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Through Black Spruce

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"...We may think the past as something we don't need. But that's not true - not to my mind." *)

History is front and centre of Joseph Boyden's second novel, "Through Black Spruce". Loosely a follow-up to his first, Three Day Road - the story of two young Cree trackers fighting in World War I - this story looks at history in a very personal, intimate way. Will and Annie Bird, the two narrative voices, are the son and granddaughter of Xavier Bird, one of the three central characters in the earlier book. Distinct in their approaches to their individual story, told in alternating chapters, they are also intricately connected. As the two "confessions" to each other unfold, they increasingly interweave into one multi-layered tapestry.

Will, an experienced trapper and bush pilot, lies in a coma in the hospital of Moosonee, a James Bay community in northern Ontario. Very soon we realize that only one of two possible events can have landed him in this state: another crash with his small bush plane or another big fight with Marius, the bully and controlling local drug lord and prominent member of the Netmaker family. The Birds and the Netmaker families have more than one reasons to be enemies and, recently, much had to do with Will's other niece, the stunningly beautiful Suzanne, who took off with Marius' brother; both have disappeared without a trace since. Annie, recently returned from several months down south, sits by her uncle's side and, speaking softly to his ear, hopes to somehow connect with him and to bring him back to the waking world.

While in his deep sleep, Will's mind is in a state of active dreaming, looking back on his life. Following the twisting and winding ways of memory lane, he digs deep into his past, reviewing and reassessing his hopes and failures, his loves and losses and, eventually the moments of happiness and peace. A sense of urgency compels him to share his life's story and all its secrets with his two beloved nieces. Unbeknownst to Annie, of course, who has her own reasons to reflect on recent experiences. After some reluctance to talk to a comatose, Annie in turn describes to her uncle the events of the last months that took her to Toronto, Montreal and to New York City and, eventually, brought her back to Moosonee.

Whereas Will is intimately connected to the 'old ways' and the constant struggle between traditional and modern worlds in this remote part of the Canadian landscape, Annie lives with between the two realities. Tempted by an invitation, she gave in to the powerful lure of the southern world of the big cities, the excitements and opportunities that they hold for the enterprising young. Annie has another important reason to head south. She is following the trail of her missing sister, who, according to rumours, had made it big in the world of fashion modeling. In Toronto, Annie comes across a group of urban 'Indians' who provide her with the first clues as to Suzanne's whereabouts. Following Annie, Gordon, AKA Painted Tongue, is sent by the group's elder on a mission of his own. Through Annie's eyes and experiences we are introduced into both the desolate life of urban 'Indians' living at the margins of society as well as the glamour of fashion models and their handlers, especially in New York City. Still, Annie is increasingly torn between her old and new life. Boyden very skilfully evokes and contrasts the two worlds while not shying away from exposing the shallowness of glamour, the brutality of drug trafficking, the dependency on alcohol or drugs and the human frailties that are found in both societies, in each with different parameters and consequences.

The novel's present is set in the northern Ontario countryside and most of the characters are, fundamentally, grounded in this stunningly beautiful, untouched land, amongst its rivers and lakes, its flora and fauna. Will uses the black spruce as a recurrent theme for the power of the forest that demands respect and admiration - an almost mystical, living element in the mind of the lonely hunter. The strong restorative power of this landscape for those who are open to its natural splendour is empathetically portrayed. Both Will and Annie are deeply drawn to it. One of the most emotionally engaging passages describes Will's survival on Akimiski Island, the largest island in James Bay. Richly drawn scenes of him coming upon a whale skeleton on the beach or watching a polar bear fall through the ceiling of his little hut, bring out the physical challenges and the even deeper emotional ones. These and other scenes, equally beautifully conveyed in Boyden's expressive prose, turn into a realization of pivotal importance in Will's existence and they may bring him hope to reconnect with the present reality.

