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elizabethlk's review
3.0
Big Bear was overall a decent enough read that I ultimately have mixed feelings for. I started it on National Aboriginal Day and it took me longer than I wanted to finish it since I had to constantly push myself to get through it.
What I liked: I really liked the actual information displayed. The letters, articles, journals, records, statistics, etc. from the time period were fascinating to read, as were the oral accounts later written down. Big Bear's life was fascinating and sad. My knowledge on the aboriginals of Canada doesn't extend beyond what I learned in school, which isn't a lot. This book gave me a lot of new information to digest and that information was very interesting. It made me want to learn more and that's always a great thing.
What I didn't like: Obviously not everything can be known about what happened during certain events, and so Wiebe has filled in the blanks a lot with storytelling bits that were made up with his assumptions based on the facts. I honestly didn't like it. The writing during these parts wasn't interesting and I found myself having to force myself to keep going so I could get back to the parts I did want to read. The language was a bit too flowery in parts to be interesting. I mostly just wish there had been less of this.
Overall, I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the information but if the storytelling passages are very off putting for you than this is probably not for you.
What I liked: I really liked the actual information displayed. The letters, articles, journals, records, statistics, etc. from the time period were fascinating to read, as were the oral accounts later written down. Big Bear's life was fascinating and sad. My knowledge on the aboriginals of Canada doesn't extend beyond what I learned in school, which isn't a lot. This book gave me a lot of new information to digest and that information was very interesting. It made me want to learn more and that's always a great thing.
What I didn't like: Obviously not everything can be known about what happened during certain events, and so Wiebe has filled in the blanks a lot with storytelling bits that were made up with his assumptions based on the facts. I honestly didn't like it. The writing during these parts wasn't interesting and I found myself having to force myself to keep going so I could get back to the parts I did want to read. The language was a bit too flowery in parts to be interesting. I mostly just wish there had been less of this.
Overall, I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the information but if the storytelling passages are very off putting for you than this is probably not for you.
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