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Windflower
Book by Roy, Gabrielle
152 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
8 people are currently reading
252 people want to read
About the author
Gabrielle Roy
55 books114 followersGabrielle Roy was born in March 1909 in Saint-Boniface, Manitoba, the youngest of eleven children. Her mother and father, then, were relatively old at the time of her birth -- 42 and 59 respectively. Like Christine's father in Rue Deschambault (Street of Riches), Léon Roy worked as a colonisation officer for the Department of Immigration, a position he held between 1897 and 1915. His politically motivated dismissal occurred six months before his retirement, thus leaving Roy with no pension to support his family. The family's financial predicament during Gabrielle's youth precluded any chance of her attending university, despite having earned stellar marks throughout high school which put her as one of the top students in the entire province. In 1927, after graduating from grade twelve, she enrolled at the Winnipeg Normal Institute where she completed her teacher training.
After teaching in the rural communities of Marchand and Cardinal, where she taught for a year, Roy returned to Saint-Boniface. There she accepted a teaching job at the Académie Provencher boy's school, a position she held from 1930-37. During this period, Roy began actively pursuing her interest in acting and joined the Cercle Molière theatre troupe. Her experiences as an actor inspired her to leave her teaching position and travel to Europe to study drama. Spending between 1937 and 1939 in Britain and France, the fluently bilingual Roy studied acting for six months before concluding that she did not desire to pursue a career in the theatre. In the meantime, she had also begun to write articles about Canada for newspapers in Paris and pieces on Europe for newspapers in Manitoba and came to realize that writing could be her vocation.
Over the course of her lengthy and prolific career, Gabrielle Roy received many honours, including three Governor General's Awards (1947, 1957, 1978), the Prix Fémina (1947), the Companion of the Order of Canada (1967), the Medal of the Canada Council (1968), the Prix David (1971), and the Prix Molson (1978).
After teaching in the rural communities of Marchand and Cardinal, where she taught for a year, Roy returned to Saint-Boniface. There she accepted a teaching job at the Académie Provencher boy's school, a position she held from 1930-37. During this period, Roy began actively pursuing her interest in acting and joined the Cercle Molière theatre troupe. Her experiences as an actor inspired her to leave her teaching position and travel to Europe to study drama. Spending between 1937 and 1939 in Britain and France, the fluently bilingual Roy studied acting for six months before concluding that she did not desire to pursue a career in the theatre. In the meantime, she had also begun to write articles about Canada for newspapers in Paris and pieces on Europe for newspapers in Manitoba and came to realize that writing could be her vocation.
Over the course of her lengthy and prolific career, Gabrielle Roy received many honours, including three Governor General's Awards (1947, 1957, 1978), the Prix Fémina (1947), the Companion of the Order of Canada (1967), the Medal of the Canada Council (1968), the Prix David (1971), and the Prix Molson (1978).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
June 20, 2024
Me ha parecido un libro precioso, por lo que cuenta , por cómo lo cuenta y lo bonito que está editado . Para quien le interese, historias sobre esquimales. Comparto frases :
“ Somos prácticamente los últimos hombres del mundo que no conocen la guerra. Porque somos demasiado pobres y estamos lejos de las rutas de invasión…”
“Una familia humana se deshacía más rápido que algunas parejas de pájaros que pasaban toda la vida juntos.”
“ Seguimos errando por la existencia mucho tiempo después de haber dejado de ser útiles .¿ Qué es peor, morir demasiado joven o vivir demasiado viejo ?”
“ Por primera vez en nuestras vidas , un auténtico calor nos llegaba al fondo del cuerpo y del alma, donde jamás habíamos conseguido calentarnos completamente. Me acuerdo: sentados en círculo en el iglú , no nos cansábamos jamás de pasarnos la taza de té , de beber y de reír “
“Esa es en el fondo la historia del ser humano, esa elección tan difícil entre la vida libre del abismo, orgulloso e indomable, y la vida con los demás , en la jaula.”
“Se dejaba la vida , por cierto, siguiendo al progreso; un maestro difícil, el progreso. “
“Habló del amor humano diciendo:
‘ Nada es menos previsible. El camino misterioso es por excelencia el que nos conduce a nuestro propio descubrimiento. “
“Cada vez se parecía más a su abuelo , con ese aire de estar escuchando lo que ocurría en su interior.”
“El pastor terminó explicándole q la muerte no es algo malo. De hecho,de repente aseguraba que era esta,y no la vida,la mejor amiga del hombre.Era la liberación de todos nuestros males.Por fin éramos libres.Nos marchábamos con los hombros,las manos y el corazón ligeros,sin carga”
“Cuando el hombre recibe sin dar nada a cambio, hay algo que probablemente se rompe en su interior.”
