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Through Black Spruce

4.04 of 5 stars 4.04 · rating details · 3,685 ratings · 393 reviews

A haunting novel about identity, love, and loss by the author of Three Day Road

Will Bird is a legendary Cree bush pilot, now lying in a coma in a hospital in his hometown of Moose Factory, Ontario. His niece Annie Bird, beautiful and self-reliant, has returned from her own perilous journey to sit beside his bed. Broken in different ways, the two take silent communion in th...more

Hardcover, 359 pages

Published September 9th 2008 by Viking Books

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Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald

Canadian Fiction

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Scotiabank Giller Prize winners

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Jun 25, 2009 Bonnie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: recommended, reviewed-books, historical-fiction, canadian-author

Update:
The CBA (Canadian Bestsellers Association) have handed out the 2009 Libris Awards. Joseph won Fiction of the Year for Through Black Spruce. He also won author of the year.

Joseph's skill in making the narrative ring true is remarkable: we learn Will’s story while he lies in a coma, and Annie’s, too, as she hopes that by “hearing” her story, her uncle will fight his way out of the coma. Marius Netmaker, grandson of Elijah, also has his strong role to play.

I read the short, first chapter tw...more

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Dec 22, 2012 Jennifer (aka EM) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: canlit, hidden-gems, for-diane, idle-no-more

ETA, 12/22/12: Back one year later, thinking about the Attawapiskat First Nation. Its Chief, Theresa Spence, is heading into her 12th day of a hunger strike, an act of leadership and heroism that has coincided with the explosion of the #IdleNoMore movement. I'm urging all Canadians reading this to join in solidarity with our Aboriginal brothers and sisters in a call for dialogue, collaboration and action. Demand that PM Harper meet with Chief Theresa Spence to make meaningful, immediate progress...more

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Feb 07, 2009 Patrick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Powerful, well written, and a wonderful story. I think it helps having read Three Day Road first, for the back story and the understanding of Boyden's storytelling style. Had a hard time putting both books down; the stories flowed so well.

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Dec 04, 2008 Julia rated it 5 of 5 stars

This books tells an interesting & compelling story of the life of an aboriginal bush pilot in Northern Ontario. Family loyalty and kinship is thick as is the use of alcohol. The main character is implicated in the attempted murder of a man that has been stalking him. His nieces take off for N.Y.C. to earn money as models and find their own trouble there. Really a good read! One I would recommend!

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Nov 13, 2008 GirlwiththeBraids rated it 1 of 5 stars

I think Through Black Spruce should start from scratch all over again and the author rewrite his story. Looking at the cover and reading the summary, you would have never guessed what was ahead: far too many curse words, sex scenes, and drug dealers. I read until the middle of the book at then put it down. I did not finish this book. Why would I if it makes me feel uncomfortable and sinful while I read it? I could not read one page without seeing something that didn’t need to be written or added...more

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Sep 18, 2012 Peter rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

An old bush pilot lies in a coma in a hospital bed in Moosenee; we don't know why he is there of how he came to be there. His niece, Annie, sits by his bedside and talks to him. She tells him about her life, even though he probably can't hear her. In turn, in his coma, he talks to her.Both have been injured through tragedy in their lives and through the stories they tell each other we learn of their lives. We learn of Annie's search for her sister through the high fashion world of Toronto, Montr...more

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May 09, 2012 Carl Brush rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have once again to thank my Canadian connections for good reading from the north. Through Black Spruce won the Scotiabank Giller Prize, which I guess is sort of the Canadian Booker. And although I don’t know what the other entries were, I won’t argue. Joseph Boyden has written a fine novel here.

The setting is a Northern Ontario village whose primary inhabitants are Cree, many of whom still live with a toe in the hunting/gathering world of their ancestors. Although we spend most of our time in...more I have once again to thank my Canadian connections for good reading from the north. Through Black Spruce won the Scotiabank Giller Prize, which I guess is sort of the Canadian Booker. And although I don’t know what the other entries were, I won’t argue. Joseph Boyden has written a fine novel here.

