A review by nothingforpomegranted
The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This was an absolutely beautiful story, told from two perspectives. First, we meet Joe, a Mi’kmaq Indian (that’s the term used in the book) who is on his deathbed, sharing his life story—mostly his mistakes—with his adult daughter, whom he met only after he became sick and finally came home. Indeed, Joe has made many mistakes that are revealed throughout the novel, and he feels tremendous guilt for actions both taken and not. As a young boy, his sister Ruthie disappeared from a rock where she was sitting when he was supposed to be watching her. Several years later, he watched as his brother Charlie was beaten to death. He married young, but overcome with grief and guilt and the stress of unemployment began to abuse alcohol until one day he came home and beat his wife. Shocked by his own behavior, Joe drove west from Nova Scotia and didn’t return for five decades. In alternate chapters, we hear Norma’s story, which quickly becomes obvious to us, the reader, is actually Ruthie’s story. As a young child, Norma had lots of questions for her parents about her dark skin and her vivid impressions of a family around a campfire and the comforting smell of rose shampoo. Though these images are dismissed as dreams, we know that they must be memories. Thus, the rest of the book is a journey to understand how these two characters’ lives finally reconverge when the mystery is uncovered. 

I think this may have been a five star read except that I had to return it to the library midway through and wait months for it to be available again, so I didn’t get to have the wonderful experience of just immersing myself in the beauty of the language and the plot. If this book sticks with me and I find myself thinking about it for months, my rating may very well change. I really loved the writing and the flow between the two perspectives. The suspense with lowish stakes because I knew what was going to happen was engrossing, and the sense of place in the berry fields of Maine and the plains of Nova Scotia through Western Canada was strong.