Nunavik

by Michel Hellman

Author Michel Hellman meets with his editor Luc Bosse and casually promises to write a sequel to his best-selling book Mile End. But the Montreal neighborhood, with its trendy cafes and gluten-free bakeries, doesn't seem half as inspiring as it used to be. Part memoir and part documentary, Nunavik follows Hellman on a trek through Northern Quebec as he travels to Kuujjuaq, Puvirnituk, Kangiqsujuaq and Kangirsurk, meeting members of the First Nations, activists, hunters and drug dealers along the way. An honest and often funny account of this trip, Nunavik truly feels personal, with the author acknowledging (and challenging) his own prejudices. While the North has had a profound influence on our collective identity as Canadians, it remains an idea - myth rather than reality. Empirical rather than theoretical, Nunavik reflects on the way our relationship to the North has shaped our own cultural landscape.

Genres: Bande Dessinée, Graphic Novels, Comics, Canada, Nonfiction, Memoir, Travel

156 pages, Paperback

First published February 15, 2017

Reviews

[Esil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't naturally gravitate toward graphic novels, but a good friend with great tastes in books gave it to me so I knew I wanted to read it. Nunavik is the name of the vast -- mostly uninhabited -- northern part of Quebec. The author -- who lives in Montreal -- recounts through this graphic novel his trip to Nunavik. The images are simple but very expressive. They capture the natural harsh beauty of the north, while depicting some of the hard realities for those living in the north. This is not so much a story, but a narrative in images that captures a sense of place. There is a fair bit of humour -- mostly of the self-deprecating variety. There is also some history and natural history. It's well worth the short time investment. The version I read is in French -- with a fair bit of English dialogue to reflect the multi linguistic communications in Nunavik. I gather Nunavik will be published in English in 2017.

[Kate♡ · Rating 1 out of 5]

3/5stars 1/5stars

edit: Bumping this to 1 star after my class discussion that made me realize a lot of bad things about this book and how the author uses the indigenous landscape of Nunavik for himself and his own story/self growth rather than actually making it about indigenous people and the land.

not my favorite so far for this graphic narrative class, but interesting with a cute art style and some important messages!

[George Ilsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Montreal artist travels to Nunavik—an area of northern Quebec the size of France with 11,000 inhabitants.

Strangely, I’d never heard of Nunavik. Probably my wacky brain transformed the word into Nunavut—in fact I picked up this book thinking it was about Nunavut (another sprawling Inuit territory in northern Canada, west of Nunavik).

The resulting text in this graphic novel is slight, with references to the pre-Inuit Dorset culture and the international trade in unicorn horns. Less interesting are the "fish out of water" episodes as the urbanized graphic artist discovers the culture and landscape of this remote northern region.

Most Canadians know little or nothing about the vast northern reaches of the country (—or maybe I'm just projecting my own ignorance).

The caribou migration is one of the world’s largest animal migrations, and it threatened. So much on this planet is threatened. “The trail has to heal” is the advice from the Inuit guide.

[Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A superficial and sometimes judgmental view of Quebec's far north from the point of view of a white man from the south.

[Ella · Rating 1 out of 5]

In which a white, male author leaves his wife and baby behind in Montreal while he goes on a highly privileged, expensive trip to northern Quebec to "find himself" and learn about Inuit culture and life- but only stays for a few weeks, doesn’t reach out to or make any meaningful contact with actual Inuit people, and hops from one tourist activity to the next on a series of bush planes. Said author then uses his limited interactions with Inuit culture as a basis for a graphic novel. Somewhat bizarrely, throughout the book, the author subtlety puts down how other "southerners" (such as documentary filmmakers) engage with the North during their visits while he is no different in his lack of meaningful engagement.

I actually did quite enjoy the illustration style and the author’s storytelling and pacing, but a deeply flawed graphic novel heavily steeped in the colonial mindset.

