The Orenda

I wanted to enjoy this book, but I found it really problematic. Firstly, it's written by an author whose claims to native heritage appear to be very debated, and I do not enjoy reading fiction that writes aboriginal characters in such simple language and short sentences that it portrays them as simplistic. Attempting to portray a different way of thought, sure. 500 pages of referring to Europeans as "the hairy ones"? Painful. I can't claim any native heritage or deep knowledge of aboriginal culture personally, but I'm pretty sure it's possible to write full sentences and express sophisticated thought processes while still being true to native beliefs. "I lay my children down on their furs. 'Show me,' I say." etc etc ... I found it patronizing that the native characters are written in such abbreviated, simple sentences.

It's also basically torture porn. All about the conflicts between the French, the Huron, and the Iroquois; the book is just filled with graphic to the point of extremely disturbing depictions of brutal torture, but all of it performed by the native tribes. There is one brief sentence where the French missionary "Crow" reflects that the Christian inquisitions have performed similar atrocities, but that thought is immediately passed by and never raised again in the entire book filled with graphic torture. The repeated treatment of native tortures and the "bravery" of the warriors who refuse to cry out while they are tortured (in great detail, sometimes from first person perspective) seems to be held out as a virtue in the end. The ability of various characters to undergo excruciating torture for days without "breaking" seems to be presented as winning of virtue in the end.

There are three main characters, Snow Falls (whose parents and siblings are brutally tortured and murdered in front of her) who is adopted by Bird (whose spouse and children were brutally tortured and murdered by Snow Falls' tribe), and the missionary Crow (whose fellow missionaries, and eventually himself also, are variously tortured by Iroquois to various degrees). None of them become likeable to any degree. None of them appear to have much sense of humour. Only Crow seems to be allowed to use any degree of sophisticated language and thought.

So yeah. Do you enjoy wooden characters where the aboriginal characters are portrayed as unsophisticated and lacking depth of expression? Do you enjoy reading pages and pages of graphic description of people being flayed alive, boiled alive, burned alive, brutalized in various ways, blinded, castrated, and otherwise maimed? Do you believe the ability to put on a macho front and withstand such torture is laudable? Then hey, you'll probably love this book. Me, I'm going to pass on any other books by this author.