“Así que hacia falta irse muy lejos para valorar la vida propia, y quizá fuera en esos días más difíciles cuando ésta preparaba los mejores recuerdos…”
“ Es verdad que los blancos tienen más miedo a morir que vosotros los esquimales, pero no sería capaz de decirte por qué. Cuando uno lo piensa, es muy extraño, porque nosotros no hemos aprendido a vivir en paz unos con otros, ni siquiera con nosotros mismos …
No hemos aprendido lo más importante , y sin embargo, es verdad que intentamos vivir cada vez más años .
“ Somos prácticamente los últimos hombres del mundo que no conocen la guerra. Porque somos demasiado pobres y estamos lejos de las rutas de invasión…”
“Una familia humana se deshacía más rápido que algunas parejas de pájaros que pasaban toda la vida juntos.”
“ Seguimos errando por la existencia mucho tiempo después de haber dejado de ser útiles .¿ Qué es peor, morir demasiado joven o vivir demasiado viejo ?”
“ Por primera vez en nuestras vidas , un auténtico calor nos llegaba al fondo del cuerpo y del alma, donde jamás habíamos conseguido calentarnos completamente. Me acuerdo: sentados en círculo en el iglú , no nos cansábamos jamás de pasarnos la taza de té , de beber y de reír “
“Esa es en el fondo la historia del ser humano, esa elección tan difícil entre la vida libre del abismo, orgulloso e indomable, y la vida con los demás , en la jaula.”
“Se dejaba la vida , por cierto, siguiendo al progreso; un maestro difícil, el progreso. “
“Habló del amor humano diciendo:
‘ Nada es menos previsible. El camino misterioso es por excelencia el que nos conduce a nuestro propio descubrimiento. “
“Cada vez se parecía más a su abuelo , con ese aire de estar escuchando lo que ocurría en su interior.”
“El pastor terminó explicándole q la muerte no es algo malo. De hecho,de repente aseguraba que era esta,y no la vida,la mejor amiga del hombre.Era la liberación de todos nuestros males.Por fin éramos libres.Nos marchábamos con los hombros,las manos y el corazón ligeros,sin carga”
“Cuando el hombre recibe sin dar nada a cambio, hay algo que probablemente se rompe en su interior.”
“Así que hacia falta irse muy lejos para valorar la vida propia, y quizá fuera en esos días más difíciles cuando ésta preparaba los mejores recuerdos…”
“ Es verdad que los blancos tienen más miedo a morir que vosotros los esquimales, pero no sería capaz de decirte por qué. Cuando uno lo piensa, es muy extraño, porque nosotros no hemos aprendido a vivir en paz unos con otros, ni siquiera con nosotros mismos …
No hemos aprendido lo más importante , y sin embargo, es verdad que intentamos vivir cada vez más años .
January 17, 2025
Con un estilo directo, sencillo pero muy descriptivo, Roy nos acerca al pueblo inuit y al choque con el hombre blanco y su necesidad de entenderse.
Equilibra perfectamente el entorno desolado del río Koksoak con el sentimiento de soledad de los inuits que tratan de vivir al estilo de vida occidental o bien se enfrentan a este.
Todo un descubrimiento esta autora canadiense.
https://lahierbaroja.com/2025/01/16/e...
Equilibra perfectamente el entorno desolado del río Koksoak con el sentimiento de soledad de los inuits que tratan de vivir al estilo de vida occidental o bien se enfrentan a este.
Todo un descubrimiento esta autora canadiense.
https://lahierbaroja.com/2025/01/16/e...
July 27, 2022
I was really contemplating whether or not to add this here but if I had to suffer through it for English class it’s sure as hell going to count towards my reading goal. Was this a book that could easily be analyzed in an English class setting? Yes! Does that make this a good book? No, I want to chuck it across my room repeatedly. Anyways it’s counting towards my goal.
May 18, 2022
I read a book recently that made reference to the writing of Gabrielle Roy, which reminded me that I had been meaning to read this book for years. Set in northern Quebec, it tells the story of Inuit woman Elsa and her son Jimmy, who was conceived when she was raped by an American GI from a nearby base. Jimmy startles the community when he is born with blonde curly hair and blue eyes, but they quickly accept him. Elsa, however, finds herself torn between the two cultures as she tries to figure out how to raise her son. This is an interesting look at the clash of cultures and the changes that take place in aboriginal communities as they are exposed to outside influences. It seems a bit dated now as the term Eskimo rather than Inuit or a more specific tribal name is used, but that shouldn't be off-putting when one recognizes it was written in 1970. It is still worth reading.
