Sugar Falls

Finished December 26
Sugar Falls: A Residential School Story by David Alexander Robertson and Scott B. Henderson

This graphic novel is based on a real woman, Betsy Ross, an elder from Cross Lake First Nation. Daniel, a high school student, is given an assignment to interview a residential school survivor and write about their experience. One of his friends, April, is indigenous, and he asks her if she knows anyone with that experience. The two go to visit April's grandmother, and she tells them her story, from her earliest childhood. The Sugar Falls of the title is a waterfall near where Betsy grew up that her father took her to and that she uses as an image and feeling to ground herself when things become difficult in the school.
There are many experiences of residential school and each individual has their own story. I appreciate them for sharing them and the author and illustrator for bringing this story to life.

Indian Horse

Finished April 26
Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese

This novel follows Saul Indian Horse, a man who has hit bottom in his life, and while at a native healing centre looks back on his life to see what brought him to where he is now.
He looks back at his early life on the land with his brother, parents, grandparents, and other family members, particularly when they camp on the remote island that is special to his family.
He tells of his experience being brought to residential school, and of the priest that introduced him to hockey. Saul gradually reveals his life, those that influenced it for good and bad, those that he still feels something for, and the things that matter most to him.
Saul has natural skills for many things, and he gradually comes to accept these for what they can do for him.
This is a story of the impact of residential schools, here fictional, but real for so many. This is a story that brings some of that impact to readers in a meaningful way. This book had me laughing, crying, and touched deeply. Wagamese is a master writer, and when telling stories like this you can see that clearly. An amazing read.
A colleague urged me to take this book off my shelf where it had been lingering and once I did, I had trouble putting it down. I urge every Canadian who hasn't already read this book to do so. Besides being winning the 2013 Canada Reads People's Choice, this book was also shortlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, winner of the First Nations Community Read, and on the Globe and Mail top 100 list for 2012.

Drink Dirt Eat Stone

Finished March 6
Drink Dirt Eat Stone by Kyle Fleishman

This novel is a dark thriller. As the book opens, Tristan Stonehouse is walking out of Stony Mountain Penitentiary in Manitoba after fourteen years in prison. We learn that Tristan was formerly a hitman for the Northern Syndicate and a hero in the Gulf War, but don't know the details. These are gradually revealed to the reader as the book unfolds. Most of the action takes place in Manitoba and B.C., but there are flashbacks to earlier times in Tristan's life, and actions that take place between these two main locations.
Tristan is trying to stay on the straight and narrow, but as attempts are made on his life, he has to take matters into his own hands just to stay alive. There is a fair bit of violence here, both against Tristan and committed by him, but as we learn more about him, and his past and his motivations, we become more and more on his side. Tristan is a man that doesn't talk a lot, but has a presence. He is as his daughter says, a man born a century and a half later than he should have been.
Tristan was a victim of residential school abuse, and this past has shaped him and his life in ways that those of us who haven't experienced it can't really know. There is a larger story here that is gradually revealed. The author provides a brief background piece at the end of the novel that is very helpful.
My reaction to reading this book grew as I read, leading me to "Wow." A wonderful debut novel by a new Canadian writer.

The Education of Augie Merasty

Finished July 31
The Education of Augie Merasty: a Residential School Memoir by Joseph Auguste Merasty with David Carpenter

This short memoir offers a first-hand account of the residential school experience. Merasty wrote this at the age of 86, looking back on his experience as well as others he was close to, but who are no longer around to tell their own stories. He helped many of those others with their testimony for the Working Group on Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Exploratory Dialogues, which was the first stage of the Commission.
Merasty attended St. Therese Residential School in Sturgeon Lake, Saskatchewan from 1935 to 1944. His experiences, while awful, were not the worst of residential school abuse. He did have contact with his family, and they even attended some school functions, which many students did not have.
Merasty wrote a letter to the University of Saskatchewan asking for help in writing this memoir and was connected with Carpenter. It took several years before the project came to completion, partly due to David's other commitments, and partly to Merasty's availability.
Merasty own personality shows strongly, with his strong sense of self, and a great sense of humour.
An important story in our country's history.