October 2, 2023
Memoirist Porter (Scratching River) imbues her well-crafted debut novel with her Métis culture’s storytelling traditions. Among the many characters who narrate are the spirit of matriarch Mamé, who’s having trouble getting settled in the afterlife; her octogenarian daughter Geneviéve, finally dealing with her alcoholism; Carter, Geneviéve’s great-granddaughter, a young woman who was given up for adoption as a baby and is now coming to terms with being Métis and getting to know her biological mother and grandmother; Dee, a young bison who ignores her elders as she searches for the male bison that fathered her calf; and Bets, Geneviéve’s car, who cares for Geneviéve as they drive to a rehab facility. The author juggles the myriad story lines with élan, touching on family relationships in the human and animal world, the pull of the living on the spirits of the dead, and the stories and songs passed down from generation to generation. This brings a web of interconnected voices to vivid life.
Starred review from October 1, 2023
DEBUT Memoirist, poet, and scholar Porter's (creative writing and M�tis literature, Memorial Univ.; Scratching River) searingly captivating debut novel takes shape around five M�tis women on seemingly divergent paths. Told beautifully in each of the women's voices, as well as from the perspectives of bison, dogs, and the land they inhabit, each woman's journey comes to intersect with another's until the story is fully woven. Mam� is in the afterlife but remains tethered to this world until she can settle her ties to her girls left behind. Carter has just been asked by the grandmother she's never met if she'll go help kill her, and she thinks she's agreed. Genevi�ve decides maybe it's a good idea to get sober in what are likely her last months to live. Allie tries to hold on to everything so tightly she just might break it all, and she's the reason Carter didn't know she was M�tis until she was a teenager and never met her Gramma. VERDICT Highly recommended, especially for fans of stories of generational relations and the connections between women. The tender, tough, funny, and heartbreaking voices of the characters will seep into readers' souls.--Julie Kane
Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
October 15, 2023
Family stories echo each other, for good and ill, from one woman all the way down to her great-great-granddaughter. The stories of five generations of Indigenous women weave through this novel, set in western Canada. Mam� has already died but is struggling to negotiate the new norms on the other side. Her daughter Genevi�ve has checked herself into a rehab center at age 81 after decades of alcoholism. Gen's daughter, Lucie, is dying of cancer and has long been estranged from her own daughter, Allie. But Lucie has asked Allie's daughter, Carter, to help her die by suicide even though Carter and Lucie have never met. All of their stories, past and present, overlap in an intergenerational sweep of families fractured by racism, poverty, misogyny, and substance abuse. But family bonds persist, and for this family the strongest bond is music. The book's structure moves from one character to another, one time period to another, so often that some shifts are confusing. The most interesting stories, and those that get the most space, are Gen's and Carter's. Gen used to play piano at dance halls while her charismatic sister, Velma, played the fiddle, but Velma died years ago. As Gen detoxes, she has visions of Velma visiting so they can play together again. Carter is in the midst of divorcing her husband, a Croatian immigrant, and deciding what to do about her 3-year-old son as she battles addictions of her own--and whether to grant Lucie's request. Some of the book's elements of magical realism work, like Mam�'s version of the next life and Gen's visits with Velma. Others, like chapters from the points of view of Gen's dogs and car, seem extraneous. But the book really bogs down in a long, repetitive, intermittent narrative about a lovelorn bison that never clicks with the rest of the story. Several intriguing characters and insightful story lines struggle to emerge from this overstuffed novel.
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Starred review from October 15, 2023
Many points of view come together in this haunting, gorgeous tale that traces the roots of an indigenous Canadian family through several generations. Even bison, grasslands, and dogs get a chance to tell their stories. There's Mam�, who has passed on and is learning the contours of the afterlife; her daughter, Genevi�ve, who has checked into a rehab although she is close to death; and Carter, Genevi�ve's biological great-granddaughter, who's just discovering the family after escaping an abusive adoptive mother. There's also Dee, a young bison who loses her mother early in life and is trying to find her way alone. M�tis traditions touch every character, especially Genevi�ve, who longs for her young life as a musician. The M�tis dance reels accompanied by live music, and Genevi�ve's father was a master fiddler. She rediscovers her piano as she too approaches the afterlife. Porter has published memoir and poetry, and she plays with the beauty of language and the rhythm of music here. The pulsing heart of the M�tis people underlies every short section, creating a patchwork of beads not unlike those the women make. Suggest to fans of Kellie Jo Ford's Crooked Hallelujah (2020) and Emily Habeck's Shark Heart (2023).
COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.