The Strangers by: Katherena Vermette

 Genre: Fiction 

Published: September 7, 2021 by: Penguin Random House Canada 

Pages: 337 

Rating: 5/5 stars 

CW: inter-generational trauma, violence and racism against Indigenous women, addiction

The Strangers have fallen victim to a fractured system that seeks to tear Indigenous families apart. After moving from foster home to foster home, Cedar Stranger moves in with her estranged father and his new family. She struggles to fit into his life when all she wants is to be reunited with her sisters. Phoenix Stranger has just had a baby while being detained in a youth detention centre. She is worried that she will never know what freedom feels like, and she suffers mistreatment and abuse while being incarcerated. Elsie Stranger, the matriarch of the Stranger family, has lost two of her daughters, and turns to drugs and alcohol to cope through the trauma her family has gone through, while still trying to care for the youngest Stranger daughter, Sparrow. The Stranger women have been through too much in just a short amount of time, and they work towards being reunited, if the system will allow them to. 

The Strangers is a companion novel to Vermette's book The Break, which follows an accident that occurred in a small Indigenous community and how each resident witnessed the accident. However, you do not have to read that book first before going into The Strangers. Still, if you wish to revisit the characters in this book, The Break is also an extremely well-written text. The Strangers was a heart-wrenching book about familial ties and the resilience of Indigenous women even when the Canadian government has put in place systems to tear them down. I found myself going through a range of emotions within every page, and I kept wanting to turn the page and learn more about this family and if they would ever know peace. This book does deal with some heavy subject matter, so do please be careful, but overall, I found it to be a very valuable piece of work. 

Inter-generational trauma is a common topic explored in a lot of books by Indigenous authors, as sadly many Indigenous families in North America faced abuse at the hands of the government through things like residential schools and the Sixties Scoop. Vermette chooses to explore inter-generational trauma by using multiple perspectives from the same family. It is interesting to see Elsie's point of view, compared to that of her daughters. In particular, since not all of these family members live together, I got to explore how these women's environments impacted their social and physical wellbeing. Cedar being forced into the home of her father who she has never really known, and seeing that he has moved on in a way and developed a new family, was a really poignant moment, as I got to see how Cedar develops an understanding of family and what she can do to strengthen her's. 

Phoenix's point of view from the setting of a youth detention facility was a really integral part to the book. There has historically been an influx of the incarceration of Indigenous Peoples in Canadian detention centres. Phoenix is still a teenager, and yet she is forced to grow up too quickly by not only going to prison, but also having a baby while incarcerated. Vermette really explores how birth is already a traumatic experience, and is made even more traumatic by Phoenix not having autonomy over her body while she gives birth. While I don't know much about the correctional system in Canada, I could tell that this book was meticulously researched and taught me more about youth facilities and how Phoenix is both serving time for a very serious crime, but she is also the victim of crime herself. That connection between causing hurt but also being hurt yourself was made very clear in this book. 

Many Indigenous communities rely on matriarchies within their familial systems. The Stranger family is no exception. However, this emphasis on matriarchy is made complicated when Elsie is told that she is not fit to be a matriarch due to her struggles with addiction. But, these struggles did not turn up out of nowhere, rather they are a symptom of a continuous cycle of abuse that affected Elsie and the women before her. I really felt for Elsie. I wanted her to get better, but I also understood how difficult it would be for her to get to a place of healing. Still, she fights for her daughters, and in there lies her strength. I appreciated learning about Elsie's story, but I also understood that her story was not fictional, and is actually the reality for many Indigenous women in North America. 

Overall, I would encourage everyone to read The Strangers. While it is difficult to get through, if you are wanting to learn more about some of the issues faced by Indigenous women in Canada, then this book is a great start. Vermette is a powerful author and I am always privileged to read her work. 

Have you read The Strangers? What did you think? 

Emily @ Paperback Princess

Jonny Appleseed by: Joshua Whitehead

Genre: Fiction, LGBT 

Published: May 15, 2018 by: Arsenal Pulp Press

Pages: 224 

Rating: 5/5 stars 

CW: references to residential schools and inter-generational trauma, addiction, homophobia, fetishization of Indigenous people, abuse 

While on the way to his stepfather's funeral, Jonny Appleseed, a Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer young adult recounts his childhood and all that led him to where he is today. Jonny flashes back to when he first realized he was gay, his first love, and a life influenced by inter-generational trauma that has led him to fetishize himself on dating websites in order to make money. Jonny left the reservation for the big city, but his return will bring back past memories and reignite the respect he has for his beloved grandmother, his kokum. 