The setting is a Northern Ontario village whose primary inhabitants are Cree, many of whom still live with a toe in the hunting/gathering world of their ancestors. Although we spend most of our time in Moose Factory, Boyden takes as far afield as the high-flying drug and modeling worlds of Toronto, Montreal, and NYC. (Side note: It’s amusingly disorienting to read of Toronto as “the south.” Probably amusing to Boyden as well, since he apparently spends half his time in New Orleans.)

Boyden treats the well-worn themes (and real-life facts) of addiction and alcoholism among the natives with honesty and relevance. They are essential to the plot and emerge naturally from the characters’ conditions and personalities, but Boyden does not make them the stand-ins for the white civilization’s oppression. Not that there are no evil whites here, but the characters are responsible for their own lives. And interesting characters they are.

Willy Bird, an aging bush pilot, gets inadvertently involved with a drug cartel whose tentacles reach all the way back to NYC. His whole family is eventually ensnared in the complications, and it’s the unraveling of all the intricacies that keeps you involved as a reader. Willy has his drinking buddies, of course, and a half-brother from the hinterlands who eventually proves crucial to the action. He also has two nieces, model-beautiful but very different, who capture both your affections and your adrenalin.

I think I can guarantee that Through Black Spruce will draw you in and keep you involved from one end of the story to the other. I know I can guarantee you’ll know more about trapping beaver and hunting moose than you did when you started. I have my arguments with the ending, but won’t go into them here for fear of spoiling it. Boyden’s a young guy who deserves a wider audience than he apparently has now. Read him and see if you don’t agree.(less)

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Feb 12, 2012 Charra Rede rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a complex novel, a sequel to Three Day Road, years and generations later. The sons of Xavier Bird still live in the northern bush, but the fast life of the south infringes on their peace.

As in his first book, Boyden uses intertwining voices to tell this dramatic tale. Will Bird lies in a coma in a northern hospital, where he is not expected to recover from a terrible beating; while his niece Annie, sits by his side. Both have stories to tell. Boyden's time is disjointed, merging slices o...more

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Apr 14, 2011 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was beautifully-written. It is told through the points of view of two main characters, which was confusing at first, but settled after I realized that the first chapter was narrated by Will, the second by Annie, and then back to Will, etc. It's somewhat a mystery, but that's only because Annie and Will know information that the other doesn't until near the end. The story tells of an experience by present-day Canadian Indians and, as a bonus, gives additional information I'd never known...more

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Mar 25, 2011 Ardene rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, fiction, mystery, dcpl

Through black spruce by Joseph Boyden is a novel of love and loss and persistence set primarily in Ontario at the southern end of the James Bay.

Though about half the narration takes place northern Ontario in their Cree community, and half in New York City, the taiga forest is obviously a well-loved home for both narrators. But this is not a novel full of action.

What hooked me was the tone of the narrators, Will & Annie, reflective and measured, always reaching out to the other. The sentences...more Through black spruce by Joseph Boyden is a novel of love and loss and persistence set primarily in Ontario at the southern end of the James Bay.

Though about half the narration takes place northern Ontario in their Cree community, and half in New York City, the taiga forest is obviously a well-loved home for both narrators. But this is not a novel full of action.

What hooked me was the tone of the narrators, Will & Annie, reflective and measured, always reaching out to the other. The sentences are short, terse really, but clear and descriptive. Yet the picture is tantalizingly out of focus, and it takes quite awhile to put the pieces together, and even then there are things unfinished, unsaid, unresolved.

The first chapter is clearly a man talking to his nieces, obviously in trouble and talking to help keep himself moving. But what kind of trouble isn’t clear. In trouble with alcohol? When the first paragraph of a novel is a description of what to blend with rye whiskey, you know alcohol plays an important role in the story. Alcohol plays a role through rest of the chapter, a description of Will’s first plane crash onto a partially frozen creek lined with black spruce, but not the only one. The other thing that plays a significant role in the story are his family and friends, particularly his nieces; the final paragraph of the chapter makes clear that getting back to them is keeping the narrator going:

The snow’s deep here, nieces. I’m tired, but I have to keep walking. I’m so tired, but I’ve got to get up or I’ll freeze to death. Talking to you, it keeps me warm.

The second chapter introduces niece Annie, who lets us know her uncle is in the hospital, in intensive care and unconscious. Why isn’t clear until we’re a quite a way into the story. Annie has been away for a long time, out of communication with her uncle (and her mother). We learn eventually that she started out searching for her missing sister, and followed her trail to the glamorous life of a model, locating her sister’s “friends” and living the high in New York City, until Annie’s life there falls apart.