June 28, 2020
I was introduced to Gabrielle Roy in high school when I read Rue Deschambault in French class; later in a Canadian literature class in university I read The Tin Flute and Where Rests the Water Hen. Recently, I was browsing through my bookshelves and came across Windflower which I realized I had not read. I decided to do so.
This short novel focuses on Elsa Kumachuk, an Inuit woman living in northern Quebec in the middle of the 20th century. She is raped by an American serviceman stationed in the area and gives birth to a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy whom she names Jimmy. Because of her son’s dual heritage, Elsa is torn between raising her son according to traditional Inuit ways and the ways of the whites.
The novel was published in 1970, and it is a bit dated. Elsa and her people are called Eskimos rather than Inuit and what is called Fort Chimo is now known as Kuujjuaq. In its portrayal of motherhood and a society in transition however, the book is timeless.
The Inuit “with their indulgent natures” practice a very easygoing parenting style, letting the child explore the world, as evidenced when Jimmy starts to walk. Having adopted the parenting style she sees at the home of Madame Beaulieu, Elsa buys a playpen to restrict Jimmy’s movements. Elsa’s family is aghast: “Never before had such an interference with liberty been seen in an Eskimo family. . . . it was not right to restrict a little child who had just discovered the delight of being able to take himself wherever he wanted to go on his own two feet.” Elsa dresses her son only in blue and gives him a bath at the exact same time every day: “From the white men, it seemed to her, she had learned much that was excellent – for instance to get up early, to rush all day scarcely ever dawdling any more, to take up tasks by the clock and not by the inclination of the moment.”
Later, Elsa decides to entirely remove herself and Jimmy from the community with its “endless increase of constraints.” She moves across the river to live with her uncle who has self-isolated and lives a traditional Inuit life; in fact, he considers anyone who lives in Fort Chimo as “’a slave living in captivity.’” Unfortunately, though both Jimmy and Elsa are happier living simply, the laws of the white man curtail their freedom.
The idea of being held captive by materialism is emphasized. The pastor warns Elsa that “one could not have everything one wanted in this life and freedom too” because he fears that she has “’embarked on that endless road of never quite enough possessions.’” When she gets the luxury of electricity, it means she feels compelled to work “far into the evening.” Eventually she agrees with the pastor: “the less one owned the better. Her princely hut and the luxury in which she had lived now seemed to her shackles.”
From the beginning, the reader knows that the book will not have a happy ending. Elsa’s love for her child is unquestionable but, like her mother, Elsa is caught “between the cruel blades of the times: what to change, what to keep?” Despite its pervasive sadness, this is a worthwhile read.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
This short novel focuses on Elsa Kumachuk, an Inuit woman living in northern Quebec in the middle of the 20th century. She is raped by an American serviceman stationed in the area and gives birth to a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy whom she names Jimmy. Because of her son’s dual heritage, Elsa is torn between raising her son according to traditional Inuit ways and the ways of the whites.
The novel was published in 1970, and it is a bit dated. Elsa and her people are called Eskimos rather than Inuit and what is called Fort Chimo is now known as Kuujjuaq. In its portrayal of motherhood and a society in transition however, the book is timeless.
The Inuit “with their indulgent natures” practice a very easygoing parenting style, letting the child explore the world, as evidenced when Jimmy starts to walk. Having adopted the parenting style she sees at the home of Madame Beaulieu, Elsa buys a playpen to restrict Jimmy’s movements. Elsa’s family is aghast: “Never before had such an interference with liberty been seen in an Eskimo family. . . . it was not right to restrict a little child who had just discovered the delight of being able to take himself wherever he wanted to go on his own two feet.” Elsa dresses her son only in blue and gives him a bath at the exact same time every day: “From the white men, it seemed to her, she had learned much that was excellent – for instance to get up early, to rush all day scarcely ever dawdling any more, to take up tasks by the clock and not by the inclination of the moment.”
Later, Elsa decides to entirely remove herself and Jimmy from the community with its “endless increase of constraints.” She moves across the river to live with her uncle who has self-isolated and lives a traditional Inuit life; in fact, he considers anyone who lives in Fort Chimo as “’a slave living in captivity.’” Unfortunately, though both Jimmy and Elsa are happier living simply, the laws of the white man curtail their freedom.
The idea of being held captive by materialism is emphasized. The pastor warns Elsa that “one could not have everything one wanted in this life and freedom too” because he fears that she has “’embarked on that endless road of never quite enough possessions.’” When she gets the luxury of electricity, it means she feels compelled to work “far into the evening.” Eventually she agrees with the pastor: “the less one owned the better. Her princely hut and the luxury in which she had lived now seemed to her shackles.”
