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The Orenda

(Bird Family Trilogy)

Joseph Boyden

4.23 · Rating details · 16,248 ratings · 2,059 reviews

In the remote winter landscape a brutal massacre and the kidnapping of a young Iroquois girl violently re-ignites a deep rift between two tribes. The girl’s captor, Bird, is one of the Huron Nation’s great warriors and statesmen. Years have passed since the murder of his family, and yet they are never far from his mind. In the girl, Snow Falls, he recognizes the ghost of h ...more

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Hardcover, 490 pages

Published September 10th 2013 by Hamish Hamilton

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Sep 22, 2013 Doreen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: personal-library

To say that The Orenda is a compelling read would be an understatement. Reading Boyden’s latest novel was for me an intense experience which I think will haunt me for a long while. It is not an easy, comfortable read; it is, in fact, provocative, demanding that we examine our history with an unflinching eye: “What’s happened in the past can’t stay in the past for the same reason the future is always just a breath away” (487).

This historical epic is set in the mid-1600s in Huronia at a time when To say that The Orenda is a compelling read would be an understatement. Reading Boyden’s latest novel was for me an intense experience which I think will haunt me for a long while. It is not an easy, comfortable read; it is, in fact, provocative, demanding that we examine our history with an unflinching eye: “What’s happened in the past can’t stay in the past for the same reason the future is always just a breath away” (487).

This historical epic is set in the mid-1600s in Huronia at a time when the Hurons and the Iroquois are involved in skirmishes just as the Jesuits arrive and begin their conversion campaign. A member of each of these three groups serves as a narrator: Bird is the warrior leader of the Wendat (Huron) nation; Snow Falls is a young Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) girl whom Bird captures and adopts in retaliation for the Iroquois killing his wife and daughters; and Christophe is a priest, whom the Hurons call Crow, who has come to convert the “sauvages” to Catholicism.

One of the aspects of the novel that is impressive is the characterization. All of the main characters emerge as complex characters with both negative and positive traits. Bird is fierce and vengeful, but also capable of great love; Snow Falls is self-centred and vindictive but possesses an admirable feistiness. Christophe is narrow-minded, but his dedication is unquestionable. Furthermore, each character grows and develops. Bird acknowledges how his actions led to an escalation of violence: “I acted without thinking about what I was doing for the long term (111).” Snow Falls initially thwarts all attempts to integrate her into her adoptive family and accept Bird as a father, but she comes to realize that Bird and her father are similar: “My adopted father, Bird. Is he like you once were, my real one? I remember you were considered great by our people. I remember you were loved very much. You were like Bird, were you not” (198)? The priest feels racially superior, but comes to see the Hurons as “more generous and even gentle than any I’ve ever had the pleasure to know” (459). These three fully developed and dynamic characters demonstrate Boyden’s skill, but what is also exceptional is that even the minor characters (e.g. Fox, Gosling, Gabriel) are nuanced individuals.

What is also impressive is Boyden’s unwillingness to blame. Each of the three parts of the novel has a prologue spoken by a chorus of First Nations voices. The first begins with an admonition: “It’s tempting to place blame, though loss should never be weighed in this manner” (3). The role of the priests in the decimation of native culture is not diminished, but the second prologue cautions, “It’s unfair, though, to blame only the crows, yes? It’s our obligation to accept our responsibility in the whole affair” (153).

One cannot help but admire the writer’s balanced depiction. Christophe represents the ignorant Europeans who bring diseases that have a devastating impact on the aboriginal peoples, but he proves to be a man of compassion and courage. The Jesuits attack native beliefs, but are pawns as well; Christophe, for example, wrestles “with the grave worry that our work is being exploited by those who wish not for the souls of the sauvages but for the riches of the land, and that they are using us as the tip of the spear for their earthly gains” (141). The Iroquois are feared for their brutality, but after ritually torturing two Iroquois captives, Bird states, “’These two are the bravest men I have ever had the pleasure of meeting’” (276). The Iroquois torture captives mercilessly, but the Hurons are equally cruel in their “caressing.” And then their savagery is contrasted with their unstinting generosity; Bird describes a feast he hosts: “As is the custom, I refuse the food but instead make sure everyone has everything they desire” even though, by giving away all of his food, he knows, “Tomorrow, I will have nothing” (380 – 381).

It is obvious that Boyden did considerable research for the writing of this book. His depiction of daily life among the Hurons is detailed. The Feast of the Dead (79 – 84) and the significance of wampum belts (107 – 108) are meticulously described. The importance of community needs over those of the individual is emphasized (73, 291, 406). The native belief in the orenda is explained: “all have within us a life force . . . [called] the orenda. . . . not just humans have an orenda but also animals, trees, bodies of water, even rocks strewn on the ground” (31). Christianity’s belief that “’everything in the world was put here for man’s benefit . . . and that all the animals are born to serve him'” is contrasted with the native belief that “’humans are the only ones in this world that need everything within it. . . . But there is nothing in this world that needs us for its survival. We aren’t the masters of the earth. We’re the servants’” (163).