[Amélie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un peu troublant de raconter de manière aussi naïve et blasée tant de situations complexes. On en ressort avec l'impression qu'il s'agit d'une bande-dessinée baclée d'un auteur peu inspiré.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lu dans le contexte où je quitte moi-même dans un peu moins d'un mois pour le Nunavik. Il y a des irritants (le personnage principal pour ne pas le nommer et des clichés sur la population inuit), une fin garochée, une quête indéfinie... mais aussi des moments sympathiques et des informations intéressantes. Un univers encore très peu connu de la majorité qu'il est rafraîchissant de découvrir, même maladroitement. Bien hâte de le confronter à la réalité en tout cas!

Meilleur que son Mile End, sans hésiter.

[Cam david · Rating 2 out of 5]

J’avais de haute attente envers cet ouvrage, j’ai toujours eu un grand intérêt envers le grand Nord et les inégalités qu’on laisse passer là-bas et trouvé un roman graphique sur le sujet à tout de suite capter mon attention. Ma déception ne fut que plus grande. Quel amer ressentiment face à cette lecture. C’était très blanc. Mais genre très très blanc. Dans le sens d’un homme blanc qui quitte sa femme et son bébé comme sa du jour au lendemain pour partir dans le grand nord et qu’au lieu de réellement se connecter avec leur réalité et leur culture, fait du gros tourisme de blanc privilégier au-dessus de leur mode de vie et leur réalité. Lorsqu’au milieu du livre une femme lui reproche justement cela, je pensais qu’il allait avoir une prise de conscience, mais non pas du tout. C’était super naïf, pleins de préjugé et pas assez poussé sur la réalité. Sa restait en surface et il n’y avait pas vraiment de mission ou de but à l’histoire. Si certaine anecdote était intéressante, j’aurais voulu plus de profondeur et qu’on rentre en contacte avec des gens qui vivait là-bas dans ce livre, ce qui n’arrive jamais. La fin est garochée, tout le livre est garrocher en fait on dirait qu’il manquait d’inspiration, mais la fin est pire, et on dirait que ça invalide complètement son expérience là-bas qu’il veuille autant repartir et mette autant de haine à devoir rester quelque jour de plus. Bref, je ne pense pas que sa représentait le Nunavik réellement, mais la vision d’un homme blanc privilégier qu’à du Nunavik.

[Mel Jannard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Je parle de *Nunavik*, en parallèle avec *Les murailles* d'Erika Soucy dans cette vidéo : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONsgM...

[StrictlySequential · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the other non-fiction that I read without picking up something else in-between which, in itself, counts as good storytelling for me. Still, he should've cut nearly all of the beginning with his wife and baby because that's not what this is about and I didn't care at all about the anxieties of preparation or his home relationships. I endeavored this to learn about about place.

The art is simply bad- highly amateur and lucky to be published web-comic type fodder. If it wasn't a Powpow Press offering that's about a place I knew nothing about, I wouldn't deign to even look at this hectic and very sloppy mess. The cover is the only decent page he turned in- nothing inside looks even half as good. He's especially shaky-handed and has no clue how to use water colours to fill them in. It's cool that he used the meteor crater ultra-pure water but he insulted it by slap-dashing it in errand fashion.

The worst part of the entire book was his stupid Disneyish bear face that actually bothered me! What's he trying to say by making himself look goofy? What's his psychological hang-up that makes him hide behind a mask?

He still gave me what I wanted though so he gets appreciation points. I learned plenty about his stretch of the top^of^the^world and I'm happy to know it. Plenty was very interesting and even captivating!

I would've added a page with a chronology graph/chart/table of which groups of people where where at what points of history because I wasn't sure about when the various cultures overlapped each other- I only got a vague idea from the way he described them.

[Laura Lemay · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 ⭐️

[Ally · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for school and like seriously enjoyed it💀 so informative and cute, the art style was adorable and it was so breezy and fun overall. guess what french level i’m in if you ever open a page of this

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh… undertone limite raciste/mal informés des fois, des passages intéressants des fois aussi, peu impressionné!