From the beginning, the reader knows that the book will not have a happy ending. Elsa’s love for her child is unquestionable but, like her mother, Elsa is caught “between the cruel blades of the times: what to change, what to keep?” Despite its pervasive sadness, this is a worthwhile read.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
July 9, 2024
Plusieurs histoires sont incluses dans ce livre, mais c’est surtout l’histoire d’un peuple colonisé et des conséquences sociales et culturelles de la globalisation.
La resignification de la nostalgie, de la tristesse et du silence réussit à transmettre une sensation étrange, presque cringe et dérangeante, à cause de leur contradiction.
Je ne peux le lire que comme une femme occidentale et je suis presque dérangée par la façon dont je trouve acceptable quand les personnages priorisent la propreté, le consumérisme ou la productivité, des concepts complètement capitalistes.
J’aime bien me retrouver dans ces situations un peu inconfortables. Je crois que le livre parvient à transmettre plein d’émotions complexes, des personnages complexes qui ne savent pas communiquer et pourtant le font énormément.
La resignification de la nostalgie, de la tristesse et du silence réussit à transmettre une sensation étrange, presque cringe et dérangeante, à cause de leur contradiction.
Je ne peux le lire que comme une femme occidentale et je suis presque dérangée par la façon dont je trouve acceptable quand les personnages priorisent la propreté, le consumérisme ou la productivité, des concepts complètement capitalistes.
J’aime bien me retrouver dans ces situations un peu inconfortables. Je crois que le livre parvient à transmettre plein d’émotions complexes, des personnages complexes qui ne savent pas communiquer et pourtant le font énormément.
March 26, 2022
Ce livre de Gabrielle Roy se lit bien et touche des enjeux toujours pertinent en lien avec la colonisation. Par contre, l'histoire était légèrement trop didactique à mon goût.
August 1, 2011
(9/10) Sparse, careful, and ultimately beautiful. An essentially Canadian novel, both in its female-oriented realist narrative (more interesting than it sounds, I promise) and its interest in the collision of Indigenous and colonizer, and the attempt at a reconciliation while still acknowledging that the rift between the two races isn't fully healable. Roy's gift is taking the framework of a social realist novel (here a story about the lack of opportunities for Ella and her mixed-race son as she spends her life flitting between extremes), and rendering it in such divine prose that it doesn't come out preachy and dry but is genuinely moving. A depressing but still worthwhile read by an underrated author.
August 30, 2022
I've got a story about this one.
We've just returned from an Alaskan cruise and one of our ports was Sitka, Alaska. Prior to going ashore, the only book connection I had with Sitka was Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union. As we walked through the port terminal, I noticed an odd little vending machine, and I made my family pull over and examine it. It had chocolate bars and other snacks in the bottom rows, the middle rows were filled with craft items and 'mystery' pins, while top row, furthest to the right was a row of used books. The book in front was Windflower. Each of the books had a sticker on the front on which someone had written a short summary of the book. Windflower's sticker says: Inuit woman torn between two worlds by the birth of her blonde-haired, blue-eyed son. I punched in its code, the metal coil rotated and the book dropped into the open compartment below. A complete first for me, my first book dispensed by a vending machine -- and I loved it!
Now to the book:
The label below the used books indicated that the books were related to the area, and though it was written by a somewhat famous Canadian author, its main characters were all Inuit, the indigenous people native to northern Canada, Greenland and Alaska. The novel is set in Fort Chimo, what is now known as Kuujjuaq, a former Hudson's Bay Company outpost at the mouth of the Koksoak River on Ungava Bay in the Nunavik region of Quebec, Canada. So the characters were not Alaskan Inuit but we'll acknowledge the connection.
Though, I had some difficulty with the author's broad characterization of an entire culture, there was much that I enjoyed about the book. I loved this reference to the presence of readers who have read a book before you:
"On the other hand she was moved by the slightest sign of the passing of another reader: a sentence underscored or notes in the margin in a cramped script that she always stopped to decipher. She would feel at such times, as one does on the tundra at the sight of some displaced stones or trodden reindeer moss, that a human being had just crossed the infinite barren land and with a little luck one might still perceive in the distance his moving silhouette."
I appreciated how Elsa's grandmother, Inez had a theory about how life would be settled:
"If soldiers are continually being sent far from their homes, they're bound to get lonely and will make children to leave behind them. Thanks to war and the mixture of blood, the human race will perhaps finally be born."