Despite the cultural differences shown to exist, the novel’s focus is on commonalities. Over and over again, characters emphasize similarities among people. Bird admits that his behaviour is no different than that of the Iroquois (105); Snow Falls admits that Bird and her father are so much alike (134); an Iroquois leader tells Bird, “’We’re not so different . . . And our nations aren’t so different’” (252); Christophe admits that the native torture rituals are not much different than the Spanish Inquisition, the church’s burning of witches, and the Crusades (256); and Bird tells a priest, “’Sometimes our differences aren’t so many’” (407). And is there much difference between a man singing a death chant as he prepares for death and another man singing a hymn as he does so?

The novel is a masterpiece. There are scenes of horrific torture that are difficult to read, but they are Boyden’s way of not ignoring any aspect of the past. He seems determined to want us to face the full truth of our complex history. No one emerges innocent, yet everyone is given dignity. This is a book that all Canadians should read.

Please check out my reader's blog (http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski). ...more

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Dec 15, 2013 Krista rated it it was amazing

Shelves: can-con, favourites, 2013, indigenous

I took no pleasure yesterday in killing the last two women. They were already so wounded we knew they wouldn’t survive the trip home. Even though I asked Fox to do it, my asking is the same as if I myself had done it. Fox cut their throats with his knife so that they’d die quickly, ignoring the taunts of Sturgeon and Hawk and Deer to make it slow. When the three called Fox a woman for making the first leave so fast, he positioned the second woman, who was quite pretty, so the blood from her t
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Jul 09, 2019 Paltia rated it it was amazing

The Orenda is a 17th century adventure story. A radiantly imagined tale of conflicts and their resolutions. There are many interesting characters but at the core is Bird, the leader of his people, Gosling, the woman he loves and a seer, Snow Falls, a lone survivor of an attack between the Huron and the Iroquois, and Christophe, the Jesuit missionary renamed the Crow by the Huron. Gosling and Christophe Crow have their very own conflict. He accuses her of being of the devil and using trickery and ...more

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Mar 22, 2014 Jesse rated it did not like it

Shelves: read-in-2014

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. [2019 EDIT: ZERO STARS. Learned very late the "history" in this book is based only on French propagandistic Jesuit accounts sent back to French and relies on no other histories, including Indigenous oral histories. Since I wrote this review obviously we learned Boyden was misrepresenting his identity and--even more problematically--was trading in stories told to him by Elders in communities like Moose Factory without their permission. Nothing about this book can be trusted.] I wanted to like thi [2019 EDIT: ZERO STARS. Learned very late the "history" in this book is based only on French propagandistic Jesuit accounts sent back to French and relies on no other histories, including Indigenous oral histories. Since I wrote this review obviously we learned Boyden was misrepresenting his identity and--even more problematically--was trading in stories told to him by Elders in communities like Moose Factory without their permission. Nothing about this book can be trusted.] I wanted to like this book so much more than I ultimately did. It was truly satisfying to see a book about Aboriginal issues—in which two Aboriginal Nations, their cultures, and their traditions, are central to the book itself, and in which European invaders are seen for what they are—win the Canada Reads contest this year. But I ended up having so many problems with the book that I wondered if maybe it wouldn’t be better to have another book instead (some Thomas King, maybe?).

It’s hard to talk about a 500-page book because you end up with a lot to say. There is a LOT in this book, and when it’s at its best, it’s giving detailed and fascinating descriptions of what life was like in a Wendat community 400 years ago. How did folks hunt, sleep, eat, chill out, and bury their dead? It’s all in here, and it’s always engaging.

However, in a book that takes three characters and follows them for years, it’s amazing how little an emotional attachment you develop to any of them, or how scantily you feel that they’re full people. In a sense, it seems as though Boyden wanted to use them simply to personalize history, rather than making three complete characters who happen to exist in history. The book’s protagonist is clearly Snow Falls—she’s the one who moves through a whole series of personal changes and developments in response to the events of the narrative—yet you don’t really ever get the sense that you KNOW her. She faces the major challenge of deciding whether or not to approach the society into which she’s been kidnapped with empathy or hostility, and that’s the most interesting conflict of the novel, as is her development into nascent womanhood with the help of Anishinaabe medicine-woman Gosling. There’s little in the way of humour in this book, which seems puzzling, given the centrality of humour as a cultural engine in so many Aboriginal Nations. So Snow Falls is a very serious, largely one-sided character whom you side with maybe out of a lack of other characters to attach yourself to.

Bird gets the last word in the book, but he hasn’t changed at all since the beginning: he’s the same war-bringer, the same stoic male figure who faces different situations very much the same way. As a character you never get much of a feeling for who he is, and the motivation of avenging his murdered family isn’t enough to flesh him out into humanity.

