Through Black Spruce – first impressions

I started reading Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden, an award-winning Canadian novel that mostly takes place in Moosonee.
I’m only on page 39, but it’s neat how Boyden captures a lot of the local colour.

Geography

On page 13, one character is walking through the town and turns “onto Sesame Street, nicknamed for all the kids that live and play on it summer and winter.”
I grew up on Sesame Street! It’s actually called Moose Drive, and I was among the kids running around that road, playing street hockey, even in the summer. Apparently, drivers had to slow down when they approached that street.

Kinda funny how it’s famous in the town, because it’s a small street that only has about 10 single-storey duplexes on each side. Sesame Street is referred to a few more times.

I had to laugh at how one character described downtown:

“Downtown! Ever funny. A dusty street that runs from the train station to the boat docks, the Northern Store and a KFC attached, a chip stand that’s only open in summer, the bank, Taska’s Store and Arctic Arts.”

That’s pretty accurate. Everyone in Moosonee knows its not much.

Dialogue

I laughed at some of the dialogue because Boyden gets the way we talk.

Like when female characters are talking, they say “Ever...” Like “Ever boring!”, “Ever weird,” or simply, “Ever!” It reminded me of my sisters and female cousins.

Another detail is how Moosonee people will add “me” or “you” to the end of sentences, even if “I” or “you” was said earlier.
Like: “I’m going to the store, me.”
My best friend here in Timmins, who lived in Moosonee, always greets me like this on the phone: “What are you doing you?”

Also, my dad, who lives in Moosonee, sometimes starts an “I” sentence with a “me.” This is how the uncle character talks in the novel: “Me, I stick to the rivers.”

I still have yet to encounter some Moosonee-isms I mentioned in a previous entry. But I still have 320 pages to go.

The culture

The characters perform or reference a lot of things common in the local culture: goose hunting, ski-dooing on the river, boating in the James Bay, getting on boat taxi, maintaining a camp, going to the Northern store, going to the hospital in Moose Factory.

However, there's a minimal use of Cree words. Well, less often than in Boyden's previous novel.

I think it’s awesome that an award-winning novel is set in Moosonee. I never would have imagined that, because, well, it’s only Moosonee.

But I guess Boyden loves the area, as he spends time there, fishing and hunting.

I read and reviewed Boyden’s first novel, Three Day Road, a tale of two Crees from Moose Factory who volunteer and become snipers in WWI. It’s a good book that also gives a glimpse into how the residential school system affected Aboriginal people early on. Also, the main characters in Through Black Spruce are descendants of the characters in Three Day Road, so it’s worth that much more.

The story in Through Black Spruce is good so far. Annie Bird, a self-reliant young woman living in the bush tells stories to her uncle, Will, who is in a coma. Meanwhile, Will, a bush pilot, shares stories about being a pilot and battling alcoholism. I not sure yet how he got into the coma, but he mentions a feud with another character.

Eventually, I learn from the book jacket, Annie will search for her sister, a famous model, in New York and Toronto.

In all, it’s supposed to be “an astonishingly powerful novel of contemporary aboriginal life, full of the dangers and harsh beauty of both forest and city.”

I'm an eighth of the way so there's a lot more to go. Check back cause once I'm done I'll write a full-review.