Her friend Eva, a nurse at the hospital, encourages Annie to talk to her uncle. Her first attempt is awkward, and it’s clear she feels guilty, somehow responsible for his ending up here (It took me awhile after I finished the book to figure out why.) But Annie and Will have a bond because, as Annie says, speaking of her sister, “I bet you believe she’s still alive . . . Nobody else around here does but you and me, I bet.” The other bond they have is they both love living in the bush, hunting and trapping.

The remainder of the book alternates back and forth between Will’s voice and Annie’s, and we are left to attempt to piece together the story of what happened to Suzanne and to Will. What happened to Suzanne? Is it possible that she will come back? And what about Will? What happened to him? Clearly he and his niece both desire his return to the land of the living. Will he make it?

My public library does not have any of Boyden's other books, unfortunately, but I hope to read more of his writing.
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Jan 25, 2011 Darryl Mexic rated it 4 of 5 stars

“Through Black Spruce”, by Joseph Boyden. Fiction. **** Recommended to me by Cindy Weber. In the very small, far northern, very poor, town of Moosenee, Ontario, somewhere near James Bay, Will Bird, native American Cree, former bush pilot, sometimes trapper, widower, lies in a coma in the local hospital. His daily, or more accurately, his nightly, visitor, Annie, Will’s niece, sister to the missing fashion model, Suzanne, sits by his side and tells him the story of her efforts to find Suzanne in...more

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Nov 02, 2010 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: canadian, crime, review-books

THROUGH BLACK SPRUCE isn't the first book it's taken me quite a long time to read, it's not even the one that took the longest to read, but it did take many attempts before I was able to get any traction. This attempt I read the blurb first-up and did a little Google hunting - something I normally try not to do. But this time I really needed it to find out what on earth was going on. Then it dawned on me why I was having so much trouble getting into the book.

THROUGH BLACK SPRUCE is a family stor...more THROUGH BLACK SPRUCE isn't the first book it's taken me quite a long time to read, it's not even the one that took the longest to read, but it did take many attempts before I was able to get any traction. This attempt I read the blurb first-up and did a little Google hunting - something I normally try not to do. But this time I really needed it to find out what on earth was going on. Then it dawned on me why I was having so much trouble getting into the book.

THROUGH BLACK SPRUCE is a family story, told from two main points of view. Annie is the sister of the missing Suzanne, as per the blurb. She's the one who did come home, after a whirlwind time in the big cities which started off with her looking for Suzanne and ended up with her almost living Suzanne's life. The other main narrator is their Uncle Will, a man haunted by loss, old, looking back at his life and the disastrous outcomes surrounding the disappearance of Suzanne. The book launches into these individual voices very quickly, and there's no real hint at the start as to what the story is about, and where the reader is being taken. It's a controlled, contained, almost placid book to start off with, beautifully evocative of life in a harsh and difficult environment and the joys and tensions of living in a small community. It draws a series of wonderful, thoughtful, sometimes eccentric, often quite poignant characterisations. At no stage does THROUGH THE BLACK SPRUCE give anything unnecessary away.

And that is why the book may have been so difficult to get any traction on. There is no indication at the start where this is going, even for a while who is narrating; what has happened; how anybody got to the position they are in, or even what exact position that is; where the story is leading. This is immersion reading, and in a way extreme faith reading. The reader has to simply give in to the author, allow this world and these people to slowly, very very slowly emerge, draw their pictures, cohere into a tale of violence and extremes, kindness, love and compassion. Once you do give in, allow this book to work it's way into it's own story and draw you into the world, it's often rather beautiful. Uncle Will is a marvellous old character, wise and stupid, kind, stubborn and game as. Annie is very much a survivor, whether that's in the modelling studios and parties of New York and Toronto or deep in the frozen forest in the hunting camps, setting traps and coaxing the old snowmobile into one more trip, she's strong and very very like her Uncle.