Likewise, Crow (whom Hayden King strangely identified as the main character?) does not develop one whit from the beginning of the book to the end—his torture-survivor compatriot Isaac, he of the developing empathy for the Wendat people and also of the poisoned host (ok, good image, I’ll admit), is much more interesting as a character, even if he’s going mad. On the other hand, you could put Crow from the beginning of the book through the torture he endures at the end and he wouldn’t respond to it any differently: he’s a zealot, a white-supremacist, and a colonizer, and despite occasionally being puzzled by Wendat culture, he never once calls into question the supremacy of his culture and his god. It’s to Boyden’s credit that he’s able to make you empathize with the person, who is obviously a deeply troubled person… but he still never seems human. It's also irritating, for both those reasons: zealotry tends to strip one of their human warmth, so an under-written character who's also a zealot is a chore to read through. Every time a chapter would open with Crow's voice I'd sigh to myself: "More of this fuckin' guy."

I’m not sure what to make of the fact that two of the book’s female characters (Gosling and Snow Falls) are portrayed as semi-magical. I’ve seen that criticism several places from Aboriginal critics and I understand that it runs deep. I also know women from Aboriginal communities who delight in upholding that stereotype. Fundamentally, it’s not really my decision to make—I’ll listen to both sides and try to be respectful of the opinions folks express, while remaining neutral myself unless it seems as though one is far more prominent than the other.

In the absence of character, the book is ultimately about war, and as a result, it’s ugly. I found it hard to read in many sections, particularly the drawn out and semi-pornographic descriptions of torture. I don’t agree with blogger RedIndianGirl that these place the Haudenosaunee in the position of savages: like any war narrative, it places both sides in the worst possible light (look at the stories of the Allies raping their way across Germany while fighting Hitler). War brings out the absolute worst in people, and I don’t think the Wendat come out of it looking any more moral. The Wendat’s torture isn’t anything nicer than the Haudenosaunee’s, and their behaviour in war isn’t any more gracious. Both sides are awful, because war is about being awful.

Where Boyden really falters, though, is in not driving home his point about the barbarism of the Catholic church more thoroughly. At one point, Crow reflects that the tortures inflicted by the Wendat aren’t especially different than those the Inquisition and Crusades mete out at home, but it’s a passing thought to which he never returns, and as one of the most interesting points in the book, it’s just left to drop. That’s too bad. As Hayden King has pointed out, this book’s incredibly vivid detailing of war and torture runs the risk of painting pre-contact Aboriginal Nations as nothing more than savages, without the contextualization of the fact that the SAME THINGS were happening at European hands at the time in the Catholic church, and in the “society” that Columbus fostered following his invasion of the Americas. It’s a huge missed opportunity, particularly given he goes into such salacious detail about the cruelty of both Wendat and Haudenosaunee peoples. You don’t have to dig deeply to refute the idea that white Europeans often hold dear that their people and culture were so much more civilized than folks living here. Boyden’s on his way to doing that with his reference to the inquisition, but he lets it drop, as he lets drop the issue of child-rape by Bird's people, which rises and almost instantly disappears—meanwhile, the rape of Snow Falls by a Wendat convert to Catholicism is made a central plot point. The disparity is puzzling.

Without a more searching and critical response to Catholicism, I think RedIndianGirl is right to call this essentially a Boys’ Adventure Novel. It revels in its violence instead of its characters and the society in which they live. Even as it does a great job of rendering vivid a piece of important history, it spends too much time staring at the most salacious details, in the pursuit of a more riveting (and gory, and less interesting) story than if it had been about the characters involved.

In the end, the characters almost fall away to nothing. Snow Falls’ death is pretty close to an afterthought, coming out of nowhere and receiving far less comment than she deserves as the book’s central and most interesting character. And Boyden once more indulges in his truly irritating habit of writing historical fiction in which famous things and people MUST occur (as they did in Three Day Road: the two characters can’t just go to war, they HAVE TO go to all the famous sites of World War I). In this case, a baby can’t JUST be born, but she HAS TO be Kateri Tekakwitha. Would this story have mattered less had she not been? If no famous people had involved, wouldn’t this story of war and contact still have been worth reading (albeit written in a slightly different way)? ...more

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Apr 17, 2014 Cher rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical_fiction, pbcp, audiobook, favorites

5 stars - Utterly amazing.

For my friends that know me well, the star rating on this book should speak for itself. The addition of it to my "favorites" shelf essentially makes the need for a review pointless, but allow me to gush.

This unforgettable story unfolds through the eyes of three narrators, a tricky novel setup, but one that works very well here. Contrary to what I normally experience with similar books, there was no favorite narrator and each point of view was captivating and engaging. T ...more

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Jan 15, 2014 Julie Christine rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, best-of-2014, read-2014, indigenous-aboriginal, canada-theme-setting

Brother Gabriel decries the ritualistic persecution the New World "sauvages" exact upon their enemies, declaring it evidence that the Indians these Jesuits have come to convert are little more than wild animals. His fellow missionary, Brother Christophe, pointedly reminds him of the Inquisition, that black period of the late Middle Ages, when the Catholic church subjected so many to exquisitely designed and amorally rendered torture. Author Joseph Boyden doesn't seek to justify any nation's brut Brother Gabriel decries the ritualistic persecution the New World "sauvages" exact upon their enemies, declaring it evidence that the Indians these Jesuits have come to convert are little more than wild animals. His fellow missionary, Brother Christophe, pointedly reminds him of the Inquisition, that black period of the late Middle Ages, when the Catholic church subjected so many to exquisitely designed and amorally rendered torture. Author Joseph Boyden doesn't seek to justify any nation's brutality against its own or others in The Orenda. He offers us instead a rich and devastating portrait of the birth of one nation and the destruction of another.

