Year Three Book Four: 

Green Grass Running Water by Thomas King

January 28th, 2016

Amy: 5 out of 5! Again, sending in my thoughts from a gate at an airport. I read this book in 2009 in university and still love it 7 years later. The story line with Lionel and his "heart condition" seemed like classic comedy to me. And Latisha's restaurant reminded me of a Corner Gas episode and again I giggled out loud to myself.

Some little things I picked up the second time around were the four Indians were referred to as Mr. Black, Mr. Red, Mr. White, Mr. Blue which are sometimes the colours used in the medicine wheel, which I thought was humorous subtly. Other things like the 3 guests at the Dead Dog restaurant called "Louis", "Ray" and "Al" are subtle gabs at colonization and perhaps a way to lighten tension between various relations!

Other thoughts I had were regarding how water played such an important part in all the story lines and connecting them. Is this a reference to Genesis? This was always a theological question for me when reading the beginning of Genesis " God hovered over the water" but if that was the true beginning of time, where did the water come from? Who made it? Did God just find it there by happenstance? Is this King's attempt at offering an explanation?

Also, do the four Indians represent the notion that God's or Deities could make mistakes or be fallible (4 Indians in the car with Norma and Lionel explaining that they are going back to Blossom to fix things they should have ages ago)?

Overall, I love it! The story can be very back and forth almost as quickly as a tennis match which is always hard for me, but still, 5 out of 5!

Steph: I give this book 4.5. I found the story engaging and the story and structure were very tightly composed. I love the way he weaves the native symbolism and myths together with white/christian symbolism and myth. The way he is able to juxtapose these two worlds really emphasizes the fluidity of native storytelling and culture as opposed to the rigidity of white storytelling and culture. I was also really impressed with the cyclic nature that can be found in the composition of the story, as well as the character's lives: Eli goes away and comes home; Lionel loses his way, but comes around; Charlie leaves his father, but goes back to him; Norma replaces Eli and rebuilds the cabin. 

I also found the interplay between the genders very interesting. In the white culture, women are for procreation and that is all - they are definitely held inferior to men. However, the Native women are strong female characters. It is only when the women are within the white world that they are considered less or disrespected. There is also beautiful fluidity between the genders: the old Indians are at times both male and female. 

It is a tiny bit confusing if you do not have a base knowledge about Native storytelling and imagery, but it does all come together. I hope people are able to stick through the first part of the book and see it all come together and make sense. King's humour and vivid imagery are a well deserved reward for sticking it out. 

Lindsay: I was assigned to read GGRW almost 10 years ago, during my first year in college. I remember thinking, “this is weird - who is this Coyote and Lone Ranger and Ishmael and Robinson Crusoe and Hawkeye and First Woman and Thought Woman and Changing Woman and Old Woman and ‘I’?” I was hoping that reading the novel a second time around - especially after reading a few other Aboriginal-based books recently with The Women From Away - would bring more clarity and understanding, but to be honest, I still had a lot of those same questions this time. However, I think I can say with confidence that although there a lot of Green Grass that was still over my head, in terms of symbology, references and humour, I think I grasped onto more than the first time I read it, so I’ll count that as a win!

Allusions aside, I really enjoyed reading about the stories of main characters Alberta, Lionel, Eli, Charlie, and Latisha. I was profoundly struck, moreso than ever before, by the struggle that exists for those searching for the middle ground that exists between Native American tradition and the modern world. The character of Norma brought to my attention my ignorance on the subject, which I am grateful for. I also thoroughly the sometimes subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle commentary on racism, gender issues, and national identity nicely executed by King.

In short, GGRW was a gratifying read for me. Although I know there’s still a lot that was missed on my part, what I did grad onto was very good and incredibly well-written; I was engaged and interested in the personal stories of the main characters. I rate Green Grass Running Water a 4/5.

Lauren: I like how he experimented with his writing. I think it makes reading more challenging. There seemed to be some hidden messages throughout the book, which made it feel like a puzzle in some ways. I found certain parts a little bit frustrating, such as the scenes with coyote. I found that character slightly irritating and those scenes a little hard to follow because I wasn’t sure if they were real people or a figment of someone’s imagination.

What I liked most was his humor and his writing of the people in blossom. It was the little things about this book that I felt had the biggest impact to me and also the most truth. Some examples of scenes I enjoyed – when she whispers “You are Canadian” to her children after her husband is telling her all of these negative things in comparison to Americans, scene where Lionel is discussing how he's going to change his life and the humorous dialogue he invents with his parents and Alberta, scenes in the restaurant where they were pretending to serve dog meat to the tourists.