[Sky · Rating 1 out of 5]

If u find this don’t look at it

[Sarah Frey · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the author doesn't shy away from articulating his tourist identity, or from shedding some light on the politics and social injustices the North still faces... It was hard to read about a region that I hold so dear to my heart, and have it be so... "Othered".

Perhaps that is the point, perhaps it is a travel narrative, and is specifically from a qallunaat, for qallunatt. But so much was just missing.

I don't think you can accurately write commentary on a place and people after visiting for two weeks. There was so much beauty reduced to anthropological factoids.

While the art was beautifully done, I am just really looking forward to a graphic novel from an Inuk about their community.

Dear reader, if you really want to learn more about the North, maybe seek out works from the people of the North.

[Audrey Favre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un livre écrit par un Blanc qui se met en scène en train d'essayer de se défaire de ses clichés sur le Nunavik tout en perpétuant ces mêmes clichés sur le Nunavik. Je mets deux étoiles pour 2-3 scènes intéressantes, mais l'ensemble est bancal.

[Marie-José Prévost · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnifique! Un mélange de BD, de cours d’histoire et de géographie du Québec. J’ai absolument adoré!

[Huge Fleur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Au fond, c'est un carnet de voyage d'un pur montréalais qui rêvait d'aller dans le nord, mais qui ne semblait pas avoir une énorme connaissance du nord.

Je suis par contre toujours intéressé de lire à ce sujet et j'apprécie sincèrement d'avoir cette fois-ci la perspective d'un bédéiste. Le dessin donne un côté léger, émerveillé et humain aux panoramas et aux gens qui y vivent (même si ça peut rapidement être lourd). Le contenu est quand même court (la lecture est maximum d'une heure) et j'aurais aimé en avoir plus, mais son interprétation dessinée fait changement de photos qui des fois décontextualisent les paysages et les gens. Le tout est très subjectif (une perspective d'occidental qui visite ces communautés), mais j'apprécie que le dessin pousse encore plus loin cette subjectivité (tout comme l'auteur qui est très honnête sur ses préjugés, ses surprises et ses rêves weirds).

À lire, pour les dessins et pour vivre le nord à travers ses yeux. Anyway, ça se lit super vite.

[Keegan · Rating 2 out of 5]

je ne sais pas quoi en penser…. spécifiquement la rêve avec la femme et la bonhomme de neige. Peut être il y a quelque chose qui me manque, mais pourquoi ajouter que?? Si tu veux parler à les problèmes rencontrés par les femmes inuit, then talk about it! Avec juste la dessine c’est juste bizarre et comes off like it’s just a joke.

J'ai appris des choses sur le Nunavik et j'ai aimé l'art, donc ce n'était pas si mal, mais...

[Charles Lord · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun to read in French, and the simplistic drawing syle works to surprising effect. However, one learns little to nothing about Inuit culture itself — this, in spite of the book’s title, and the story’s plot. It has some merit as a white guy’s experience with desolation, difference, and culture shock. It certainly counters any effort to exoticise the Inuit, yet Hellman’s description leaves them stereotypically inscrutable.

[Josiane Lambert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bien aimé découvrir le Grand Nord avec cette BD!

[Noémie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Je ne suis pas certaine de mon avis sur cette BD. On se plonge vite dans l’histoire mais j’ai le feeling que c’est très (trop) simpliste, parfois même stéréotypée, pour des réalités plus complexes.

[Brenton Walters · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not certain how much I enjoyed this. I appreciated the author’s honesty, and the scratchy art was fun and managed to convey a lot.

[Ju Lala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sympathique portrait du Nunavik, sans la même profondeur que le livre Nirliit, mais tout de même assez juste.