The Orenda is set in the mid 17th century, in the heart of the Huron Confederacy, what we now call Ontario. The narrative shifts between three characters: Snows Falls, a young Haudenosaunee girl whose family is slaughtered by the Wendat, a Huron tribe; Bird, a Wendat warrior who adopts Snow Falls after his wife and daughters were killed by Haudenosaunee; and Christophe Crowe, a Jesuit missionary. If there is a villain to be found, it is the shadowy Haudenosaunee, of the Iroquois. The story revolves around the constant threat of attack from the Haudenosaunee on the Wendat, retribution for Snow Falls' family. As the years go on, it seems that attack and counter-attack are simply ways of life for Canada's indigenous people.

In fact, the author has taken some heat from scholars for his portrayal of Native Americans. The criticisms focus on the depiction of the Hurons as confounded naïfs when shown some unfamiliar European device, such as a clock, or muskets; or on Indians as bloodthirsty savages. The torture scenes in this book are relentless and unflinching, the violence depicted as source of entertainment, heritage, and pride. It would seem to reinforce stereotypes of the wild Indian in need of civilizing (N.B. Boyden's roots are Ojibwe, Scottish and English).

But this reader didn't sense such a heavy hand. And it isn't because the colonizing forces, the Catholic Church, received equal time in the hot seat. The missionaries are portrayed as stumbling over their well-meaning goals, oblivious to the diseases they carried that decimated the very populations they were trying to "save." No, I felt there was balance and honesty in Boyden's story. He left the moralizing and theorizing to the critics and sought to do what he does so beautifully, awesomely, jaw-droppingly well: take the reader into an unknown world and surround us with epic story.

The three principal characters and the many secondary, including Fox, Gosling, Issac, Sleeps Long, Carries an Ax, are complete in their flaws and their strengths. They weave into the reader's heart and brain as they define the nature of family and community, history and future, tradition and philosophy.

There are moments that yanked me out of the lyrical prose--conversations within the Wendat community as Boyden takes us into the every day lives of the tribe. The casual back and forth between Bird and Fox and between the young Wendat men, felt incongruous to the narrative style. And I questioned the very black portrayal of the Haudenosaunee.

Joseph Boyden writes some of the best historical fiction I have read. For there is always so much more than the action and adventure--there is moral ambiguity, there is art, there is powerful imagery that makes this book nearly impossible to set aside. ...more

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Sep 22, 2013 Jill rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction-based-on-history

"Success is measured in different ways. The success of the harvest. For some, the success of harvesting souls."

This sweepingly ambitious novel by Joseph Boyden – a 500 page epic – focuses strongly on all these successes as well as failures in the early beginnings of Canada, when the Huron, the Iroquois as the Jesuit missionaries clashed together. It’s narrated by three characters: the well-respected Huron warrior Bird, the Iroquois girl Snow Falls, whom he claims as his daughter after slaying he "Success is measured in different ways. The success of the harvest. For some, the success of harvesting souls."

This sweepingly ambitious novel by Joseph Boyden – a 500 page epic – focuses strongly on all these successes as well as failures in the early beginnings of Canada, when the Huron, the Iroquois as the Jesuit missionaries clashed together. It’s narrated by three characters: the well-respected Huron warrior Bird, the Iroquois girl Snow Falls, whom he claims as his daughter after slaying her true family, and Christophe, a French Jesuit missionary whose faith defines his very existence.

It is evident that Joseph Boyden did exhaustive work to unearth this story of 17th century Canada. It rings of authenticity, from the description of the missionaries (called “crows” because of the way they are perceived to hop around and peck at the dead or dying… the oki, or soul, that resides within each human, animal and thing…the rules of battle between the Huron and the Iroquois…the meticulous creation of the wampum belt…and so much more.

The cultural barriers between the Huron and Iroquois and the Christians are both dark and brutal and enlightening. Torture, to the Christians, was a barbarian act used to punish and demean. The Huron and the Iroquois used another word for torture: they called it “caressing”, and its purpose was to honor their captured and to celebrate a strong spirit that a courageous enemy might possess. Mr. Boyden goes into great detail about the torturing rituals and while the scenes are definitely cringe-worthy, they heightened my understanding enormously.

But let’s get back to the start of this review: the measurement of success. That measurement left me conflicted for many days now, contemplating how to measure a book such as the one Joseph Boyden wrote.

From a literary standpoint? There are many passages that are six-star brilliant. The opening, in which he twins his characters with animals (I wasn’t quite sure if I were reading about a human or an animal) was beautifully crafted. Descriptions of the inadvertent harm caused by the Jesuits – upsetting a balance generations in the making, and shifting from a more mystical view of the world to one in which humans crave more and more control are stunningly portrayed.