THROUGH BLACK SPRUCE is not however, a perfect book. It's strengths are most definitely in Will's world, as he narrates his life, as he moves through the Canadian wilderness, as he goes backwards and forwards through his past and his present. Less convincing are the times that Annie spends away from forest, in the cities and the modelling life. This is more sketchy, flat and bland, hard to follow, less immersing. Because of that there's frequently a lack of balance in the narration. Will became a real focus, allowing the reader to understand and accept his connection to his home, the land and the creatures around him. There was less of that connection with Annie - maybe because of the Indian spiritualism which worked well for Will but didn't seem to have such authenticity in her city based world. Once she's back in the forest, at her Uncle's side, and once the events surrounding the disappearance of Suzanne start to clarify, Annie starts to make more sense. But it was hard to shake a slight suspicion of contrivance.

But that's a minor quibble. Ultimately I really liked this book, once I'd figured out how to read it. It's probably not a book for a more traditional crime fiction fan - it's definitely about the journey and not the destination, but once into it, once I'd figured out who was who and that I wasn't supposed to have the slightest idea what was going on for most of the book, I just went with it. And along the way there were some glorious moments.

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Sep 13, 2009 Geetha rated it 3 of 5 stars

Through Black Spruce is a follow up to Joseph Boyden’s earlier book “The Three Day Road”. It won the Giller Prize in Canada. The characters in this book are descendants of the characters in the earlier book. Though I didn’t enjoy “Through Black Spruce” as much as I did “The Three Day Road” nevertheless it is a good book.
Once again in “Through Black Spruce” we see the effects of trauma the Native People of Canada have suffered following their treatment in the hands of the settlers to Canada. Ther...more

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Nov 17, 2012 Shonna Froebel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: canadian

This is a wonderful novel revolving around native characters from a community in northern Ontario. The chapters are told from the points of view of Annie, a young native woman, and her uncle Will Bird, who is lying in the hospital in a coma. The chapters alternate between the two viewpoints. Annie has been on an adventure out in the wider world, and has brought back Gordon, a native boy from the city with her. She is teaching Gordon ways of living off the land. She visits her uncle in the hospit...more

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Dec 29, 2008 Malcolm rated it 4 of 5 stars

Book Review: Through Black Spruce
Viking Canada 2008 Giller Book Prize Winner
ISBN 978-0-670-06363-5

I love Joseph Boyden’s stories. Through Black Spruce is a triumph well deserving of the Giller prize recently awarded to him.
Some of the main characters in this book’s group of Cree people living in and around James Bay are descended from the main character, Xavier Bird - the main character from Boyden’s previous work, Three Day Road. A good part of this story concerns Will Bird, grandson of Xavie...more Book Review: Through Black Spruce
Viking Canada 2008 Giller Book Prize Winner
ISBN 978-0-670-06363-5

I love Joseph Boyden’s stories. Through Black Spruce is a triumph well deserving of the Giller prize recently awarded to him.
Some of the main characters in this book’s group of Cree people living in and around James Bay are descended from the main character, Xavier Bird - the main character from Boyden’s previous work, Three Day Road. A good part of this story concerns Will Bird, grandson of Xavier Bird.
A bush pilot, retired after a long career and three plane crashes, Will Bird hunts, fishes and drinks. He is alone in the world after a tragedy takes his family. He still has his bush-plane and uses it from time to time.
Xavier Bird, Will’s grandfather, appears in the story by proxy, through the presence of a 303 sniper rifle Xavier used in WW I in the trenches of France then bequeathed to his grandson. Will Bird believes the rifle speaks to him sometimes.
In another story-line, young attractive Cree in Toronto, Montreal and New York make good money as fashion models. Apparently, the native look is in. We learn, however, all roads lead home to James Bay except for certain lost souls.
“Now at this moment, I wish there was something in this world called fairness, I used to think there was, a long time ago.” Will Bird laments in one scene late in the story when we are not sure he will survive. This quote has wider meaning, however, with respect to native people and their place in the modern world. This story’s theme is again that of native people struggling with life’s enormous obstacles multiplied by their history, and the difficult task existing in the world of the white man without losing their traditional identity. The reality and prevalence of alcoholism, substance abuse, and violence in the native community is truly tragic and is not glossed over in this story. Yet, at the same time the story reminds us that the majority of native people are resourceful, intelligent, and generous souls.
The dialogue in Boyden’s writing is terrific, as is his pacing and use of breaks. His descriptive powers are substantial as is his knowledge of the Cree nature lore. We feel we are truly present with characters in the wilderness scenes and we learn much along the way regarding traditional native skills of hunting, trapping, and fishing.
The characters are likeable, funny at points, and each of them cognizant and respectful of their Cree heritage if at times cynical. Most of them make generous and at times heroic gestures toward one another, their nature being more collective and kind, rather than staunchly individual and selfish. Their connection to the natural world is evident. The characters are three dimensionally complex although there is one character, one dimensionally evil, serving as an important foil in the plot. Most stories need at least one of these I guess.
Boyden uses a structure that follows several connected story lines that converge. This involves a lot of flashbacks and shifts of point of view that at times I found confusing. This was only a minor annoyance in an otherwise wonderful story.
Through Black Spruce is rumoured to be the second part of a trilogy. I could see another book continuing the story as certain characters and stories remain unresolved.
I give Through Black Spruce four stars out of five and congratulate Boyden on a well deserved Giller Prize win. He is a wonderful writer and we can expect many more great books from him.
Malcolm Watts BA MSW
Check out my novel: Reflections from Shadow
www.authorsden.com/malcolmwatts