I also really enjoyed the parts of the book that made me feel the connection to the native spirit and to nature - particularly where he mentions green grass and running water. It almost touched me in a way! I felt I got more of a sense for the aboriginal world while reading this book than I did during the others we have read for book club. I think he was able to infuse their culture and beliefs into so many scenes in the book that sometimes I was even unaware that it was happening. He was creative and I enjoyed his depiction of Canadian aboriginal peoples. 

Year Three Book Three: 

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

December 17, 2015

Laura R: My first 5! This book has all the right things: it’s well written, it’s sad, and it’s about India. At first I was not looking forward to reading a compilation of short stories. I thought the stories would be too short to connect with. I finished the first story in one go, and was immediately excited to read the rest of the book. The author did an amazing job writing characters with depth and emotion. Some of the stories ended abruptly, but they still seemed complete. I was surprised to feel a connection to some of the characters, even though on the surface, I have nothing in common with them.

Amy: I give this wee book a 5 out of 5. I was skeptical that this collection of short stories could captivate my attention as I had a firm belief that short stories only belong on beach vacations! But Jhumpa Lahiri got me right from the beginning. I was shocked at how the strength of Lahiri's writing could draw me in in just a couple of pages!! This may be a wee book, but it is mighty! 

Steph: I give this book a 5 - the first 5 I have ever given! It is the mark of a good writer when he or she can pull you in and create believable, real characters. Not only does Lahiri do this, but she does it within a few short pages. I have always been fairly wary of short story collections. For some reason, I got it into my head that I just didn't like them. However, I think I might have been wrong. Lahiri is such an amazing writer, who can pull you in and attach you to the - sometimes likable, sometimes not - characters. You follow each character and invest yourself in his or her story without even knowing it. Her stories are set in India and the United States, but the humanity of the characters surpasses setting. They are raw and they make the same decisions that I could see myself making - feel the same feelings that I have felt. I am very curious about Lahiri's other work and, especially given her ability to work magic in the span of a few short pages, am very excited to see what she can do over the course of a whole novel. A must read for sure!

Year Three Book Two: 

North of Normal by Cea Sunrise Person

November 19, 2015

Steph: I will give North of Normal a 3. The book was an easy read - I read most of it in a day. But despite that, there is just something about the book that did not draw me in. I really wanted to like this story more and I hate "rating" someone's life-story; I respect her story and her experiences, but the writing just did not resonate with me. I do not think her voice worked as a child's voice, something that may have been fixed through a restructuring of the book. At its heart, memory is not chronological, and I do not think that all stories work chronologically either. I think that if she spent more time in her adolescent and adult years with flashbacks to those memories of her childhood, rather than trying to stick to a chronological timeline, her story would have been more impactful. More importantly, her "recovery" from her childhood would have been more impactful.

Where the writing did not work for me, the sheer absurdity of her experiences as a child fascinated me. I know that children slip through the cracks all the time, but to hear a firsthand account is amazing. It is so far removed from any experience I had as a child - but set in the same landscape that I grew up in. This was probably the most compelling part of the story for me: the cognitive dissonance I felt when reading her foreign experiences in a place I know so well. She is a strong woman and I wish that she better highlighted her evolution from a dysfunctional (dare I say, abusive) childhood to a stable (?) adulthood.

Lindsay: I am choosing to give this book a 3 out of 5. True, it had one very redeeming quality for me: this non-fiction story is almost just too crazy to be believed! So the sheer intrigue / astonishment / disbelief kept this girl – who had a relatively conventional childhood – continually interested. I certainly wasn’t ever bored reading NoN, that’s for sure. The book wasn’t difficult to follow; I’d deem it an “easy read”, which was nice as it allowed me to pick it up and put it down whenever I had a few spare minutes (or hours) of time to commit to it.

I feel unable to rate the book higher because the writing itself failed to “wow” me. I would consider the writing style descriptive but not complex, and its simple straightforwardness left me at times unsatisfied. The author’s telling of her adult life also felt a bit awkward to me, as it was glazed over quite quickly in comparison to the detailed account of her childhood. I understand that the focus of the book is based on her childhood in the wilderness, but I struggled to understand and resonate with the person behind grown-up Cea.

That being said, there’s no denying the courage and sheer resolve demonstrated by the author, and for this she deserves to be commended. Interesting, easy read + lack of depth = 3/5.

