"From the Ashes"

Canada Reads 2020

   "From the Ashes: My Story of Being Metis, Homeless, and Finding My Way" is a memoir by Jesse Thistle.

   The title really tells it all!  I found the story engrossing, emotional, and inspiring.

   Because of the title, I knew that there would be hope at the end.  So important to me!  But the road that Jesse travelled to 'find his way' was devastating.

   Because of his parents' break-up, he and his two brothers were raised by one parent, then the other, and then in foster care.  Eventually they ended up with their grandparents, who were the parents of their drug-addicted father. The grandfather was very tough on them and eventually there was conflict.  Jesse struck out on his own, and it was a terrible road that he travelled.  At 12, he was taking drugs and he was homeless by 21.  His self-destructive life of drugs, alcohol and crime continued until he was 32 years old!

  This memoir was heart-wrenching.  His inability to find his way out of addiction was unbelievable.  There were a couple of times that I thought he had made it, but he was back to the street and a life of crime.  By then, his body was badly damaged, but he took up running at a detention centre.  With the persistence that he learned there, he began taking courses and eventually ended up with a university degree and a new life.

  The middle part of the book was long and difficult to read, and could have been edited better.  But the beginning was great and the ending was so heart-warming.  Not only did he find a very supportive love, he also found his way back into his family and the Indigenous culture.

   I was reminded of the pure gold found in a secure childhood.  Jesse suffered greatly from the absence of his parents in his life.  You could feel Jesse's heart through the whole story, especially in the poems that are interspersed through the book.

   Jesse is now an assistant professor at York University and is an advocate for the homeless.

  This book is heart-wrenching and heart-warming.  It touched my heart!  I think it is worthy of winning Canada Reads this year.

"Son of a Trickster"

 Canada Reads 2020

   This is the third book that I have read for Canada Reads this year, and I question the choices that Canada Reads has made for 2020.  There are two Indigenous books.  One is fiction, the other is memoir.  There is an overlap in these books. Do we need them both?
  
   "Son of a Trickster" is a coming-of-age story about Jared, who is the son of Wee'git, the trickster from Haisla lore.  

Quote: "Son of a Trickster" is filled with darkness and squalor and obscenity.  (Heather O'Neill, author)

My reactions: "Son of  a Trickster" is a novel of alcohol, drugs, explicit sex and foul language.
  I am not the person to review this novel because it made me sick and sad.  I raced through it as fast as I could in order to return to the normal world.

   You can read many very positive reviews of this book on the internet.  Some people found humour in the novel.  I did not. None of my book club friends found any value in this novel. But on Amazon, the book got a five-star rating from 60 % of those writing a review.
  I disliked the representation of aboriginal teens as being constantly stoned.  There is not one positive character in the novel. I need 'hope' in a novel or it is not worth spending my time.  There may be a glimmer at the end of this novel, but not enough to justify 316 pages of nauseous behaviour.  I did not appreciate this novel as a book that would 'bring Canada into focus' and I would not recommend it to anyone.
  Thankfully, there are many aboriginal authors that I enjoy reading, but there doesn't seem to be a reason to have two indigenous books in the five books for Canada Reads.

"Radicalized" by Cory Doctorow

         Canada Reads 2020   

 I really didn't want to read this book.  The cover 'put me off.'  It said "Danger!  Danger!  Danger!"
   There are four short stories:

1.) Unauthorized Bread- about an immigrant woman who fights against a system meant to keep those in subsidized apartments under control.  She teaches some teens how to outsmart the system. Lots of suspense in this story- my favourite.

2.) Model Minority- about a superhero, American Eagle, who tries unsuccessfully to fight against the corruption of the police and the justice system.

3.) Radicalized - about the American health care system.  Angry people, who are not able to get expensive, life-saving drugs from their insurance plan, join others on a message board and plan acts of terrorism. 

4.) The Masque of Death- about the collapse of society.  A wealthy businessman builds Fort Doom, waiting for the apocalypse.

   Cory Doctorow is a science-fiction writer, who was born in Toronto.  He has lived in London, England, but now resides in California. 
   The cover does represent the contents.  Danger! Danger! Danger!  The stories are science-fiction, but tell much about dangerous trends in the present society.  
  My thought: Canada Reads this year has the theme- "one book to bring Canada into focus".  The content of this book is American, so I question the significance of this book for Canada Reads.

"We Have Always Been Here" by Samra Habib

  Canada Reads 2020

   Canada Reads has always been important to me.  For a few years, I have been fortunate to have a group of friends who gather to discuss each book before the televised discussion.

   The theme this year is:

"One book to bring Canada into focus"

   The author of this book describes the book as "a Queer Muslim memoir".  I am uncomfortable with the word queer used in this context, but there were other vocabulary challenges- tawaif, hijra, qawwlis, shalwar, dupatta, jannat, etc.
   Samra Habib was born in Pakistan where she was persecuted because she was Ahmadi Muslim, which is a group formed in 1887 to reform Islam and follow Muhammad in a non-violent and tolerant manner.  But the ruling power in Pakistan contained extremist Islamists, who believed in whipping, amputation and stoning. They had declared Ahmadi Muslims were not Muslims in 1977.  Samra needed to hide her identity as Ahmadi.
   The role of women that Samri saw in Pakistan was 'pious wife/ attentive mother'.  
Quote: "I've only ever been surrounded by women who didn't have the blueprint for claiming their lives."

  When the family came to Canada, there was less physical danger, but Samra lost her childhood.  She was the only one with a good understanding of the language, so she was involved in 'adult business'.  Soon she discovered that her parents had decided on an arranged marriage for her, where even her complete name was changed.  She felt that her identity was disposable.  
  The stage is set for a very difficult struggle for identity.

Samra Habib

   The author is a very good writer, who specializes in photography and activism for gay Muslims, and speaks out about Islamophobia.
   As a journalist, she writes about fashion trends and Muslim dating apps.  She is very concerned about the rise of Islamophobia in the U.S.A.