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Oct 01, 2012 brianna rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Although not as gripping as its predecessor, Through Black Spruce follows the Bird clan post-WWI into modern day. It is structured parallel to Three Day Road, with chapters alternating between two characters separated by an event, slowly unravelling stories and secrets from each narrative. Through Black Spruce was an enjoyable read, but it did leave some lose plot ends - the story arc involving Suzanne's disappearance seemed to be turning into a near-noir detective story, yet it did not deliver,...more

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Aug 20, 2012 Larry rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another great story by Joseph Boyden, author of Three Day Road, once again focused on a Northern Ontario Cree family dealing with personal challenges and tragedy. The story is told in the first person, alternating between the voice of Will Bird, a Cree bush pilot, and his niece Annie.

Annie’s story focuses on the search for her sister, Suzanne, who becomes a model in NYC, unfortunately becoming mixed up with drug gangs. Annie goes to NYC in search of her sister, and subsequently becomes a part-t...more

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Jun 07, 2011 Carolyn Gerk rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm sure you no one wants to hear how this novel compares to Three Day Road, but to be honest, I only picked it up because I had read 'Road' and was amazed at Boyden's writing; it earned five spectacular stars from me. A lot to live up to. Through Black Spruce does not fall flat. It is an engaging tale of (again) two narrators bonded by family, tragedy and culture. Annie and Will Bird, descendants of the Birds of Three Day Road, tell us, and each other, their story.
Annie, a young Cree woman liv...more I'm sure you no one wants to hear how this novel compares to Three Day Road, but to be honest, I only picked it up because I had read 'Road' and was amazed at Boyden's writing; it earned five spectacular stars from me. A lot to live up to. Through Black Spruce does not fall flat. It is an engaging tale of (again) two narrators bonded by family, tragedy and culture. Annie and Will Bird, descendants of the Birds of Three Day Road, tell us, and each other, their story.
Annie, a young Cree woman living in the isolated North of Ontario, searches for her sister in the foreign world of fashion. She travels to Toronto and New York to follow in the footsteps of her missing sister, who left her own world behind to become a model. We see Annie falter and struggle in a world not her own; she tries to belong in an attempt to gain knowledge of her sister, and in an attempt to gain validation.
Will, Annie's uncle, lies in a coma willing his story upon both his nieces, the present Annie and the missing Suzanne. He illustrates the struggles he faces with self acceptance and forgiveness. He tells us of his failings :alcoholism, the loss of his family, his history as a bush pilot. We follow Will's tale as he suffers at the hands of the drug dealing "Netmaker" clan that plague Moosonee. He flees to the bush to struggle, instead, against nature and himself.
So, why three stars? Merely because Three Day Road got five. I am comparing the two, like it or not, and I enjoyed the other one much more. Not to say that I didn't enjoy this one, but it just didn't grip me quite as much. That being said, I found Will's journey the most engaging. I'm not sure what it was about Annie's, but I would skim her chapters from time to time.
Boyden revisits a lot of ideas and themes from his first novel :violence and the effect it has on the soul. Fear and how it shapes us. Family, history and the ties that link us to them. By creating characters that are descendants of those from his first novel, Boyden is able to re-use a lot of ideas without having it seem gimmicky. Annie's epilepsy, Xavier's rifle. It was also nice to have something of an update on Xavier's life; I felt that the somewhat open ended conclusion to Three Day Road implied that he had passed away.
Not what Three Day Road was, but on it's own, Through Black Spruce is a lyrical, descriptive, richly cultural story, absolutely worth a read. Great Canadian literature. (less)

