Heartbreaking, yet heartwarming
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The blurb
Saul Indian Horse is a child when his family retreats into the woods. Among the lakes and the cedars, they attempt to reconnect with half-forgotten traditions and hide from the authorities who have been kidnapping Ojibway youth. But when winter approaches, Saul loses everything: his brother, his parents, his beloved grandmother--and then his home itself.
Alone in the world and placed in a horrific boarding school, Saul is surrounded by violence and cruelty. At the urging of a priest, he finds a tentative salvation in hockey. Rising at dawn to practice alone, Saul proves determined and undeniably gifted. His intuition and vision are unmatched. His speed is remarkable. Together they open doors for him: away from the school, into an all-Ojibway amateur circuit, and finally within grasp of a professional career. Yet as Saul's victories mount, so do the indignities and the taunts, the racism and the hatred--the harshness of a world that will never welcome him, tied inexorably to the sport he loves.
Spare and compact yet undeniably rich, Indian Horse is at once a heartbreaking account of a dark chapter in our history and a moving coming-of-age story.
The Review
If you're not aware of the devastating treatment of native Indians in Canada, then this is the book you should start with. It is a desperately sad time in recent history that simply doesn't get enough attention. The story itself in this book may be fiction, but it tells the truths of so many lives. Of so many policies that ripped families apart and put so many children in harm's way. Of all the people that turned a blind eye to what was really happening to these communities and have subsequently tried to erase this history.
I love the way this book is written. The prose is clear and concise enough that anyone can read it, but it's visceral enough that it matters. It is heart-breaking, harrowing and it utterly flattened me. Yet somehow, it was uplifting by the end. It is a tale of human endurance; of how you can live through the very worst of times and still somehow, come out the other side. This particular quote where Saul tries to come to terms with his past, nearly made me howl.
"There wasn't a way that I could think of to tell them how the rage felt against my ribs, how it tasted at the back of my throat. I had to leave before I collapsed under the weight of it."
The linear narrative told from Saul's viewpoint, follows his life as he is separated from his family, ends up in a residential school, and through sheer passion and determination, manages to leave to pursue his love of ice hockey. No book has ever quite made me understand the power a sport can play in building a community, than this one. How it can build the sense of belonging that can be missing in a life. It's some pretty powerful writing that can make you long to be part of a sport you know nothing about, and yet somehow this book did that to me.
If this sounds heavy and somewhat depressing, then yeah, it kinda is. And yet, I felt so hopeful after reading it. There are some real moments of levity and pure utter heart-warming wonder. In short, it scooped my heart right out of me, but at the end, it gave it back to me a bit fuller.
"I understood then that when you miss a thing, it leaves a hole that only the thing you miss can fill."
Thank you to the friend that recommended this to me. You nailed it. Again.