This is a complicated book for me to review. I wanted so badly to like it but I just couldn't connect. I'll start with some neutral information about the book. The story is about an Indigenous Elder, Ruby, from British Columbia who is dictating her oral history to her daughter and another author. Indigenous Elders are knowledge keepers and their stories are essential elements of their cultures. Ruby tells of residential and Indian day schools, longhouses, potlatch bans, the Indian act and more. She also shares elements of her culture such as Mask dances, rites of passage and funeral/mourning procedures. The novel is written in a unique way, in keeping with oral histories which are typically passed down from an elder to a younger person orally through storytelling, the novel was written through dictation. The story reads very much like a conversation with a grandparent. It actually reminded me a lot of my grandfather's stories. He passed away about a year ago and reading this made me miss him a little bit more.
In theory, this is the perfect book for me, I love learning about cultures, especially Canadian Indigenous cultures, I enjoy a great story from a grandparent, but I didn't love this book. I think that because of the way it was written, while I completely support what the authors were trying to accomplish, was at times a bit difficult to follow and while some chapters were very interesting, others were more mundane. There was a fair amount of repetition and some confusing timelines, which added to the slow pace. In any oral story, even if you've practiced it a million times, you're likely to make a mistake as you are speaking, repeat yourself, forget a detail etc. which makes oral histories special and unique. This project was basically trying to maintain this element of oral histories, which made it feel like the reader was the one hearing the story told to them. That being said, when you are listening to a story from a family member or friend you might ask a clarification question or you might ignore the fact that they repeated a part of the story, or used awkward phrasing. When you read a novel though, in most cases you expect the story to read a certain way, you expect there to only be expected repetition, that timelines will follow a consistent order, that the book will have been edited several times for grammar or confusing phrases. As I mentioned before, this book reminded me of a conversation with my late grandfather. At times you could get a very intriguing story that you'd never heard before and that gave you new insight into the world around you, other times, you might be lost between places, people, dates, companies and which snow storm, flood, or war he was talking about. I definitely felt this way sometimes during Ruby's story, which is exactly the reason why I am so torn about this book!
If you told me that tomorrow I could pick up a book some cousin of mine transcribed that includes several chapters worth of (albeit sometimes confusing and repetitive) my grandfather's stories, I would 100% pay money to read that book. Even if it wasn't my grandfather who wrote it but another person with a similar perspective, from a similar time period/location/culture etc., I would absolutely buy that book. My reasoning? Because oral histories die when their storyteller or knowledge keeper does. The only way they can survive is if they are remembered. If I try to retell one of my grandfather's stories I can only imagine how little sense that story would make! My grandchildren will never have a chance at understanding my grandfather's experiences, just as I wonder what my great grandparents (and great great etc) were like.
Here's where my grandfather and Ruby's story collection differs though. My grandfather was a white man who lived in Winnipeg for pretty much his whole life. Are there other elderly white men who lived in Winnipeg who are still alive today and passing on their stories? Absolutely. Ruby lived in a specific reserve, speaking specific languages, learning specific cultural ceremonies and customs, experiencing atrocities from the federal and provincial governments whose mandate was to eradicate their culture... which one deserves more attention?
I think this book is such an important piece of history and cultural information. I am so glad that it was written and wouldn't change anything about it. However, I think it is important that readers understand what kind of book they are picking up so that they can look to this book for what it is meant to be. This is not a mainstream novel, it wont make it to the top of all the reading lists for 2021, but it is definitely a worthwhile piece of literature that deserves to be available for audiences through the future. Losing an elder can be like losing a culture, especially when we consider the atrocities the Canadian government has created when imposing the Indian act. But Ruby and her community are resilient and by working until her death to pass on her knowledge, Ruby has made it impossible for her culture to be lost.
I'm so appreciative of Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book!
Comments