Laura R: I rate this book 3 out of 5. Well written, fun to read, very engaging story. I enjoy reading books set near Calgary, in places that I’ve been. It is crazy to imagine such a drastic change in lifestyle. Struggle and disappointment in her teen years drives her to want something more. Childhood freedom leads her to feel comfortable traveling across the world alone, and arriving in Paris with nowhere to sleep. Brings up many topics for discussion, but these topics weren’t really explored in the book. In theory, living off the land and living in the moment could be very positive lessons to teach and raise a family with. It’s unfortunate that the family also experiences abuse, neglect, and criminality. The way the story was told, I went through cycles of liking and disliking each character. Even at some points I thought Cea had become an unlikable, seemed like some of the modeling parts were a bit over the top and shallow.

Nikki: I am going to give this book a 5! Based on pure enjoyment. This was the first book I have found in a while that I couldn’t put down and couldn’t wait to read. I am a big fan of non-fiction especially when it is based in western Canada. I found it really exciting to read about Cea’s unique childhood and see how she came out the other side to be a generally okay functioning person. I liked seeing the transformation of the characters throughout the book and how her feelings towards her family, especially Papa Dick, changed. I also enjoyed that it was written as somewhat of a novel more so than a typical memoir, for entertainment sake. One of the main critiques I and the rest of the group it seemed had on this book was that we didn’t like how stretched out her childhood was and it seems like her teenage years and adult life were just breezed through. While I know the book was intended to be about her childhood I think it either should have been solely about that or there should have been more emphasis on her early adult life. From the snippets we got it seemed that it was equally as interesting as her childhood, and wasn’t all smooth sailing. While I don’t know if I got any kind of big lesson or moral from the story, that isn’t necessarily what I look for in books, I got entertainment and a bit of escape from it. I hope she does a grown-up-life-follow up!

Lacey: North of Normal-  3.5 for me! I felt like it was a easy read with a story that really drags you into it. At the book discussion there was lots of observation around the writers "voice" which I think made me pay special attention as I read,  I had a feeling as where as she is not the most phenomenal writer I did kind of feel like I was sitting with her as she told her story, I like the balance of the feeling that it was a story but also her memories. I think it takes a lot of bravery to tell ones stories and especially when it contains so many complex feelings regarding humans that one loves, over all  enjoyed it.

Danielle: I really enjoyed reading this, she has lead a very interesting life and it made for a good book.  I wish that she had spent more time discussing her teenage and adult years as it felt like she just quickly skipped through those parts. I would have liked to know more about her relationship with her father and how she got to that point.  I appreciate the fact that she didn't use a ghost writer as it was her story to tell and I think she told it well. Hearing it come from her own words made it more personal for me. I struggled with hearing how Cea's mother could have willingly let all this happen to her daughter. The photos in the book helped remind me that her mother was only a child herself, she looks so young and it's hard to blame her for what happened. I give this book 4/5


Amy: Okay, I am going to give this a 2 out of 5. You'll give me the stink eye, which I respect, but I am sticking to my "It's ok" rating. There was so much emphasis on Cea's childhood that it seemed unbalanced with her teenage and adult story, that 3/4 through I found myself asking "Why am I reading this?". It feels harsh to critique a biography that way because it isn't realistic for every kid that grows up in a vulnerable situation to become Child and Youth Advocate of the decade, but I was looking for more of a "Booya!" moment and it just seemed to fizzle. 

Lauren: I couldn't put this book down and read it within 24 hours. It reminded me a lot of “The Glass Castle” which was another memoir that I loved. I rate it 5 out of 5

I love the drama of an unconventional family and I find it interesting to think about how an upbringing changes you and shapes you into the person you become later in life. I was impressed by her resilience and independence. I think she did a fantastic job of writing this book about her life with the added challenge of most of these experiences happening while she was a child. I found it refreshing that she was able to give us an adult perspective on what she went through, while still staying true to the fact that she was under 5 then and didn’t fully grasp her situation at the time. I think she did a better job capturing this than other books I have read. I’m thinking in particular of Room (fiction), where I almost felt the perspective of the book being from a 5 year old’s point of view was exhausting and irritating.

I’ve heard some criticisms that she rushed through her adulthood too much and I agree that the end was lacking and I wish could have learned more about how she feels looking back on her upbringing now and how she feels it has affected the person that she is. But I think maybe she hasn’t quite figured that out for herself yet.  I also would have been interested to hear a bit more about her parent’s lives and how they ended up where they were. Overall, I found it a fascinating story and was thoroughly entertained.