Boyden's love for the natural beauty of this landscape, his intimate knowledge of the traditional ways of the Cree speak out of every sentence.While showing much empathy and compassion for his charactes, his portrayals are realistic and reflect their complexities. In addition to Will and Annie, who stand out as the most richly developed and engaging personalities, there are others, friends and family, loves of past and present, and while less developed they are nevertheless intriguing and their interactions with the two narrators compelling. There is much dramatic flow and tension in the story, most sections are real page-turners. Overall, this is a well-paced novel that is hard to put down. Some commentators have expressed disappointment with the novel's ending. While I agree to some degree, the conclusion is one of only a few possible and consistent ones.
For me, it is without doubt one of the most engaging and beautifully written novels I have read in quite a long time. [Friederike Knabe]

*) Boyden in an interview with Canadian tv station CTV.

[Cross-posted to LibraryThing and LivingSocial]

Being a visual person, I'm not normally a fan of audio books. I like to see the words on the page. But as I was reading Through Black Spruce, I really wished that I could listen to it instead. Boyden's writing flows so beautifully it's almost like poetry. He writes as if he means for it to be read aloud. It's just simple, gorgeous prose that makes you slow down and think about the words and images being created.

Through Black Spruce is the second book, following Three Day Road (while not necessary to have read it first, I'd highly recommend it), in what will be a trilogy. While Three Day Road took place during WWI, this novel is set mostly in the present day. As with Three Day Road, I think Through Black Spruce does a good job of emphasizing the interconnectedness of all things: our human relationship with nature, our relationships with each other, how our actions can have consequences far beyond anything that we might foresee.

The story is told using alternating narrators: Will Bird (Xavier's son from Three Day Road) and his niece, Annie. I felt for all of the characters and was drawn into their stories, but it didn't keep me up at night and it often felt like something was missing. I think this was because I was expecting something as intense as Three Day Road was, but much of the suspense and tension there came from the fact that there was a war going on so it was probably not realistic to expect the same here.

In any case, Boyden is an incredible story teller and I'm really looking forward to finding out where Boyden takes us next with this series.

This was one of the best books I have read in a long time. After reading it I had to go out and get another book by Boyden, which was also good. It was so well written and I couldn't put it down. Although I understand the author is not a native Indian - he certainly knows a lot about them and this book made you have sympathy for them. I loved it

The drama in this novel unfolds in Toronto, Montreal and New York, but the characters' ties to the reomote landscapes of Moosonee, Ontario, near James Bay anchor much of this story. Circling across generations and steadily melding the old with the new, Boyden's novel tells two stories, that of the charming and irascible bush pilot Will Bird and his beautiful young niece Annie who holds a solemn confessional by his bed. An alcoholic and an accomplished flyer, Will's silent narrative recounts the terrible plane crash that has led to him laying prostrate and in a coma.

Will's life has been awash with difficulties. Marius Netmaker, the local he-man and self appointed bully of the area was only too happy to cause trouble for Will. Marius' brother the no-good Gus vanished to Toronto two years ago with Will's other niece Suzanne, a Cree beauty. Gus was responsible for most of the cocaine and crystal meth imports from the United States and Marius is convinced that Will was responsible for telling the authorizes when the band police on the reserves were unable to do anything about it. Predictably, Marius embarks on a series of harassments, firebombing Will's house, killing his ageing blind bear, and then violently breaking his leg with the end of a baseball bat.

Caught in the jaws and evil machinations of Marius, it's not surprising that Will takes the law into his own hands, eventually propelled by his distinctive sense of justice. Regretting his impulsiveness, Will takes off to the far north, and to the arctic circle to set up winter camp and to live in the wildness for months with only the white flocks of snow geese with the late sun dancing off their feathers, and the harsh winter for company. Contrasting with Will's self-imposed isolation is Annie who goes south to find Suzanne. But for Annie the big city proves to be a strange combination of excitement and ruthlessness. Suzanne is impossible to find, and the rumors that she was constantly in thrall to Gus, seem follow Annie wherever she goes.

