Tag: CBC Canada Reads 2016

A Canada Reads Read You NEED to Read: The Hero’s Walk

Rating: 5.0/5.0
It has been a while since I have reviewed a book on here. Reading has been a bit low on the list of things to do lately, but I finally got around to reading The Hero’s Walk, a finalist on CBC’s Canada Reads list for 2016.

When I attended Canada Reads last year and watched the panel of Canadian celebrities passionately champion their respective novels, I honed in on 3 books I knew I was going to enjoy. I have already featured 2 on my blog (Bone & Bread and Birdie). The Hero’s Walk by Anita Rau Badami was last on my list and without further ado, here it is!

Badami opens her 359-pager on a hot July morning in a village in India,

“In a few hours the heat would hang over the town in long, wet sheets, puddle behind people’s knees, in their armpits and in the hollows of their necks, and drip down their foreheads. Sweaty thighs would stick to chairs and make rude sucking sounds when contact was broken.”

I am usually hooked onto a book within the first 2 pages. Once I get past that and if I am struggling to read it, I never will. Badami though is an expert at her craft. She carefully constructs her words into ropes that tug at you ever so gently and suck you right into her world of regret, guilt, anger, resentment, longing, pain, loss, misunderstanding and the tiniest flicker of hope. She is masterful in her creation of characters that are so well-developed that they could easily be people in your life. With her scintillating metaphors, she captures your imagination on so many different levels and provides you with a wholistic picture that appeals to you through a variety of senses. Badami is a snake-charmer of sorts with her poetic language subtly creeping up on you and making you marvel at the dexterity of her mind and hand in conveying a beautiful language of her own. Her metaphors and similes are exquisite delicacies waiting to be devoured! Not only is the plot of her book a field rich in fodder, her language is so beautifully carved out as well.

Badami knows how to create in her reader a sympathy for all her characters, even the most hated of them. The emotional ride is quite an intense one and there were times I had tears streaming down my face and I had to put the book down for later to keep from becoming too emotionally-overwhelmed. I was thoroughly impressed by Badami’s ability to take on perspectives of people from different cultures and ages and pull it all off.

Predominantly based in India with a few pages lightly brushing through Vancouver in Canada, this book exposes Indian culture and lifestyle bare. Badami makes no bones about the conditions that people in this village have to contend with. You are equally shocked, disgusted and in awe of how life operates.

Canadian actor, Vinay Virmani who passionately argued for The Hero’s Walk to win last year promised that he would work on making this book into a major motion picture. I hope Mr. Virmani is hard at work on fulfilling said promise because I for one cannot wait to watch it! I don’t usually give my books a full rating, but this one deserves it.

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Bone & Bread by Saleema Nawaz

Rating: 3.5/5

BONE & BREAD is Saleema Nawaz’s debut novel, and given that it was also on the shortlist (like my previous post) for CBC’s Canada Reads 2016, she has done quite a good job. This book was particularly poignant because it speaks to readers from various backgrounds. Beena, the main character, comes from a mixed marriage in Montreal, and deals with questions around her identity. She has to sift through her coloured (pardon the pun) past to make sense of her future; a future that is riddled with constant big changes. I do think Nawaz could have told this story in three-quarters or less, of the pages she took to write it, a total of 445, but the story is a seamless read from start to finish. It moves along with a heightened sense of getting to the point where Beena can find peace. When the book opens, Beena has lost her sister,  and now she must wade through the dust and memory of her past to be able to see her reflection more clearly and understand who she is.

Nawaz is able to convey intense emotions through her writing style. She uses short and crisp sentences to transmit Beena’s incredible regret over things done and not done before her sister’s death. Nawaz has carefully crafted a character speared with self-doubt and confusion, but a character bound by love and duty. Through the delicate relationship between Beena and her sister, Sadhana, Nawaz skillfully weaves in the harsh reality of depression manifesting as anorexia and bulimia. Nawaz shows an educated understanding of this strand of mental illness and I am grateful that she uses her talent to bring awareness to such an important issue. As an artist, I do believe one is in a privileged position to educate the world on various societal and individual elements that plague us. This book also does kind justice in handling Beena’s teen pregnancy and her ability to raise her son while caring for her sister who suffers from depression. It shows her courage to finally free herself from her sister’s hold and move away to live her own life, but also her familial loyalty to always come back to her sister, in Sadhana’s times of need. While many may perceive Beena as a static character who remains passive, her role is incredibly reactionary in a world where everything just seems to happen to her. And this is not too far removed from the reactionary reality that many of us live, with a constant lack of control over our lives. The plot charts Beena’s growth from a girl stewing in self-loathing to a woman who can reach out to forgive and make peace with the ghosts of her past. Nawaz wields her talent with vivid imagery, adeptly crafted similes and poignant phrases that deserve to be branded on T-shirts! Poignant phrases from which I will end with my favourite:

“And the work of getting closer, of loving harder, is the work of a whole life.”

-Beena (BONE & BREAD by Saleema Nawaz)

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Birdie by Tracey Lindberg

Rating: 4.8/5

This book was one of 5 shortlisted for the CBC Canada Reads for 2016. In my frantic ambition to read the titles before I attended the event, I purchased this title by Tracey Lindberg. It was the second book I read from the list, and even though it isn’t a lengthy book, it stalled me. For a  good 5 weeks. The first 100 pages open with a very unfamiliar narrative structure. Lindberg is writing from her native Cree traditions and incorporating a lot of that stylistically and structurally into her narrative.

The story starts off with Birdie, our protagonist, on a vision quest, and a lot of the descriptions are easily construed as confusing until about mid-way through the book. The timeline ricochets back and forth and the reader is left exhausted trying to rally her/his concept of plot progression. Still, tarry awhile dear reader, this book is a rewarding read, because once you have crossed that 100-page mark, it flows faster and with fierceness. You will find yourself hungering for the end of the book. You will glide along with Birdie and experience her agony as she gracefully narrates her harrowing journey of sexual abuse, homelessness and abandonment. Lindberg adeptly explores the concept of being lost and making a concerted effort to rally one’s strength and find oneself again. The vision quest is an excellent motif that leads the reader, and Birdie, through this journey of self-and-other discovery.

I adore this book because it gives a voice to our Indigenous relatives that is easily lost amidst a sea of other voices vying for our attention. This book is written with great attention to detail and the use of Cree words and phrases, even if the reader does not understand them thoroughly, is an enriching addition to our understanding of this rich and diverse culture. I was moved by the calm narration of often horrifying events experienced by Birdie, and several other female characters. There is no lace or fluff to this book, no attempt to dramatize events to leave readers raving and make a bestseller list somewhere. No, Lindberg is true to the modesty of her culture. She is true to the peace and kindness that emanates from her kind, and this is why this book needs to be read and celebrated. Along Birdie’s journey, you meet 3 strong women who comprise her family. These women are picked for their oddities, and like Birdie for their strength, and meshed together to create a beautiful mélange of love, compassion, kindness, courage, tenacity and above all, grace.

Should you choose to read this book, and I would recommend that you do, be prepared for the time it takes (it is a very hard read when you start), but also prepare yourself for the rewarding feeling of peace and kinship with our Indigenous female relatives you will feel when you are done.

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