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breanneisdeadinside's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This one made me cry.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Rape, and Religious bigotry
jakobpunkt's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Beautiful, hard, essential reading about the so-called "residential school" system of concentration camps for indigenous children in Canada. For all that the emotional reality presented by this book is devastating to witness and engage with, it is clear that the author has, out of either pity for the reader or respect for the survivors, pulled some punches. You won't find much in the way of torture porn here, which is good. This book deals mostly with the aftermath. The lives of adults who survived that system, and how they cope (or don't) with their memories and their new reality.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Racism, and Genocide
kelly_e's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
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? It's complicated
5.0
Title: Five Little Indians
Author: Michelle Good
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 5.0
Pub Date: April 14, 2020
T H R E E • W O R D S
Essential • Heartbreaking • Powerful
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Taken from their families and sent to a church-run residential school as small children, Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie and Maisie must learn to live in the real world upon their release. As the title suggests, Five Little Indians tells the stories of five young adults, with very few skills or resources, navigating and trying to survive in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Over the years their paths will cross as they each must contend with the trauma they endured for years at the Mission school. A story about trauma and loss, love and friendship, and coming to term with the past, while ultimately finding a way forward.
💭 T H O U G H T S
Of the five finalists for Canada Reads 2022, this was the one I had heard the most about prior to it being shortlisted. Five Little Indians is a work of fiction, but at it's heart it is gruesome and heartbreaking lived experience of so many residential school survivors and their families. Filled with a lot of trauma, there is certainly a lot to unpack, but there's also an underlying sense of hope and resiliency.
Told from five perspective in an alternating fashion, each one offers a different story that needs to be told. The five individuals each suffered a similar trauma, yet the various accounts explore how that trauma culminated in a completely different experience for each individual. Michelle Good utilizes this tool in order to showcase the broad scope of the long-lasting impact residential schools have had.
As someone trying to learn more about a past I was never taught, I felt this book really bridged a gap. There are books that ultimately shift everything you thought you knew, and this book was one of them for me. It's no surprise it was crowned the winner of Canada Reads 2022, as the one book to connect us all. This is a book we all need, and at its heart it is a book about connection - the connections to family and culture lost and connections made through shared experience. There is no one book I will be recommending more this year than Five Little Indians
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• all Canadians!
• teachers/professors
• anyone wanting to learn more
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"'I just don't know what to do.' Bella squeezed Kenny's hand. 'It's like most of me is gone and I can't get it back.'"
"'Sometimes I think I did die, I'm just still walking around.'"
"'Child, he loved you more than life. Me too. It was himself he couldn't love. They did that to him. Whatever they didn't break in him, they bent. They beat him so many times I couldn't even count. He never told me this, but I know Brother was bothering him too. That creep went after so many of those little boys.'"
"'You know what Mariah taught me about death? That the only thing our loved ones suffer is when we are suffering here without them. We know he is free, finally, in the green grass world. You know he would not want you to suffer.'
'I try. It just hurts so much. He deserved so much better.'
'We all did. But I guess the only thing we can do is try to make our own lives better now.'"
Author: Michelle Good
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 5.0
Pub Date: April 14, 2020
T H R E E • W O R D S
Essential • Heartbreaking • Powerful
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Taken from their families and sent to a church-run residential school as small children, Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie and Maisie must learn to live in the real world upon their release. As the title suggests, Five Little Indians tells the stories of five young adults, with very few skills or resources, navigating and trying to survive in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Over the years their paths will cross as they each must contend with the trauma they endured for years at the Mission school. A story about trauma and loss, love and friendship, and coming to term with the past, while ultimately finding a way forward.
💭 T H O U G H T S
Of the five finalists for Canada Reads 2022, this was the one I had heard the most about prior to it being shortlisted. Five Little Indians is a work of fiction, but at it's heart it is gruesome and heartbreaking lived experience of so many residential school survivors and their families. Filled with a lot of trauma, there is certainly a lot to unpack, but there's also an underlying sense of hope and resiliency.
Told from five perspective in an alternating fashion, each one offers a different story that needs to be told. The five individuals each suffered a similar trauma, yet the various accounts explore how that trauma culminated in a completely different experience for each individual. Michelle Good utilizes this tool in order to showcase the broad scope of the long-lasting impact residential schools have had.
As someone trying to learn more about a past I was never taught, I felt this book really bridged a gap. There are books that ultimately shift everything you thought you knew, and this book was one of them for me. It's no surprise it was crowned the winner of Canada Reads 2022, as the one book to connect us all. This is a book we all need, and at its heart it is a book about connection - the connections to family and culture lost and connections made through shared experience. There is no one book I will be recommending more this year than Five Little Indians
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• all Canadians!
• teachers/professors
• anyone wanting to learn more
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"'I just don't know what to do.' Bella squeezed Kenny's hand. 'It's like most of me is gone and I can't get it back.'"