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Feb 13, 2013 Louise rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 13, 2011 Jill rated it 5 of 5 stars

In Joseph Boyden’s mesmerizing and beautifully-rendered second novel – a follow-up to Three Day Road—former bush pilot Will Bird reflects, “Something’s there, through the black spruce, just on the other side. I can’t see it yet, though…”

The “something” is a strange place in the road: the place between traditional ways of life and modernity, between nature and the insidious effects of the drug culture, between life and death. There are two stories that are expertly interwoven here: the story of W...more In Joseph Boyden’s mesmerizing and beautifully-rendered second novel – a follow-up to Three Day Road—former bush pilot Will Bird reflects, “Something’s there, through the black spruce, just on the other side. I can’t see it yet, though…”

The “something” is a strange place in the road: the place between traditional ways of life and modernity, between nature and the insidious effects of the drug culture, between life and death. There are two stories that are expertly interwoven here: the story of Will, deep in a coma, who reflects on the adventures and tribulations of his life and what has led him to this hospital bed. And the story of Annie, his niece, who is on a quest to find her missing sister, a one-time top fashion model in New York City who has lived the high life in every sense of the word.

Joseph Boyden captures the Cree language and sensibility and there are truly gorgeous and memorable moments in this book such as Will’s connection with an aging bear sow, who, like Will, is experiencing “a world of loss”. Boyden breathes fresh air into the life of this aging hunter who is losing his designation as the “bush man in this town” and who deplores the blood feuds and drug dealing that have taken hold of his community.

Annie, too, is lost in the foreign world of high stakes modeling in New York – where she ends up in her search for her sister – a high-octane world where human connections mean little and the drug Ecstasy rules the day. After being summoned back home, she and Will strive to rescue each other through the bracing honesty of confessing their experiences.

This gripping novel – taking us from a sterile hospital room to the primordial edges of the secluded James Bay, from the northern backwoods of Ontario to the glittering high-rises of the Big Apple – only falters at the end, with a “tie it all together” ending that is unworthy of the rest of the book. It’s a stunning book, worthy of the Scotibank Giller Prize it so richly earned.
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Nov 19, 2011 Catherine rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was excited to read this book because it had been recommended to me by a couple people recently, and I had heard so much about the author due to his Three Day Road-fame. I guess I should have started with Three Day Road, because unfortunately Through Black Spruce makes me not want to pick up another Joseph Boyden book, at least not right away. Although I liked the plot, the characters, and the setting, I found Boyden's writing a bit flat, and the book just plain too long. It took me a long tim...more

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Jul 24, 2011 Shirley added it · review of another edition

Through Black Spruce is Joseph Boyden's second novel, and is even better than his debut, Three Day Road. Both novels deal with the lives and experiences of Northern Cree Indians, in their own communities and in the wider world. Both books use the same literary technique - two narrators tell their interconnected stories going back and forth in time. And, both novels focus on the same two familes: those of Xavier, Elijah and their offspring.

The narrators and main characters in Through Black Spruce...more

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Nov 09, 2009 Catherine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, 50books_poc, indian_country, ojibwe_country, canada

Through Black Spruce is a piece of wonderful storytelling, reaching back into a Cree past where the English language was peripheral and families could protect their children from mainstream Canadian education, yet also reaching into a Manhattan present, where there's money to be made from being an "Indian princess" in the modeling world, and drugs and alcohol help blur the discomfort of being so far from home. Moving between the two, Boyden traces the continuities of what it means to be Cree - o...more

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Dec 29, 2011 bookczuk rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: borrowed, didn-t-want-to-put-it-down, read-on-recommendation, thank-you-charleston-county-library, wow

Who would have thought that a story told in part by a man in a coma could be so compelling? The narrative flips between Will Byrd, lying comatose in a hospital bed in the small town of Moose Factory, Ontario, and his emotionally wounded, yet surprisingly resilient niece, Annie. As the story unfolds, the life of present day Cree entwines with past history. Will's story is filled with back-history of his time as a bush pilot: the flights, crashes, losses, and the story of his family. Annie's story...more

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Dec 06, 2008 Ruthie rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who likes a good story!

