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kelly_e's review against another edition
- 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
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."
Graphic: Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Addiction, Racial slurs, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Cultural appropriation, Racism, Rape, and Confinement
Moderate: Suicide, Child death, and Death
Minor: Abandonment
julienicole1106's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Excrement, Grief, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Cultural appropriation, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
maggieed's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Racism, and Cultural appropriation
Moderate: Grief, Torture, Violence, Sexual assault, Child death, and Cursing
belle2008's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Abandonment, Violence, Addiction, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, and Suicide attempt