Yet there are also times when the prose falls down, or doesn’t strive nearly hard enough. As the story becomes more of an adventurous telling, I missed finding out more about the interior lives of the characters. Yes, Christophe is faith-filled and resilient, but what in his past made him so? Is he ever troubled by the beginnings of doubt? And yes, Snow Falls is a wonderfully rebellious character, but how is it possible for her to balance her growing daughterly love with the knowledge of her family’s massacre? Some of the prose appears out of place, as when Bird turns to his sidekick Fox and explodes, “Tell me again why I thought bringing them among us was a good idea?”

So over and over I asked myself: what determines a 5-star book? Is it a book that educates us or morally enlightens us? Is it a book that grabs us by the collar and won’t let go until we breathlessly turn the last page? Is it a book that changes our way of thinking and remains in our minds, long after it’s been read? Or is it a book that is defined by consistently sterling prose and authentic characters?

The best answer is “all of the above.” Those are the books that end up as classics and I don’t think Joseph Boyden’s The Orenda is quite there. But days later, I can’t get the book and its contents out of my mind. It may be flawed for this reader, but I’m giving it 5 stars. There’s too much that is good about it to give anything less.
...more

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Jan 03, 2015 Helene Jeppesen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

4.5/5 stars.
This book is special because it gives you a very unique insight into Canada and its history. The beginning is very in medias res, and it throws you into a world that you're not familiar with and that makes you ask a lot of questions, but once you get more into it, you realize that this is a story told from three persons' perspectives: The perspective of a clan leader, the perspective of a very young girl whose family was just killed by the clan leader, and the perspective of a Frenc ...more

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Oct 11, 2013 Kurt rated it it was ok

Maybe it's unfair to rate The Orenda as I'm not sure I'm going to finish it. A little less than a hundred pages to go. But what a tough slog. Too much unnecessary historical detail and too little story, literary or otherwise. Plus, none of the characters are all that original (Read: Interesting). Not enough "human stain" about them. They leave me feeling nothing but apathy. But what is worse, Boyden's first 2 novels, The Three Day Road and Through Black Spruce, were so great -- 4 stars each!
One Maybe it's unfair to rate The Orenda as I'm not sure I'm going to finish it. A little less than a hundred pages to go. But what a tough slog. Too much unnecessary historical detail and too little story, literary or otherwise. Plus, none of the characters are all that original (Read: Interesting). Not enough "human stain" about them. They leave me feeling nothing but apathy. But what is worse, Boyden's first 2 novels, The Three Day Road and Through Black Spruce, were so great -- 4 stars each!
One character had some promise, the Huron, quasi-sorceress, Gosling, but she's rarely in the text. Maybe she shows up more in those less than a hundred pages that I may or may not finish -- but I've lost momentum with the novel and no longer care to find out. The kidnapped Iroquois girl, Snow Falls, showed a lot of spunk, but there was something cliche about her, like you'd seen her in a thousand B movies, read her in a thousand Zane Greys. And the torture scenes? Well, let's just say, that one over-documented chapter of skewered flesh and gore, has a Tarantino soon-to-be-adapted screenplay written all over it.
To be fair though, I've never been a fan of historical fiction. For the simple reason that most authors spend too much time detailing how the smoke was smoky and the fish were fishy 400 or 1500 years ago, and not enough time reimagining those common archetypes that make us human. That evoke the narrative of this all too fallible creature who is man, past and yet always present, who squirms with quirky, uncontrollable passions, smaller, more intimate stories filled with yearning, calamity and sorrow -- that have timeless relevance. Sure, Boyden attempted to develop the novel along these lines by devoting the first person narrative of each chapter to a single voice of one of his recurring characters, but overall, he bogged their personality down with too much historical (Read: Unnecessary) detail.
Sorry, Joe, I still believe you're the best Canadian author we've seen in years, and I know I leave The Orenda unfinished, but 2 stars is all I can squeak out for this one. ...more

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Aug 16, 2018 Erin rated it really liked it

Shelves: library-borrowed

My first Joseph Boyden read turned out to be an a vividly written tale of 17th century New France and the destruction of Huronia. As I studied Canadian history in school and it's my first university degree, the content of this historical fiction wasn't brand new to me, but Boyden creates such vivid descriptions full of great characters and a complete story that I fell almost completely into the narrative. The one thing holding me back was that all three characters talk in first person and for ...more

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Apr 30, 2014 Bill rated it it was amazing

Shelves: library-book, 2014, male-author, fiction, lit-fiction

fabulous book...I read the whole thing, all 490 pages of it, in one sitting. it's now 2am, so am going to bed. ...more

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May 31, 2014 Josh rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015

(4.5)"We hurt one another because we've been hurt," she whispers. "We kill one another because we have been killed. We will continue to eat one another until one of us is completely consumed."

War. History has shown that war has been in play moreso than not; people have always conquered one another by force, assimilation, disease or a combination of all three. Frankly, we as humans, get along just as well as two betta fish in the same tank.

