03 - Kiss of the Fur Queen, by Tomson Highway, Anchor Canada, 306 pages, 1998
WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by my friend Wendy
ELAPSED TIME: 3 weeks
RATING: Meh
Telling the story of two Cree brothers from Northern Manitoba, Champion and Ooneemeetoo Okimasis... renamed Jeremiah and Gabriel by the Catholics, and raised in a residential school (with all the horrors that entailed)... These two brothers struggle to fit - not able to understand native culture and not able to integrate into White Canada.
Despite the fact that I relate strongly to that experience (the cultural divide)... I just didn't love this book. Highway's voice as an author is too abstract... the time shifts forward felt choppy. And the "Fur Queen," as the Goddess watching down on them, was of a culture that I simply didn't understand, and Highway didn't make accessible enough (to me).
This blog is a simple review of every book that I read... For all books I’ll tell you why I picked it, how long it took me to read it, and give it a rating (burn it, not good, meh, good, very good, and required reading). I ask (encourage?) all readers of my blog to post their thoughts of any of the books in my comments :). Thanks!
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