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books2010-02-26 09:30 pm
angel_negra) wrote in books2010-02-26 09:30 pm
A Book Review for you
Sadly, school is keeping me too busy to join into the book club post right now, but here's a book I read for school that I really enjoyed.
The Book: Weesquachak
The Author: Ruby Slipperjack
The Recc:
Weesquachak is a story about three people: a woman named Charlie, a man named Fred and the trickster Weesquachak. It's set in Northern Ontario, Canada. The story is about Charlie and Fred and their love and lives and the trails and tribulations they go through due to Weesquachak's influence on their lives.
For anyone who has heard Native stories before, Weesquachak is a Trickster. Some tribes call him Raven or Coyote. Anyone who's read Neil Gaiman's American Gods would recognize him as the Whiskey Jack character.
The story starts off with us following Charlie as she leaves her community to try to make it on her own. This is when Weesquachak makes the choice to follow her for a change. When Charlie stops in the big town before the main city, she runs into Fred, who she's known for years, but this is the first time he makes a serious attempt towards her. The story follows them as Charlie makes her various attempts at independence, and their marriage, and Charlie's trips back home, and the loss of Charlie's baby, Fred's drinking, and early in this Weesquachak decides that he loves Charlie and wants her all to himself, which is the source of some of their problems.
It was a very interesting read for me. Charlie and Fred are Ojibway and a lot of that plays into how they act and think, which was interesting just in that way. For instance, their definition of marriage was... I don't want to say less rigid, more like, not mainstream. A lot of people in Charlie's community considered themselves married without bothering to go through the big ceremonies or even through the law offices. Charlie and Fred considered themselves husband and wife from the first time they slept together, and didn't go through with an "official" ceremony until the end of the book.
There's also the sense of community we see demonstrated through out the book. Various members of the community keep in touch though interesting ways. For example, Charlie is met at the train station in the city by her friend, even when she hadn't called that friend. Her friend knew Charlie was coming because the mailman had seen Charlie leave that morning, and then ran into her mother later that morning, who told him where she was going, so he called Charlie's friend to let her know. Or for another example, various members of the community in the city will call each other for help, and it's just a given to help one another.
Weesquachak was especially interesting to me, because he was neither the "evil force" keeping Charlie and Fred apart, nor was he the "guiding force" bringing them back together. And yet, he was both. And yet, he was his own character. And yet, he was also the legend. It was interesting to me, because this is not a type of character you find in most "Western" literature. He was both helping Charlie and Fred find themselves and each other, and working to tear them apart because he wanted Charlie for himself. Through out the various chapters, we'd get small sections that were dedicated to Weesquachak's thoughts and motives at that time. Being that he was a shapeshifter, he kept showing up in different ways in Charlie and Fred's lives.
And yet, as much influence as he had on Charlie and Fred, they weren't just innocent victims of a mythical creature's whims. Charlie started out as a very naive young woman, and she had a lot of growing to do. We are given looks into some of her dreams, which were an amazing journey of their own. Fred as we're introduced to him, starts as someone who runs around with married women and drinks a lot. And they both had to learn to talk to one another, as a lot of problems were stemming from what they were assuming the other was thinking, which was compounded by various things Weesquachak was doing.
And... there were a couple of times when Fred hits Charlie. Now, I don't feel for a second that the book excused it away. They were certainly unpleasant parts to read, but it wasn't... I want to say it wasn't abuse, except that it was, and yet... Charlie doesn't let herself be a victim to this, and Fred isn't an abuser by nature. It, like Weesquachak and everything else in the story, is very much a shade of grey.
You also see a lot of Native humour in the story, especially because this is a story involving a Trickster. But it's certainly unexpected if all you're used to is the 'silent, solemn Indian' stereotype. You also see a lot of the effects of colonization here, Charlie and Fred both have their bits of Native culture, but they have gaps in their knowledge and they both have strengths in different areas.
I highly enjoyed this story and very much recommend it.
The Book: Weesquachak
The Author: Ruby Slipperjack
The Recc:
Weesquachak is a story about three people: a woman named Charlie, a man named Fred and the trickster Weesquachak. It's set in Northern Ontario, Canada. The story is about Charlie and Fred and their love and lives and the trails and tribulations they go through due to Weesquachak's influence on their lives.
For anyone who has heard Native stories before, Weesquachak is a Trickster. Some tribes call him Raven or Coyote. Anyone who's read Neil Gaiman's American Gods would recognize him as the Whiskey Jack character.