Brutality and Torture. Are these concepts relative to whe ...more

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Oct 18, 2013 Lorina Stephens rated it it was amazing

Simply put, Joseph Boyden's The Orenda is a timeless and imperative read for every Canadian. Even if you're not Canadian, you should read this novel. It will edify, illuminate, shatter, and complete your understanding of society during 17th century First Nations and European first contact. That The Orenda did not make the short list for either the Giller or the GG is quite incomprehensible. If ever there were a novel, and an author, worthy of our attention, our praise, and our accolades, it is T Simply put, Joseph Boyden's The Orenda is a timeless and imperative read for every Canadian. Even if you're not Canadian, you should read this novel. It will edify, illuminate, shatter, and complete your understanding of society during 17th century First Nations and European first contact. That The Orenda did not make the short list for either the Giller or the GG is quite incomprehensible. If ever there were a novel, and an author, worthy of our attention, our praise, and our accolades, it is The Orenda and Joseph Boyden.

Quite beyond The Orenda's importance in the canon of Canadian literature, it is a compelling read. (And for me one near and dear to my heart, given my own short story, And the Angels Sang, which formed the keystone story for my collection by the same name.)

Boyden tells the story of the Iroquoian pogrom against the Wyandot (Huron) peoples, which culminated in the destruction of the Jesuit mission at Ste. Marie among the Hurons in present day Midland, and the legendary torture and execution of St. Jean de Brebeuf.

While Boyden chooses fictional names for the people involved in this historic occurrence, the historical integrity and framework remains.

The story itself is told in first person, present-tense narratives through three voices, that of Snow Falls, an Iroquoian girl orphaned and captured by a Huron warrior; that of Bird, the warrior responsible for Snow Falls' plight and who subsequently adopts her; and Father Christophe, the Jesuit, or Crow, who comes among the Huron to bring his version of redemption and salvation to the sauvages.

Boyden sculpts these characters with a deft hand, so they are fully realized, living entities with voices so strong they haunt your thoughts. There is no confusion when progressing chapter to chapter who speaks, a feat not easily accomplished unless at the hand of a confident writer.

The pacing is brisk, tense, never flagging, and even if a reader weren't aware of the history about which Boyden writes, there would be a sense of drums thundering beneath the text, of doom echoing through the forests.

All of these components are fused together with Boyden's trademark style, employing spare language, each word chosen for precise impact. This is a lean story which is, in contrast, defiantly rich and satiating.

Whether you choose to immerse yourself in The Orenda by way of eBook or print, I assure you these hours you spend reading will be profound and memorable.

Bravo, Joseph. Miigwech. ...more

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Oct 03, 2017 J.K. Grice rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

An incredible historical novel, THE ORENDA tells of the struggles between the Iroquois, Hurons, and Jesuit priests that have made their way into early Canada. This was a brilliant book. If you enjoy THE ORENDA, you might also want to check out Black Robe ...more

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Jan 20, 2019 Petra rated it really liked it

Shelves: canadian-author

The Orenda - the life force or life spirit - of a culture and/or community; perhaps a person, although this story gives the Orenda a bigger purpose than the individual, in my opinion.
This book captures the life force of a tribe, a community, it's people, their culture & country. It also captures the life force of the Jesuits, their purpose, their souls.
Told through the perspectives of 3 people, a Huron warrior/leader, an Iroquois girl raised by the Huron and a Jesuit priest, this story tells t ...more

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Aug 02, 2013 Karen rated it liked it

I had such a hard time picking a rating for this book. On the one hand, there are passages of prose that are mind-blowingly beautiful and heartbreaking. And the world Boyden has recreated in his pages is so real you can almost touch it. And I am in awe of his ability to tell such a complicated history without the obvious assigning of blame. That is, indeed, one of his themes.

However. In cleaving so closely to history, he has forsaken story. In telling us that history through the eyes of 3 charac ...more

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Nov 27, 2013 Wanda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: book-club, cbc-100-cdn-novels, indigenous-authors, canadian-eh, read-in-2015

It’s hard to even begin writing about The Orenda, which is a powerful history of the Canadian nation. We Caucasian Canadians often forget that our history didn’t begin with the fur traders, the explorers, and the missionaries, that there were long established civilizations in the New World which had their own languages, values, and inter-group relations. Joseph Boyden reminds us of our Eurocentric bias and he is very much the man for the job. He is of Scots, Irish, and Anishinaabe (which you may It’s hard to even begin writing about The Orenda, which is a powerful history of the Canadian nation. We Caucasian Canadians often forget that our history didn’t begin with the fur traders, the explorers, and the missionaries, that there were long established civilizations in the New World which had their own languages, values, and inter-group relations. Joseph Boyden reminds us of our Eurocentric bias and he is very much the man for the job. He is of Scots, Irish, and Anishinaabe (which you may know as Ojibwa or Algonquin) heritage, educated in a Jesuit school, spending plenty of his childhood in the Georgian Bay area, and still spending time hunting, trapping, and practicing many of the skills which he describes in The Orenda.