I've had to read this book a couple of times: once for pleasure and the other time for school. I found that when I had to read the book for school and I was able to talk through my feelings of the book with other students, it resonated with me even more. Reading from Indigenous queer authors, or Indigiqueer authors as Whitehead puts it, isn't something that I always dive into. However, Jonny's story touches on so many topics that I couldn't help but find some sort of connection to it. It was an emotional coming of age story, and I can see myself recommending this book for years to come. 

To start, the plot in and of itself is quite simple. The book takes place on Jonny's journey back to the reservation, and this is a time of self reflection for him as he recounts what his childhood was like. There isn't much present action that takes place, as the book has a significant amount of flashbacks. But in Jonny's flashbacks, his present self becomes all the more clear to the reader. Whitehead does a really cool thing where he uses Jonny's past to talk about Jonny's present, and the transition of time is made really clear in how Jonny's relationship with his friends and family changes. 

Something that Whitehead talks a lot about in interviews is how Jonny as a character can be reflected through his own life experiences. While the book is by no means autobiographical, Whitehead's own identity of an Indigiqueer person is certainly influenced in Jonny's way of life. Own voices novels are so important, especially when themes of coming of age are so prevalent. I couldn't help but see the authenticity of Jonny's life experiences and how Whitehead took care to share an important, emotional and authentic story. 

This book doesn't have a main action take place, or a main problem that the main character has to solve. However, it becomes clear to the reader that Jonny is at a transformative moment in his life, in which he needs to reflect on the person he has become and who he wants to be. A lot of the topics in this book are hard, because they hit on inter-generational trauma that many Indigenous teens and young adults know too well. Jonny's quest to simply survive has impacted how he feels about his own Indigenous identity. It's not an easy read despite the book being easy to follow in structure, so please do take care to read the content warnings. However, I think this book is a staple for those who want to read more books by queer authors, and especially those who want to see how gender and sexuality is explored in Indigenous communities. 

Have you read Jonny Appleseed? What did you think? 

Emily @ Paperback Princess

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimanline

 Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Science Fiction

Published: September 1, 2017 by Dancing Cat Books 

Pages: 231 

Rating: 4/5 stars 

CW: blood and gore, racism against Indigenous people, colonization, violence 

Futuristic Earth is ravaged by global warming, and it has impacted the world so that non-Indigenous people cannot dream. The inability to dream leads to madness, and a group of people known as "recruiters" are scouring North America for the cure. The cure lies in the bone marrow of Indigenous people, who are now on the run from the people who want to steal their marrow and wipe out their nations. Fifteen year old Frenchie and his friends are a few of the many Indigenous teens that are trying their hardest to reconnect with old family members and stay hidden from the recruiters. But, will they make it across the continent alive? 

I picked up this book on a whim because I had heard good things about it. Boy was I blown away by it! It was suspenseful, tense, and a great addition to the YA dystopia/science fiction genre. The cast of characters were powerful and well-written, and the premise brings about issues that go a lot deeper than just an apocalypse. 

First off, I think it was really smart of the author to have the reasoning of the end of the world being from global warming. This is because Indigenous people have had to deal with colonizers ruining their land for centuries. Indigenous Nations care deeply about the land and the environment, however capitalism that is often driven by racism has caused a lot of the global warming that we know today. While I hope our earth never gets to the level that it is in Dimaline's novel, I do think that the issue is represented well in the novel. This issue tells a greater story about colonization and the drive that Indigenous people have to protect their land. 

The characters were also lovable, but also flawed which I really appreciated. Frenchie is the main character, and he travels with a group of friends, along with other characters he meets along the way. I especially loved Minerva and RiRi, who eventually become like family to Frenchie. The group of teens and children in this novel were extremely tight-knit, and even though they had to survive amongst horrid circumstances, their bond was so powerful. I love reading about powerful friendships in novels. 

This book does make allusions to such horrid things in North American history. The idea of the recruiters wanting to steal from Indigenous people and commit experiments on them is sadly nothing new in the history of Canada and the States. There are also allusions to residential schools, which for those of you who don't know, was a way for the Canadian government to steal Indigenous children and torture them through the guise of Christianity. These issues and more are brought up in this novel, and I thought it was extremely powerful how the novel was able to bring about real-life issues in a science fiction setting. In this case, art sadly imitates life. 

I will say I would have loved a bit more expansion on the ending of the novel. I think I would have loved more development of the characters and a bit of a longer conclusion. I needed more to feel the novel come full circle. However, I applaud the author's use of tension and this was an extremely captivating book. 

It's also worthy to note that this book is Own Voices, which is always a good thing. Overall, "The Marrow Thieves" is for everyone. Whether you are a fan of science fiction or you wish to know more about Indigenous lives, this book does it all. It inspired me to take up a Masters Degree in Indigenous Literature, in which I will be researching the novel in greater depth. I cannot wait, and I hope you all will give it a read as well. 

Have you read The Marrow Thieves? What did you think? 

Emily @ Paperback Princess