The story starts off with us following Charlie as she leaves her community to try to make it on her own. This is when Weesquachak makes the choice to follow her for a change. When Charlie stops in the big town before the main city, she runs into Fred, who she's known for years, but this is the first time he makes a serious attempt towards her. The story follows them as Charlie makes her various attempts at independence, and their marriage, and Charlie's trips back home, and the loss of Charlie's baby, Fred's drinking, and early in this Weesquachak decides that he loves Charlie and wants her all to himself, which is the source of some of their problems.
It was a very interesting read for me. Charlie and Fred are Ojibway and a lot of that plays into how they act and think, which was interesting just in that way. For instance, their definition of marriage was... I don't want to say less rigid, more like, not mainstream. A lot of people in Charlie's community considered themselves married without bothering to go through the big ceremonies or even through the law offices. Charlie and Fred considered themselves husband and wife from the first time they slept together, and didn't go through with an "official" ceremony until the end of the book.
There's also the sense of community we see demonstrated through out the book. Various members of the community keep in touch though interesting ways. For example, Charlie is met at the train station in the city by her friend, even when she hadn't called that friend. Her friend knew Charlie was coming because the mailman had seen Charlie leave that morning, and then ran into her mother later that morning, who told him where she was going, so he called Charlie's friend to let her know. Or for another example, various members of the community in the city will call each other for help, and it's just a given to help one another.
Weesquachak was especially interesting to me, because he was neither the "evil force" keeping Charlie and Fred apart, nor was he the "guiding force" bringing them back together. And yet, he was both. And yet, he was his own character. And yet, he was also the legend. It was interesting to me, because this is not a type of character you find in most "Western" literature. He was both helping Charlie and Fred find themselves and each other, and working to tear them apart because he wanted Charlie for himself. Through out the various chapters, we'd get small sections that were dedicated to Weesquachak's thoughts and motives at that time. Being that he was a shapeshifter, he kept showing up in different ways in Charlie and Fred's lives.
And yet, as much influence as he had on Charlie and Fred, they weren't just innocent victims of a mythical creature's whims. Charlie started out as a very naive young woman, and she had a lot of growing to do. We are given looks into some of her dreams, which were an amazing journey of their own. Fred as we're introduced to him, starts as someone who runs around with married women and drinks a lot. And they both had to learn to talk to one another, as a lot of problems were stemming from what they were assuming the other was thinking, which was compounded by various things Weesquachak was doing.
And... there were a couple of times when Fred hits Charlie. Now, I don't feel for a second that the book excused it away. They were certainly unpleasant parts to read, but it wasn't... I want to say it wasn't abuse, except that it was, and yet... Charlie doesn't let herself be a victim to this, and Fred isn't an abuser by nature. It, like Weesquachak and everything else in the story, is very much a shade of grey.
You also see a lot of Native humour in the story, especially because this is a story involving a Trickster. But it's certainly unexpected if all you're used to is the 'silent, solemn Indian' stereotype. You also see a lot of the effects of colonization here, Charlie and Fred both have their bits of Native culture, but they have gaps in their knowledge and they both have strengths in different areas.
I highly enjoyed this story and very much recommend it.
no subject
{explanation-snip}it's the end of February and I survived my no-book-buying ban another month and may reward myself with another now and{/snip}
...this is now right at the top of my "Books to get my hands on" list. It sounds awesome. May I ask what class you were reading it for? I think I want to follow it too...
It is an awesome book. :)
The class I'm taking is 'Canadian Literature', from Red River College (in Manitoba). Reading the book was an accident, because I'd misread my assignment's instructions. I was supposed to read two or more works by an author found within our anthology book we were using (An Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English - 2005 edition), as some of the authors had several poems or stories published in the book. I misread and thought I needed an outside source, which led me to Weesquachak, which I just burned through in one sitting, it was that good and Slipperjack's very good at sucking you into a story.
Re: It is an awesome book. :)
Reminds me of the time one of my literature tutors sent out the previous year's book list and I happily ordered the books on the list. (Luckily, there were only a few differences.) That anthology sounds fascinating, though. ^-^ (And a lot cheaper than emigrating halfway across the world for a class. ^-~) Native speakers get all the fun courses, it seems.
I'll be looking forward to seeing Weesquachak in the post, though! (And hope to enjoy it thoroughly and pass on the recommendation love afterwards. I've always had a weakness for trickster-involving tales, for all my memory can't seem to remember much about them.)