Boyden does a masterful job of sharing the praise and the blame equally among the three groups represented in The Orenda, the Jesuits, the Wendat (Huron) and the Haudenosaune (Iroquois). Even Jesuit Père Christophe eventually realizes that the “sauvages” have real, vibrant civilizations, plus great kindness, and he recognizes their basic humanity (which, remember, the Spanish conquistadores did not in South America—they treated the native populations as sub-human). And in the end, Bird, the Wendat leader, recognizes the strength and bravery of the Jesuit priest (who grows into it, to be sure). Boyden can accomplish this because he has a foot in both camps, ancestors on both sides of the divide.

I know that many people have difficulty with the torture depicted in the novel. I look at it as a historical fact—all three of these groups were practicing it, the Wendat and Haudenosaune against each other and the Catholic Church via the Inquisition. And there is still plenty of inhumanity in the world, whether is it through war, annexation of territory, the “rendering” of political prisoners, or beheading videos on the internet.

It would be too easy to set up the Jesuits as the bad guys in a novel like this—and Boyden gives us a much more nuanced view of the situation. The priests do have what they consider to be a higher calling (to convert Indians to Christianity), but they also become aware that they are being used by France to gain territory and hold influence over native populations. None of this would have been possible if the native populations hadn’t wanted the trade goods that were being offered—if they had refused to trade and had only provided resistance, the history of North America could be significantly different. But like all humans, they wanted the new, shiny objects and never imagined that acquiring would involve losing their souls, much like the Third World today is wanting First World technology without realizing that with it comes First World culture. I saw this so clearly when in Bhutan in 2010—the young people were so excited to get connected to the internet, to welcome visitors, to join technological society, but we as outsiders could see that much of what makes their country unique and valuable was very much endangered by exactly those things. And yet, who could deny them their chance to join the 21st century?

I wonder if Boyden will ever re-visit some of the surviving characters in a future novel? I would be very interested in hearing their further adventures if he ever does so. In the meantime, I will certainly be willing to check out his other writing.
...more

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Dec 10, 2015 Erwin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, canada

A powerful and poignant story in which the old world meets the new world. The three narrators are wonderful but flawed characters in a harsh world. It was a fascinating and original novel. I intend to find out more this period in history but also about the author, Joseph Boyden, who wrote this great epic.

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Jan 21, 2014 Laura Frey (Reading in Bed) rated it it was amazing

So I guess I'll call in sick tomorrow because this book just knocked me on my ass. Also need to recover from retro active Giller outrage. ...more

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Mar 02, 2014 Marieke rated it it was amazing

Shelves: history, 2014, fiction, american-indian-stuff, brand-spankin-new, canada, canada-reads, cbc-books

I really took my time with this once I realized I could neglect it and pick it up again without losing the thread and atmosphere. I think I was somewhat afraid to get to the end because I knew it would be hard to read. I was right about that, but every event that unfolded in the last 75 pages or so was a surprise. Boyden did not protect his readers, so do be prepared for some painful moments, but some breathtakingly beautiful ones too.

Sometimes when you spend so much time with a book the conclu ...more

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Jul 11, 2019 Barbara rated it it was amazing

The Europeans brought disease and guns devastating the natives. They tried to introduce a religion and a way of life the Native
Americans never wanted. The Orenda is a riveting and brutal telling of the Huron culture as it clashed with western civilization. They were called savages, a term that allowed them to be treated in a less than humane way. At best, they needed to become "civilized".

Boyden portrays the Hurons with all the emotions we now know are shared by humanity. Love, friendship, cou ...more

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Sep 10, 2013 Carolyn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

What to say about this book? Wow! An epic Canadian masterpiece portraying the 17th century Huron / Iroquois wars and the Jesuit priests who journeyed from France to spread Christianity and to persuade the natives to give up their own spirit (orenda) worship. A book filled with beauty, compelling characters, but with some of the most gruesome scenes imaginable.It is a book of love of family and friends,beauty of the land, righteousness,brutality, acts of kindness and sacrifice, and vivid descript ...more

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Aug 14, 2013 Valerie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, owned

I loved this book. Powerful, evocative, and a real education. I'd like to say all Canadians know the stories of the Huron, Jesuits, the Iroquois/Wendat (Huron) Indian wars, Martyr Shrine, Jean de Brebeuf - but it may be too much of an Ontario history; but I'm sure there are tales like this wherever there were missionaries, native peoples and the clash of tribes or cultures.

Set in the majestic Georgian Bay area, Pere Christophe is a Jesuit missonairy who has come into Wendat territory to convert ...more

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Sep 14, 2013 Daniel Kukwa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: canadian-lit

This is, quite simply, an extraordinary achievement. I'm not sure whether to classify this story as a triumphant tragedy or a tragic triumph...but it certainly stands as a work of historical/anthropological genius. The ultimate clash of cultures, searing emotions, and beautifully drawn characters -- it is a book you will be unable to put down. Exhilarating, terrifying, and touching, it is the summation of all that is civilized & barbaric in mankind, from three points of view. It is a story as re ...more

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Aug 15, 2018 reading is my hustle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, native-american

lots of thoughts & feelings on this one because colonialism. was it inevitable? the writing is beautiful & the research behind this novel must have been epic. i was frustrated by the lack of a woman's voice early on (though) that changed the further i got into the story. the torture scenes & pretty much all the depictions of violence are heinous; but since this is a book about colonization i knew what i was in for. this book is many things & as i sit with it more i might revisit this review & ad ...more

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Mar 01, 2015 Vanessa rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle

3.5 stars.