"'Sometimes I think I did die, I'm just still walking around.'"
"'Child, he loved you more than life. Me too. It was himself he couldn't love. They did that to him. Whatever they didn't break in him, they bent. They beat him so many times I couldn't even count. He never told me this, but I know Brother was bothering him too. That creep went after so many of those little boys.'"
"'You know what Mariah taught me about death? That the only thing our loved ones suffer is when we are suffering here without them. We know he is free, finally, in the green grass world. You know he would not want you to suffer.'
'I try. It just hurts so much. He deserved so much better.'
'We all did. But I guess the only thing we can do is try to make our own lives better now.'"
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Addiction, Child death, Alcoholism, and Child abuse
Moderate: Death, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Suicide
Minor: Sexual assault, Colonisation, and Religious bigotry
thazell's review against another edition
dark
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? No
4.0
This was such a heart-wrenching book about the residential schools and the effects they had on people afterwards. It's about trauma and healing. This made me cry on multiple occasions and definitely left me with a heavy heart; it touches on many dark and sensitive subjects.
The characters felt real, it was like I was reading a non-fiction story about a group of people's lives which made it all that much harder. I cried for these characters who suffered from such a horrible event and I hoped for their healing from their trauma. My favourite from the perspective was definitely Lucy and her story. The only complaint I have for this book is that the story jumped around in a way that made it difficult for me to read and would pull me out of the story, it felt as though the timeline was all over the place. Otherwise, the perspective was cool and I loved seeing how they would interconnect and the different stories would come together.
This story will have a special place in my heart and I will continue to remember this event that has affected my culture and people, it deserves to be remembered and this story did amazing at that.
*Read the TW's before reading this book*
The characters felt real, it was like I was reading a non-fiction story about a group of people's lives which made it all that much harder. I cried for these characters who suffered from such a horrible event and I hoped for their healing from their trauma. My favourite from the perspective was definitely Lucy and her story. The only complaint I have for this book is that the story jumped around in a way that made it difficult for me to read and would pull me out of the story, it felt as though the timeline was all over the place. Otherwise, the perspective was cool and I loved seeing how they would interconnect and the different stories would come together.
This story will have a special place in my heart and I will continue to remember this event that has affected my culture and people, it deserves to be remembered and this story did amazing at that.
*Read the TW's before reading this book*
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Confinement, and Racism
Moderate: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Child abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Rape
melaniekarin's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This is a truly beautiful book of interwoven lives and stories of five residential school survivors. Difficult but important read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Child abuse, Child death, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, and Genocide
shays's review against another edition
dark
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? Yes
4.0
Five Little Indians is told from alternating perspectives, usually in the third person, but occasionally in first. I felt this first person POV particularly viscerally in Maisie’s story. We meet Maisie through Lucy, who ages out of the system with nowhere to go and lands on Maisie’s doorstep on the Downtown Eastside. Maisie has been out of the school system for a year, and from Lucy’s perspective, she seems world-wise, and like she has her life together. She has a job, her own apartment, and a kind boyfriend who adores her. But when we get inside Maisie’s head, we are quickly confronted with the pain she is hiding, the cracks in her façade that she is trying so hard to plaster over so that neither her boyfriend nor Lucy will see her messy pain. This is by no means an easy book in any respect, but Maisie’s chapter was one of the hardest, grappling with the fallout of sexual abuse, sexual self-harm, and addiction.
Full review: https://shayshortt.com/2022/04/01/five-little-indians/
Full review: https://shayshortt.com/2022/04/01/five-little-indians/
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Child death, Racism, and Suicide
susanknights's review
challenging
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Self harm, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Torture
kassidypf13's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Bullying, Child death, Racism, Rape, Abandonment, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, and Police brutality
cozjetez's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Child abuse
Moderate: Child death and Alcoholism
Minor: Sexual assault
katreadstoomanybooks's review against another edition
emotional
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? No
5.0
An incredible testament to survivors of residential schools. When I first saw the title, I cringed, but don’t worry, Michelle Good treats the subject with enormous respect. She herself is a Cree author (and poet and lawyer) from Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. Her mother, grandmother, and cousins were some of the many Indigenous children who were forcibly taken from their homes between the 1870s and 1990s. (Did you know that the last residential school closed in 1996??)
Kenny, Maisie, Clara, Lucy, and Howie have been ripped from their families and sent to Mission School in British Columbia in the 1960s. Years later, they are finally free of the abuse but still dealing with the aftermath of what they suffered, with no support.
What I appreciated the most was that Good focused on the years after residential school, the emotional and physical damage, and the re-traumatization that can happen during an investigation and trial. Heads up: the first part of the book is highly triggering and graphic.
Good’s writing is descriptive, clear, and beautiful. It’s hard to believe this is her debut novel, I can see why she won multiple awards (one of which coincided with the discovery of 215 human child remains at a former residential school- how horrific).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Child death