Recommended to Ruthie by: Every newspaper and magazine in Canada!

Three Day Road, Boyden's breathtaking novel, is one of my favorite books, and I was really excited to read Boyden's latest. He is a wonderful writer who takes the reader into the world of Native Canadians, then brings us along as his characters interact with the "southern" world.

This book has two main characters, an uncle and his niece, and they tell their entwined stories in alternating chapters. As I finished each chapter I wanted to continue with that narrator, but then I became engrossed wit...more

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Jul 03, 2012 Rosanne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Through Black Spruce centres on family/small community loyalties and feuds. There's abit of the Hatfield/McCoy running through the story line. The main characters are Will and is niece Annie Bird who throughout seem to manage to bring a lot of pain down upon them for different reasons, but you care about them and sympathize with them. They may be human and flawed but also likeable. The story unfolds by alternating the narration between Will, then Annie. It takes the first couple of chapters to...more

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Jun 08, 2012 Christine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm sparing with my five star awards but by the time I'd reached the half way point in this novel I knew that it was going to make it. A gripping plot, fascinating characters and beautiful writing make this one very wonderful book.

The story is told in alternating chapters by Will Bird, bush pilot, sometimes trapper and widower, who happens to be in a coma and Annie Bird, his niece, who is searching for her missing sister, Suzanne, a successful model. The novel is set in Northern Ontario, with sc...more

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Feb 01, 2012 Lianne added it

I am Canadian born and like to follow what Canadian writers are publishing.Traditionally, Canadian literature reflected the "Two Solitudes"of English and French Canadian culture. Since the 1970's an increasing number of authors of Indian, Chinese and other origins have explored the immigrant and exile experiences from a Canadian perspective.Joseph Boyden adds "the fourth pillar" to modern Canadian literature. His First Nations (Indian) ancestry sets a story in the far north of Ontario in Moosone...more

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Apr 21, 2012 Careyleah rated it 5 of 5 stars

I think books present themselves in a timely manner...who knows why.

This book came to me only because I liked the cover when I saw it in our little library; I then liked the slight description on the back cover.

Cut to the chase: I really, really liked this book. Alternating chapters from Uncle Will and Annie gave me such a three-dimensional world of each, and then beyond that. Not in a supernatural way, but in the way we experience our lives and the lives of others..

As it happened, I finished th...more

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Jan 16, 2011 Lorina Stephens rated it 5 of 5 stars

To read Joseph Boyden’s Through Black Spruce is to peer through a window into a quintessentially Canadian, and poignantly Northern Ontarian world. The novel, which explores human descent into revenge, violence and brutality, illuminates the rich and often desperate lives of the Cree and Ojibwa nations who, against all predations, still pursue traditions and lifestyles that in the end are their salvation and legacy.

The voice Boyden’s uses is stark, simple, elegantly First Nations, and because of...more

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About Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden is a Canadian novelist and short story writer.

He grew up in Willowdale, North York, Ontario and attended the Jesuit-run Brebeuf College School. Boyden's father Raymond Wilfrid Boyden was a medical officer renowned for his bravery, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and was the highest-decorated medical officer of World War II.

Boyden, of Irish, Scottish and Métis heritage...more

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Books by Joseph Boyden

Extraordinary Canadians: Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont: A Penguin Lives Biography

From Mushkegowuk To New Orleans: A Mixed Blood Highway

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Quotes from Through Black Spruce

“When I die, nieces, I want to be cremated, my ashes taken up in a bush plane and sprinkled onto the people in town below. Let them think my body is snowflakes, sticking in their hair and on their shoulders like dandruff.” — 8 people liked it

“Tout ce que je sais, c'est qu'il n'existe pas de héros dans ce monde. Pas vraiment. Rien que des hommes et des femmes devenus vieux et fatigués qui n'ont plus la force de lutter pour ce qu'ils aiment.” — 3 people liked it

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