The Orenda is a book that I didn't enjoy as much as I thought I would, but that I'm glad I stuck with. Around 20% of the way through I was tempted to DNF this, but I stuck with it and actually found myself becoming more in tune with the characters - if you find it a little slow at first, keep going because the action definitely heats up!

The novel is told from three perspectives: Bird, a Huron warrior; Snow Falls, a young Iroquois girl who Bird takes as a daughter to replace his murder 3.5 stars.

The Orenda is a book that I didn't enjoy as much as I thought I would, but that I'm glad I stuck with. Around 20% of the way through I was tempted to DNF this, but I stuck with it and actually found myself becoming more in tune with the characters - if you find it a little slow at first, keep going because the action definitely heats up!

The novel is told from three perspectives: Bird, a Huron warrior; Snow Falls, a young Iroquois girl who Bird takes as a daughter to replace his murdered family; and Cristophe, a French Jesuit missionary who has been taken prisoner by Bird and is intent on finding converts.

It took me a while to get used to the three voices, as I wasn't aware of the three characters going into the novel. If you have this knowledge already, I can't imagine you'll have any trouble differentiating between the two, but it knocked me for six a little at the start. Once I got used to the characters though, I found myself in the thick of it when it came to the lifestyle of the First Nations. I wouldn't say each character has a particularly distinctive voice, but they are all interesting and entertaining in their own ways.

Just a heads up - if you aren't a fan of violence in literature, you might want to skip this read as there are numerous torture scenes in this book that were quite difficult, even painful to read. It's not often that a book turns my stomach, but Boyden's stark descriptions of the 'caressing' of prisoners took me by surprise. There is also reference to sexual violence, so again be aware of this before deciding to read the book if this is something that bothers you.

I found that the story was quite slow for the most part, but when the action and different turning points came about I found myself hooked and kept wanting to read more and more. The third and final part of the book was by far the best, if the most painful to read, and I liked that the novel didn't end how I expected it to. It was gritty and all the more entertaining and rewarding for it as I felt it to be (what I imagined it to be anyway) a much truer reflection of how events would have turned out in the time period it was set in.

If you are interested at all in Can Lit or the history of the First Nations, I'd highly recommend picking this up as it was rather eye-opening. Just don't expect a plot-heavy, fast-paced novel as this one is a slow-burner. ...more

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Feb 13, 2015 Lisa Vegan rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, reviewed, z2015, fiction, readbooks-male-author-or-illust, 1-also-at-librarything, zz-2star, groups-buddies, novel

For me, this went from a possible 4 star book to a 3 and finally to a 2, and if it hadn’t had so much that was good, it could have ended with only 1 star.

I have to say as the account went on, I got very weary of humans, not for the first time.

I do love the 3 narrative voices. For the most part I could tell who was narrating by what they said, but they didn’t have voices significantly distinctive from each other. That was okay though.

I was shocked but satisfied with the violence/talk of the viol ...more

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Dec 25, 2014 Maxwell rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned

4.5/5 stars

The whole time I was reading this book, and as I talked to people about my experience while reading it, I tried to figure out why I liked this book so much. Plot-wise the story is quite slow, and while the writing is nice, it's nothing extremely special. But the characters, I think, are what really make this story stand out.

The Orenda follows three narrators: Bird, a Huron tribesman; his captive daughter, Snow Falls; and a French missionary, Christophe. We get alternating chapters fro ...more

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Oct 06, 2014 Megan Baxter rated it liked it

I have complicated feelings about this book. There are so many things it does well. The research is excellent. The complexity is top notch. The writing is good. On the other hand, the characters are weak. The story is often predictable. And there are issues with what happens to the female character.

Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.

In the meantime, you can read the entire review ...more

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Jun 07, 2016 Brandon Forsyth rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book took over my life. I somehow never got around to this book when it was being nominated for every Canadian literary prize in existence and hundreds of people recommended it to me, but I am so glad I finally got around to this. Boyden is a terrific talent - his writing plunges you into the world, and his skill with structure and detail and metaphor show a mastery of the craft. An unforgettable meditation on violence and religion and guilt. Read for #IndigenousReads 2016.

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About Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden

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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

Other books in the series

Bird Family Trilogy (3 books)

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Quotes from The Orenda

“I say that humans are the only ones in this world that need everything within it...But there is nothing in the world that needs us for its survival. We aren't the masters of the earth. We're the servants.” — 38 likes

“They laugh at this, the idea that one might keep herds of friendly deer or elk that walk happily to their slaughter whenever it's time for the human to eat meat. Some ask openly if there aren't consequences of a life so easy to live.” — 21 likes

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