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A review by varsha_ravi
Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden
3.75/5
I read and loved Joseph Boyden’s The Orenda when I read it a few years ago and I still think of it as quite a masterpiece of Canadian literature. While that was set in 1600’s in Canada, Through Black Spruce is much more of a contemporary novel. It is a slow burn mystery that gradually unravels as a dual narrative moving both forwards and backwards in time.
In one, we follow Will Bird, a retired Cree bush pilot and in alternating chapters, we follow Annie, Will’s niece as she sits by his hospital bedside where he lay paralysed and in a coma. Both narratives weave to slowly reveal the circumstances that have led to that point. Annie’s sister Suzanne has been missing for months when she fell into bad company during her modelling career in Toronto. Annie goes in search of her and in the present, is narrating that too Will. In Will’s chapters, you learn more about his life and the tragedies of his life in Moosenee, a small northern port town in Ontario.
Boyden beautifully brings to life the Native Indian life and beliefs and its juxtaposition against western ideas. In the small town of Moosenee, rivalry runs deep and the vengeance with which certain townsfolk threaten Will’s life reminded me of the two major Native Indian clan rivalries you see in The Orenda. The setting seamlessly moves from rural Canadian landscape in Will's chapters to the urban cities of Toronto, Montreal and New York in Annie’s.
The risk of a dual narrative is in ensuring both voices hold an equal interest in the reader. I think that was the only place this novel slightly let me down. I loved Will’s chapters way more than Annie’s and I found myself rushing through hers just to get to his. In the middle sections that Annie spends searching for Suzanne in Toronto and New York started to feel slightly repetitive. I think if the novel had been 100 pages shorter, with mainly sections cut from Annie’s perspective, it would have undoubtedly been a 5 star read for me. Nonetheless, it’s one I’d highly recommend, especially to read during the colder months.
I read and loved Joseph Boyden’s The Orenda when I read it a few years ago and I still think of it as quite a masterpiece of Canadian literature. While that was set in 1600’s in Canada, Through Black Spruce is much more of a contemporary novel. It is a slow burn mystery that gradually unravels as a dual narrative moving both forwards and backwards in time.
In one, we follow Will Bird, a retired Cree bush pilot and in alternating chapters, we follow Annie, Will’s niece as she sits by his hospital bedside where he lay paralysed and in a coma. Both narratives weave to slowly reveal the circumstances that have led to that point. Annie’s sister Suzanne has been missing for months when she fell into bad company during her modelling career in Toronto. Annie goes in search of her and in the present, is narrating that too Will. In Will’s chapters, you learn more about his life and the tragedies of his life in Moosenee, a small northern port town in Ontario.
Boyden beautifully brings to life the Native Indian life and beliefs and its juxtaposition against western ideas. In the small town of Moosenee, rivalry runs deep and the vengeance with which certain townsfolk threaten Will’s life reminded me of the two major Native Indian clan rivalries you see in The Orenda. The setting seamlessly moves from rural Canadian landscape in Will's chapters to the urban cities of Toronto, Montreal and New York in Annie’s.
The risk of a dual narrative is in ensuring both voices hold an equal interest in the reader. I think that was the only place this novel slightly let me down. I loved Will’s chapters way more than Annie’s and I found myself rushing through hers just to get to his. In the middle sections that Annie spends searching for Suzanne in Toronto and New York started to feel slightly repetitive. I think if the novel had been 100 pages shorter, with mainly sections cut from Annie’s perspective, it would have undoubtedly been a 5 star read for me. Nonetheless, it’s one I’d highly recommend, especially to read during the colder months.