And this moment with Ian really got to me:
"That the child was cured was good news of course. What troubled him was the way this cure had been accomplished. A few injections in the frail arm and it was done. Where the people of his country had always failed, despite their patience, despite their prayers, despite their tenderness, the white man succeeded as if playing a game. The fever subsided, the child's breathing eased, he woke up from a quiet sleep, his eyes shining with health. Penicillin -- that was what "they" had now, besides everything else to trap free men."
We've just returned from an Alaskan cruise and one of our ports was Sitka, Alaska. Prior to going ashore, the only book connection I had with Sitka was Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union. As we walked through the port terminal, I noticed an odd little vending machine, and I made my family pull over and examine it. It had chocolate bars and other snacks in the bottom rows, the middle rows were filled with craft items and 'mystery' pins, while top row, furthest to the right was a row of used books. The book in front was Windflower. Each of the books had a sticker on the front on which someone had written a short summary of the book. Windflower's sticker says: Inuit woman torn between two worlds by the birth of her blonde-haired, blue-eyed son. I punched in its code, the metal coil rotated and the book dropped into the open compartment below. A complete first for me, my first book dispensed by a vending machine -- and I loved it!
Now to the book:
The label below the used books indicated that the books were related to the area, and though it was written by a somewhat famous Canadian author, its main characters were all Inuit, the indigenous people native to northern Canada, Greenland and Alaska. The novel is set in Fort Chimo, what is now known as Kuujjuaq, a former Hudson's Bay Company outpost at the mouth of the Koksoak River on Ungava Bay in the Nunavik region of Quebec, Canada. So the characters were not Alaskan Inuit but we'll acknowledge the connection.
Though, I had some difficulty with the author's broad characterization of an entire culture, there was much that I enjoyed about the book. I loved this reference to the presence of readers who have read a book before you:
"On the other hand she was moved by the slightest sign of the passing of another reader: a sentence underscored or notes in the margin in a cramped script that she always stopped to decipher. She would feel at such times, as one does on the tundra at the sight of some displaced stones or trodden reindeer moss, that a human being had just crossed the infinite barren land and with a little luck one might still perceive in the distance his moving silhouette."
I appreciated how Elsa's grandmother, Inez had a theory about how life would be settled:
"If soldiers are continually being sent far from their homes, they're bound to get lonely and will make children to leave behind them. Thanks to war and the mixture of blood, the human race will perhaps finally be born."
And this moment with Ian really got to me:
"That the child was cured was good news of course. What troubled him was the way this cure had been accomplished. A few injections in the frail arm and it was done. Where the people of his country had always failed, despite their patience, despite their prayers, despite their tenderness, the white man succeeded as if playing a game. The fever subsided, the child's breathing eased, he woke up from a quiet sleep, his eyes shining with health. Penicillin -- that was what "they" had now, besides everything else to trap free men."
October 18, 2023
This one is a bit of a toughie, and very hard to deal with in a short review. First off, I feel that if I had read WINDFLOWER 25 years ago, I would have been more sympathetic to it. I think that Gabrielle Roy was well intentioned with this novel, but it has not shed well. The novel is about Elsa, a young Inuit woman (Eskimo throughout the book because 1970) who is raped by an American soldier and raises the resultant child (a blue-eyed, blonde haired son) in a works transitioning from the traditional Inuit way of life to a more technology and materialistic settler one.
Roy uses some effective metaphors to communicate thus transition. Elsa wavers between raising her child, Jimmy, with all of the modern conveniences, which alienates her from her Inuit family people, to raising him in a traditional manner, which alienates her from the white community, who accuse her of “letting herself go.” The Inuit people, particularly the young people, use the straight, flat and direct paved road (connecting the townsite to the military base/radar station, rather than the traditional meandering and rough traditional trail. Even after the road starts to deteriorate, it remains the favoured place for young people to use. A pivotal moment comes when Elsa and Ian, a more elderly relative, try to escape with Jimmy to an Inuit paradise (Baffin Island), but when Jimmy gets sick, forcing them to return to the community with the hospital, Jimmy decides to forsake his traditional Inuit culture and wholly embraces a white, decidedly American one.
Roy’s take on the Inuit is an assimilationist one. In the novel, she seems to indicate that the traditional Inuit way of life is doomed from the onslaught of white Euro-Canadian-American culture. She comes so close at times. So close. Roy includes a passage where the local RCMP officer comes to tell Elsa that she must send her son to school or he will have to arrest her and force her son into school. My thought was, “Oh my god! Is Roy going to talk about Residential and Day schools in 1970?! Decades ahead of when most Canadians became (or acknowledged) these schools and their abuses. Unfortunately, Roy does not go there. The Mountie is a good soul, and he feels bad about what he has to do, and that part of the story never really goes anywhere. So close to something ahead of its time.
