• everyone!
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"The rink was the place where our dreams came to life."
"I discovered that being someone you are not if often easier than living with the person you are."
"Sometimes ghosts linger. They hover in the furthest corners, and when you least expect it they lurch out, bearing everything they brought to you when they were alive."
"I understood then that when you miss a thing it leaves a hole that only the thing you miss can fill."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation
Moderate: Child death, Death, Suicide
Minor: Abandonment
dark
sad
medium-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
emotional
reflective
medium-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
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No