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A review by 2treads
Hunting by Stars by Cherie Dimaline
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
“Story is a home, it’s where we live, it’s where we hold everything we’ll need to truly survive— our languages, our people, our land..." – Miig
Dimaline stuns with the depth of feeling she is able to conjure with her words as she leads us back to Frenchie and his family, his community. When your very marrow is the most precious resource in a shattered world, where and how far can you run to remain free?
Hunting By Stars expands the portraiture of found family established in The Marrow Thieves, focusing a wider lens into community, memory, resistance, family, and love; giving the reader insight into the misguided and warped thinking of the Institute, its mandates and changing goal.
Dimaline draws upon Indigenous history and experiences with residential schools, how that horrific past can still be excavated and used to detail a trauma that has not been healed and that Indigenous peoples still encounter and live with today. The phrase 'kill the Indian in the child' occurs more than once and impresses upon the reader that manipulation and indoctrination is also a part of what was done then and that has bearing on the treatment of Indigenous bodies today.
But, what stays with me after reading this novel and having experienced this series, is the power of choosing family; of living one's truth and keeping tradition, story, and identity foremost as we move ever forward.
"They never win when we remember.” – Miig
Dimaline stuns with the depth of feeling she is able to conjure with her words as she leads us back to Frenchie and his family, his community. When your very marrow is the most precious resource in a shattered world, where and how far can you run to remain free?
Hunting By Stars expands the portraiture of found family established in The Marrow Thieves, focusing a wider lens into community, memory, resistance, family, and love; giving the reader insight into the misguided and warped thinking of the Institute, its mandates and changing goal.
Dimaline draws upon Indigenous history and experiences with residential schools, how that horrific past can still be excavated and used to detail a trauma that has not been healed and that Indigenous peoples still encounter and live with today. The phrase 'kill the Indian in the child' occurs more than once and impresses upon the reader that manipulation and indoctrination is also a part of what was done then and that has bearing on the treatment of Indigenous bodies today.
But, what stays with me after reading this novel and having experienced this series, is the power of choosing family; of living one's truth and keeping tradition, story, and identity foremost as we move ever forward.
"They never win when we remember.” – Miig
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Forced institutionalization