A review by andrew61
The Break by Katherena Vermette
5.0
This is a powerful story of women in the Metis community of Winnipeg which does not shy away from uncomfortable issues including sexual violence, drug addiction, inadequate parenting , and the perception and treatment of indigenous people within Canadian society. Ultimately however it is a story about the women in the community and their strength in adversity and what seems to be the poor father figures that their male partners present.
the opening of the book is dramatic as a Metis mother Stella , feeding her young child in the early hours, looks out on the plot of land outside her house (the break) to see a horribly violent sexual crime being committed but cannot identify the perpetrators and the young victim covered in blood disappears. Some time later she calls the police and a young Metis police officer Tommy Scott arrives with his white more world weary partner ( this relationship is well drawn and touches upon casual racism and the power that words innocuous to the speaker have upon the recipient) to take a statement suspect in a gang crime. Stella's white husband arrives ( hint of a controlling relationship ?) arrives and wants to close the interview down.
Within the subsequent chapters we learn about the victim , who goes to hospital and her wider family through ten different voices which include the victim Emily (teenager) , her mother and two aunts Lou and Paulina, her grandmother Cheryl and great grandmother Kookom. All these women have a story about relationships that have gone wrong , men who desert them and their daily struggles. You also see in the background the influence of the country they originally came from and escape from the reservation to an unforgiving city.
Perhaps most poignantly I felt was the story of troubled teenager Phoenix who coming out of a secure home has no support other than a drug addicted uncle and reliance on crime. the chapter where she wanders the streets is heart-breaking and the author allows the reader to abandon their prejudice against Phoenix to look closely at the social deprivation that can cause adolescent crime.
I won't say anymore as the joy of this book , which takes a short while to get into, is the discovery of all the familial links . There are some minor issues I had with all the characters descriptions but overall I was totally absorbed by the book and put it down emotionally drained.
I'm sure there is another tale to tell in these characters lives particularly around Emily's cousins who as young teenage boys seem drawn to gang paraphernalia and I worried about theirs , Emily's and Phoenix's fate.
the opening of the book is dramatic as a Metis mother Stella , feeding her young child in the early hours, looks out on the plot of land outside her house (the break) to see a horribly violent sexual crime being committed but cannot identify the perpetrators and the young victim covered in blood disappears. Some time later she calls the police and a young Metis police officer Tommy Scott arrives with his white more world weary partner ( this relationship is well drawn and touches upon casual racism and the power that words innocuous to the speaker have upon the recipient) to take a statement suspect in a gang crime. Stella's white husband arrives ( hint of a controlling relationship ?) arrives and wants to close the interview down.
Within the subsequent chapters we learn about the victim , who goes to hospital and her wider family through ten different voices which include the victim Emily (teenager) , her mother and two aunts Lou and Paulina, her grandmother Cheryl and great grandmother Kookom. All these women have a story about relationships that have gone wrong , men who desert them and their daily struggles. You also see in the background the influence of the country they originally came from and escape from the reservation to an unforgiving city.
Perhaps most poignantly I felt was the story of troubled teenager Phoenix who coming out of a secure home has no support other than a drug addicted uncle and reliance on crime. the chapter where she wanders the streets is heart-breaking and the author allows the reader to abandon their prejudice against Phoenix to look closely at the social deprivation that can cause adolescent crime.
I won't say anymore as the joy of this book , which takes a short while to get into, is the discovery of all the familial links . There are some minor issues I had with all the characters descriptions but overall I was totally absorbed by the book and put it down emotionally drained.
I'm sure there is another tale to tell in these characters lives particularly around Emily's cousins who as young teenage boys seem drawn to gang paraphernalia and I worried about theirs , Emily's and Phoenix's fate.