There is also the point that Roy is a non-Indigenous, French Canadian writing about an Inuit woman and the transition of their culture. In 1970, nobody would have batted an eye at that, but today, it’s more than a little problematic. Roy is a sensitive author, and probably handles these themes more sensitively than most authors could have at the time, but that still doesn’t make the book less problematic. This is a novel that is perhaps better to be valued today as an artifact of a previous time, and not so much as a work of literature. I think it is worth reading, but mainly as a check on one’s own biases and assumptions.
Roy uses some effective metaphors to communicate thus transition. Elsa wavers between raising her child, Jimmy, with all of the modern conveniences, which alienates her from her Inuit family people, to raising him in a traditional manner, which alienates her from the white community, who accuse her of “letting herself go.” The Inuit people, particularly the young people, use the straight, flat and direct paved road (connecting the townsite to the military base/radar station, rather than the traditional meandering and rough traditional trail. Even after the road starts to deteriorate, it remains the favoured place for young people to use. A pivotal moment comes when Elsa and Ian, a more elderly relative, try to escape with Jimmy to an Inuit paradise (Baffin Island), but when Jimmy gets sick, forcing them to return to the community with the hospital, Jimmy decides to forsake his traditional Inuit culture and wholly embraces a white, decidedly American one.
Roy’s take on the Inuit is an assimilationist one. In the novel, she seems to indicate that the traditional Inuit way of life is doomed from the onslaught of white Euro-Canadian-American culture. She comes so close at times. So close. Roy includes a passage where the local RCMP officer comes to tell Elsa that she must send her son to school or he will have to arrest her and force her son into school. My thought was, “Oh my god! Is Roy going to talk about Residential and Day schools in 1970?! Decades ahead of when most Canadians became (or acknowledged) these schools and their abuses. Unfortunately, Roy does not go there. The Mountie is a good soul, and he feels bad about what he has to do, and that part of the story never really goes anywhere. So close to something ahead of its time.
There is also the point that Roy is a non-Indigenous, French Canadian writing about an Inuit woman and the transition of their culture. In 1970, nobody would have batted an eye at that, but today, it’s more than a little problematic. Roy is a sensitive author, and probably handles these themes more sensitively than most authors could have at the time, but that still doesn’t make the book less problematic. This is a novel that is perhaps better to be valued today as an artifact of a previous time, and not so much as a work of literature. I think it is worth reading, but mainly as a check on one’s own biases and assumptions.
February 14, 2023
Este libro está dividido en 4 historias diferentes: 3 son muy cortitas y 1 es la historia principal llamada "El Río sin Descanso". Las cuatro están ambientadas en el territorio esquimal al norte de la provincia francesa de Québec, en Canadá; y tratan sobre la introducción, choque y mezcla de las culturas norteamericanas/canadienses MODERNAS y la cultura inuit.
De las primeras 3 historias cortitas, mi favorita fue la de "El Teléfono", que nos cuenta la historia de un inuit experimentando y divirtiéndose con su teléfono recién instalado por el gobierno canadiense en su hogar. Literal me morí de risa porque el señor se la pasa haciendo bromas telefónicas y descubriendo cómo funciona su aparato.
Ahora, la historia principal y la más extensa, "El Río sin Descanso" me pareció bien triste :( Pues nos cuenta la historia de una mujer inuit, que fue violada por un soldado canadiense, y tiene un hijo blanco. Ella intenta mezclar lo mejor de ambos mundos (el inuit y el norteamericano) y darle todo a su hijo conforme va creciendo hasta consentirlo demasiado, para que al final resulte ser un ingrato que la deja abandonada porque él siente que no pertenece a los esquimales y le queda chica la aldea. Entiendo su sentir, pero la forma tan cruel de abandonar a su madre me pareció muy triste.
De las primeras 3 historias cortitas, mi favorita fue la de "El Teléfono", que nos cuenta la historia de un inuit experimentando y divirtiéndose con su teléfono recién instalado por el gobierno canadiense en su hogar. Literal me morí de risa porque el señor se la pasa haciendo bromas telefónicas y descubriendo cómo funciona su aparato.