A capable, intelligent and beautiful girl, who battles painful seizures, Annie cannot help but be transformed by the seductive pleasures of her sister's modeling colleagues. Even as she takes ecstasy with her friends Eva and Violet and dances the nights away in underground discos, lost in their world, this place of late, late nights at different clubs, treated like a starlet whenever she's with Suzanne's model friends, she begins to take on the characteristics of Suzanne. Wined and dined by a handsome DJ, she eventually obtains a modeling contract of her own in New York, falling into an affair with Gordon, a streetwise Cree who she picks up on the streets of Toronto, and who ultimately becomes her protector and the voice of reason for her tattered conscience.

Even as he lies hovering and close to death, Will seems to worry for Annie and Suzanne, a man of the earth, born from hunters and a trapper and feeder of mouths, the shiny magazines with the pictures of a naked Suzanne are the only link Will has of his beloved niece. Even as he pours himself another rye and ginger, he descends into a useless broken man no longer able to do what he pleased. Meanwhile, fractured images float in the characters' heads as Boyden artfully unfurls their lives: Annie as she desperately tries to nurse her Uncle back to life, her eight months south, a revolving door of high-fashion models and her friendship with Gordon from the gutters of Toronto; and of Will's burnished, self-inflicted isolation at the edge of the world.

Although a tendency to be Ponderous and flat in places, Boyden's novel accurately portrays the vast beauty of the wildness area of Northern Canada. The gravel roads and the same pocked, poverty stricken faces of James Bay are well contrasted with the noise and crowds and high-priced glamour of the big cities, the twinkling lights of nighttime Montreal - and the Indian community just as strong in both. In the end however, Through Black Spruce feels weighty and cumbersome, as overlong as the cold and dark winters that seem to constantly overwhelm these disenfranchised Indian tribes in this isolated and fragile part of the world. Mike Leonard April 09.

Having only been in this Country for 5 years , I found it a fascinating insight into living in the north as part of a minority culture. The alternating chapter tellers was very useful & I could really feel the love between Will & Annie especially. A wonderful book ( which has made me go & get the first one by this author.

Although reading Three Day Road is not necessary for the appreciation of this book, it does help. In fact, each book helped me appreciate the other. I found that I did not struggle with the cultural differences in this novel as much as I did the first, and so reading it was easier. Perhaps this was aided by the fact that Through Black Spruce was more linear, in its reminiscences.

The story is told by two people. Each one talks to the other, but cannot be heard by the other. Each one shares more than accustomed to sharing.

The story of a missing woman, the search for her, the difficulties charachters experience in both in the native community and in the city, the way the European world invades the native community, the sense of loss and guilt, and the deep love of family all come together to make for a profound and an emotional reading experience. The characters' exploration of self, encourage the reader on a journey of self exploration.

It is understandable why this book won the Giller Prize, and it is easy to recommend.

Joe Boydon is one of the best writers of North American literature going. His tales of the Cree, Métis, and white denizens of Hudson's Bay and Winnipeg, Manitoba take you out of yourself and into a world of hybridity, modernism, and First Nations spirituality. Squalor and beauty, resilience and healing. Try it, you be taken to a new world.

I loved reading this book. The insight into life in northern Ontario, the beautiful and compelling writing and the masterful integration of two narratives made this novel my favourite of the past few years. I'm on to Three Day Road now, and I've ordered Boyden's collection of short stories. There are many descriptions of the north which are worth the price of admission alone. The ending, narratively, is a bit weak, but it's made up for by all the fabulous writing. I look forward to anything Boyden publishes in the future.

Joseph Boyden is a prize-winning author, and there is no question as to why when you immerse yourself in this wonderful novel. It has joined my "top twenty" list of books-not-to-be-without. I always respect a writer who manages to tell a good story while creating moments of incandescent language coupled with deep human insight. It's a rare gift, and Boyden has it. What attracts me more, however, is Boyden's irrepressible sense of humour, where light and dark dance an interwoven pas-de-deux with one another. He is true to character, true to soul, true to culture, so far as I can tell, and true to literature.

A wonderful book. I haven't decided which one I love more, this one or his first novel Three Day Road [ASIN:0143056956 Three Day Road]], but I encourage you to read both of them and to follow Boyden's work in the future.
ALH[