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Jun 25, 2009

Bonnie rated it:

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 re More...

3 comments like (12 people liked it)

Nov 22, 2011

Jennifer (aka EM) rated it:

ETA, 11/22/11: The Attawapiskat First Nation, located just north along the shore of James Bay from the setting of Through Black Spruce and mentioned in several different places in the novel,is in crisis. A state of emergency has been declared as a result of "'Third-World' living conditions" in which the 2,000 residents, many of whom are children and elders, have no running water, poor or no sanitation facilities, and sub-standard housing. And, it's winter.

This story has ba More...

5 comments like (4 people liked it)

Feb 07, 2009

Patrick rated it:

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.

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 04, 2008

Julia rated it:

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!

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 13, 2008

GirlwiththeBraids rated it:

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...

7 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 12, 2012

Charra rated it:

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, merg More...

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Apr 14, 2011

Michelle rated it:

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:

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 othe More...

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Jan 25, 2011

Darryl rated it:

“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 More...

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Nov 02, 2010

Karen rated it:

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 i More...

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Sep 13, 2009

Geetha rated it:

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 Canad More...

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Dec 29, 2008

Malcolm rated it:

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 stor More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 07, 2011

Carolyn rated it:

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 wom More...

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Dec 13, 2011

Jill rated it:

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: More...

11 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 19, 2011

Catherinemuir rated it:

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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Aug 07, 2011

Shirley added it

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:

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 More...

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Dec 29, 2011

bookczuk rated it:

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 sto More...

4 comments like

Dec 06, 2008

Ruthie rated it:

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 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 o More...

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Jan 16, 2011

Lorina rated it:

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 More...

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Apr 10, 2009

Louise rated it:

After reading Boyden's first novel titled: 'Three Day Road' and loving it, I had high expectations for this second novel, and wasn't disappointed. Mr. Boyden has arrived, Canada!!

From dust jacket:

"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 More...

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Dec 29, 2008

Ben rated it:

Through Black Spruce, winner of the 2008 Scotia Giller prize, is a novel about the lives of aboriginal Canadians in northern Ontario. If you're interested in how they survive in the bush by hunting moose, rabbits, beavers and geese, this is a novel for you.

However, I was disappointed to read about the culture of drugs, drinking and violence that still infects the growing up of aboriginal children and their fate.

In 2000 I'd read Monkey Beach, a novel by Eden Robin More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 24, 2010

Shirley rated it:

This is the best book I've read all year!!
This book is a deserving winner of the prestigious Giller prize in 2008. I've been wanting to read it for some time, but wanted to read Boyden's first book "Three Day Road" first. As good as that book was, this one is even better. But it was good to read Three Day Road first as it is a precursor to this one and helped me understand the characters a bit more. Like Three Day Road, this book is so difficult to read in some ways because you ke More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 25, 2008

Diane rated it:

Man, this guy can write! His Three Day Road has become THE Canadian war story in my mind and this is such a well-told poignant portrait of culture clash. A First Nations voice that rings so true.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 07, 2011

Yvonne rated it:

Very moving story about the journey and struggles of a Cree/Ojibway hunter and his young niece. Their stories weave together through the past and into the present day. As he lives his life outside Moosonee and then in the bush, she travels south to Toronto and eventually New York City. Joseph Boyden weaves a great story thoughout juxtaposing cities and modern life for many native people, and life in Moosonee. The story is really about family and the bond we have with the people we love and More...

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May 14, 2009

Doreen rated it:

I would have read this book anyway even if it was not a choice of my Book Cllub because I loved Three Day Road which I have recommended countless times. Although I continued to love Boyden's style and his First Nations theme with his depictions of Reserve life in all its humour and darkness I didn't care for this book as much. I think it was the placing of much of the story in New York and Annie's experiences there. I can see his aim in looking at how the "uniqueness" of being aborigin More...

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Mar 12, 2009

Barry rated it:

Boyden proves that he's a hot Canadian talent. He can definitely write. If you're the impatient sort, give this book a chance. The early awkwardness disappears and the writerly prose is simplified to tell the story.

Boyden may have unnecessarily complicated his novel by using a framing device. A simpler structure would have pared the repetition. He uses the conceit of Will Bird, who's in a coma, addressing his nieces. Especially early on, he tells his nieces something that they More...

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Jan 24, 2012

Julie rated it:

"Moosonee. End of the road. End of the tracks," declares Will Bird, a Cree bush pilot lying broken in a hospital bed in this end of the tracks village in northern Ontario. He weaves his story silently, his voice imprisoned by his comatose state. Moosonee is remote, rugged, its Cree Nation inhabitants largely self-sufficient; it is also vulnerable. Poverty fuels drug and alcohol addiction. Those who do leave the community for the excitement and economic opportunity of Toronto or Montrea More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 15, 2011

Lorraine rated it:

I can't help but judge this book by comparison to Three Day Road by the same author, partly because I read them almost back to back. Three Day Road is better, in my opinion. There was more of a hypnotic quality about it that pulled me into its world and layers of story. Through Black Spruce is good, too, but maybe because it is contemporary, the hypnotic quality isn't there. There seemed to be more action to the story and less poetry, though the literary quality is still present. This one pr More...

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