Ahora, la historia principal y la más extensa, "El Río sin Descanso" me pareció bien triste :( Pues nos cuenta la historia de una mujer inuit, que fue violada por un soldado canadiense, y tiene un hijo blanco. Ella intenta mezclar lo mejor de ambos mundos (el inuit y el norteamericano) y darle todo a su hijo conforme va creciendo hasta consentirlo demasiado, para que al final resulte ser un ingrato que la deja abandonada porque él siente que no pertenece a los esquimales y le queda chica la aldea. Entiendo su sentir, pero la forma tan cruel de abandonar a su madre me pareció muy triste.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 4, 2024
Un libro que habla sobre cómo "el progreso", venido de afuera, de lejos, del mundo blanco, occidental, con sus virtudes claro, pero también con sus horrores, se fue devorando a los locales en el ártico canadiense y obligándolos a cambiar sus formas y tradiciones. Son 3 cuentos y una novelita la cual da título al libro y que explora este tema contando la historia de una madre con su único hijo el cual además es fruto de esa invasión o intervención blanca... es muy conmovedor todo lo que narra sobre la formación de este niño desde su nacimiento entre los dos mundos (el blanco y el inuit), pero también de su madre, que cambia y crece y actúa en uno y en otro siempre buscando sentir que está actuando "bien"... Uf, pues sí, para reflexionar: quizá el "progreso" no hace tan bien y quita lugar incluso a lo bueno de lo existente, pero ¿podría quedarse todo como estaba? En realidad es inevitable ¿no? El mundo sigue girando, las personas moviéndose, los intereses cambiando...
June 21, 2024
Not a light fluffy novel, despite its small size, Windflower is a haunting novel set in the bleak Canadian North. It is a strong commentary about the impact of colonialism on communities, families, and individuals.
Our book club had some great dialogue around Windflower and Gabrielle Roy's writing. Reading Windflower was definitely out of my usual reading repertoire, but I am grateful I participated and was a part of the conversation as it pushed my thinking and literature appreciation.
3+ stars
Our book club had some great dialogue around Windflower and Gabrielle Roy's writing. Reading Windflower was definitely out of my usual reading repertoire, but I am grateful I participated and was a part of the conversation as it pushed my thinking and literature appreciation.
3+ stars
September 28, 2018
I had extremely high expectations from this book. The premise seemed promising as well, and I was living in what is now the "new Fort Chimo" at the time when I bought it.
As heart-breaking as the plot is, and as normalized as its storyline has become throughout the years in Nunavik, the way it is told is a little embarrassing, to be frank. In fact, I would be mortified if any Inuk I knew read this. It's a story that simply doesn't need to be read. "Sanaaq" and "Living with the Qallunaat" are infinitely better books.
As heart-breaking as the plot is, and as normalized as its storyline has become throughout the years in Nunavik, the way it is told is a little embarrassing, to be frank. In fact, I would be mortified if any Inuk I knew read this. It's a story that simply doesn't need to be read. "Sanaaq" and "Living with the Qallunaat" are infinitely better books.
March 27, 2020
The most important part for me was the portrayal of the transition of the way of life for the Indigenous people, and the contrast between two very different societies. I would probably rate this higher, if I were not a confirmed addict to psychological thrillers and crime stories, and this is the first time I have ventured away from that genre in a few years.
July 30, 2017
Not my favourite Roy book but still a good read.
The story speaks of the effect of progress on the Inuit people of Northern Quebec and the differences of culture between the native and European/American members of the community.
The story speaks of the effect of progress on the Inuit people of Northern Quebec and the differences of culture between the native and European/American members of the community.
March 2, 2024
Novela que nos muestra la lucha de una madre inuit de hijo mestizo por sacarlo adelante e intentar encajar. Se lee muy fácil y nos enfrenta a la realidad que los pueblos nativos han sufrido a lo largo de la historia frente al hombre blanco.
July 14, 2017
Muy triste y pocho, pero no De La Forma Correcta. Regulín.
June 20, 2018
The story pulled me in and made me emotionally involved. My heart hurts to think of the separation.
August 6, 2018
One of the few books that has brought tears to my eyes at the end.
November 23, 2020
Maudlin, patronizing. Has not aged well.
January 2, 2022
Première lecture de Gabrielle Roy pour moi et je ne suis pas déçue. De belles réflexions toujours d’actualité.
August 4, 2022
Not my type of book. Some strange, impossible things are described that indicates that the author did not know the setting.
March 15, 2025
Un des meilleurs romans que j’ai lus… une histoire très touchante, si bien racontée, comme tous les livres de Gabrielle Roy.
March 21, 2024
Amazing to read theses short stories about the Inuit in the Ungava région North of Quebec, Cananda. Gabrielle Roy visited this country a few times with a friend, around 1968-70. We know that tshe took many notes and was very touched by those whom we used to call the Eskimos. The white invasion as the author puts it was already forcing everyone to adapt or die. It was during the last big war 1939-45 that USA Army installed a base just on the other side of the river Koksoak, Fort Chimo.