Blague que raconte au protagoniste un Inuk: « Tu sais de quoi est composée une famille typique inuite ? Un homme, une femme, deux enfants… et un anthropologue »

[Valérie Harvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'ai lu beaucoup de choses sur le nord dernièrement. En lien avec mes études (Centre d'études autochtones) ou par curiosité (Panik de Geneviève Drolet, Nirliit de Juliana Léveillé-Trudel ou Nord infini de Katherine Winter). Cette bande dessinée réussit à passer tous les préjugés du nord et à les dépeindre de façon humaine, dans le regard d'un homme près à se laisser surprendre et à réapprendre. Parfois, il en dit peu, juste le dessin dépeint la tristesse d'une situation (une femme avec un oeil au beurre noir). Parfois il explique la richesse de l'histoire archéologique du lieu (toutes les allusions sur les Dorset étaient complètement nouvelles pour moi, j'ai adoré en apprendre sur cette culture, ça me donne le goût d'y aller!). Et il y a aussi l'ennui, la recherche des caribous, l'attente... Et cette vie qui l'attend à Montréal. Un bien bon livre.

[G-E · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5 pour être honnête. C’est intéressant, mais ça ne réinvente rien. Tout est tellement simple et efficace qu’il se lit sans étonnement. Toutefois, il permet d’en apprendre un peu plus sur cette région du Québec très peu connu.

[Jasmine Raymond-Drainville · Rating 1 out of 5]

Très très (très) touriste et maladroit. C'est facile de juger quand on ne s'intéresse pas à l'histoire des autres et qu'on ne pose aucune question.

[ChiChi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michel Hellman’s publisher was waiting for a second graphic novel about a hip part of Montreal, but Michel wasn’t feeling it, and wanted to head out on a grand adventure – or perhaps just get away from environment he was currently in – his neighbourhood that was changing and his young baby at home.
So he heads up to the north of Quebec, to a space the size of France, with only 11,000 inhabitants. He goes to Nunavik (means Great Land), and gets to visit Kuujjuaq (means Great River, for the Koksoak River, formerly a Hudson Bay outpost Fort Chimo and now the largest town in Nunavik), Kangiqsujuaq (means The Large Bay and is located on the Ungava Peninsula), Kangirsuk (meaning The Bay, and located on the Payne River, a river noted for its high tides), and Puvirnituq (means Putrified, named so after a winter when all the residents starved to death and their bodies not found until spring).
The story is definitely one of a ‘tourist’ visiting a new and unfamiliar place, noting the things he experiences through his own paradigms.
I quite liked the cartoony depictions of his trip, where he encounters much that his different from the hip parts of Montreal he is used to. From his observations we get a glimpse of what life is like in the far north of Quebec.
Especially liked learning about the ‘Dorset’ people who I’d never heard of before; ‘Thor’s Hammer’ and other stone stuctures; his hike up to the crater; and the search for the Caribou.
Ending was quite funny – wonder if it was true!

[Mik · Rating 1 out of 5]

My feeling is this graphic novel presents a uni dimensional view of life in Nunavik. There is an overwhelmingly negative light cast upon the villages (birthed from forced settlement of Inuit people) and the people that live there. I loath the focus on alcoholism and pain. While these are realities of the North, coming for the voice of a visitor feels disingenuous and exploitative. There are people who have written stories which are embodied and deliver a nuanced depth to these aspects of Inuit life. I recommend Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq, Sanaaq by Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk, Tainna by Norma Dunning or Hunter with Harpoon by Markoosie Patsauq. The through line of judgement cast by visiting eyes is reminiscent of a belief that assimilation or replication of life in the south is the path towards "a good life".

And honestly I have no interest in reading what another white "explorer" learned about himself while passing through, as voyeur, from the real and full lives of those he has deemed other.

[Julian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author needed to come up with a graphic novel about the hip "Mile End" neighborhood in Montreal but, uninspired, somehow ended up in Nunavik, a place the size of France many Quebecers don't know much about.

The result is an interesting novel that explores the local culture from a hands-on perspective. You get some interesting stories (the hunt for a whale), others are simple (missing flights), but that's the idea, to show life in the north as it is. The author doesn't try to go beyond his own experiences and what he's seeing. You get what he saw and that's that.

The art is simple, clean and uncluttered. Good work. I just didn't like his Maus-esque representation. Other than that I found this to be very good.