The Canadian government took over after the war, install a catholic missionary as a protestant missionary was already there, an infirmary, a school. The Huson Bay Company was already making business with the hunters so almost everyone moved on the same side of the rive Koksoak.
What is so captivating for me all along this book is to recognize that nothing is stable for ever. Not that is was an easy life for this population up North on a daily bases. But there was a sense of community in order to stay alive, they would help each other in order to stay alive. As it got developed by forces of other population needs, disturbance, disorder and misunderstanding between the 'Eskimos and 'White people' destroyed their stability. Adaptation had a cost. Each member of this so called new village had to survive or not. Being prisoners in the new village had a cost. Money was the way instead of exchanging fur and fish. It was not easier outside the village. Gabrielle Roy is a very good story teller and I follow her as she describe Elsa's life. The second generation since the army moved in. Elsa is living what was called by the priest maybe the best way to build a new world. Her son was different from her and forced her to search for freedom in another way than waht she had learn from her parents. I know that this perpetual motion forward of population can be recognize everywhere on the planet. That does not mean that it is always done with respect and humanity.
The Canadian government took over after the war, install a catholic missionary as a protestant missionary was already there, an infirmary, a school. The Huson Bay Company was already making business with the hunters so almost everyone moved on the same side of the rive Koksoak.
What is so captivating for me all along this book is to recognize that nothing is stable for ever. Not that is was an easy life for this population up North on a daily bases. But there was a sense of community in order to stay alive, they would help each other in order to stay alive. As it got developed by forces of other population needs, disturbance, disorder and misunderstanding between the 'Eskimos and 'White people' destroyed their stability. Adaptation had a cost. Each member of this so called new village had to survive or not. Being prisoners in the new village had a cost. Money was the way instead of exchanging fur and fish. It was not easier outside the village. Gabrielle Roy is a very good story teller and I follow her as she describe Elsa's life. The second generation since the army moved in. Elsa is living what was called by the priest maybe the best way to build a new world. Her son was different from her and forced her to search for freedom in another way than waht she had learn from her parents. I know that this perpetual motion forward of population can be recognize everywhere on the planet. That does not mean that it is always done with respect and humanity.
May 16, 2012
Another English 12 book. This wasn't that bad, though. I didn't really know anything about who the author was, or what the book was about, but after reading the first couple pages, there was a lot that jumped out at me.
The first thing was how different everything seemed, and how--on some level that I don't even know--I related to the story. The book follows Elsa, a teenage Eskimo girl in northern Canada who get "raped" (she didn't know what was happening, but we as the readers do, so it wasn't rape to her, but to us it is) by a US G.I. and gives birth to son. Thankfully, I'll never know that part of the story, but I think I related most to Jimmy's (the son) trying to figure out where he actually belongs. He looks exactly like all the other Americans, but he was raised Eskimo. I don't know where I'm trying to go with this review, but the ending was just plain sad.
Elsa becomes her mother. That's all I can say without spoiling too much from the book, but that's basically what happens. And it's sad because I couldn't help but to think of my own mother, and what's going to happen to me. There was a lot of reflecting in this book for me, and that's what made it good. It was pretty slow during some parts, but Roy did an excellent job of just portraying the feelings of Elsa and Jimmy and those around them.
The first thing was how different everything seemed, and how--on some level that I don't even know--I related to the story. The book follows Elsa, a teenage Eskimo girl in northern Canada who get "raped" (she didn't know what was happening, but we as the readers do, so it wasn't rape to her, but to us it is) by a US G.I. and gives birth to son. Thankfully, I'll never know that part of the story, but I think I related most to Jimmy's (the son) trying to figure out where he actually belongs. He looks exactly like all the other Americans, but he was raised Eskimo. I don't know where I'm trying to go with this review, but the ending was just plain sad.
Elsa becomes her mother. That's all I can say without spoiling too much from the book, but that's basically what happens. And it's sad because I couldn't help but to think of my own mother, and what's going to happen to me. There was a lot of reflecting in this book for me, and that's what made it good. It was pretty slow during some parts, but Roy did an excellent job of just portraying the feelings of Elsa and Jimmy and those around them.
March 31, 2021
Un libro de cuentos muy hermosos sobre la vida de los esquimales y como se adaptan a la vida con 'los blancos'. Todos los cuentos son relacionados y los mensajes importantes son muy sutiles. Aunque se trata de una vida muy lejana de la mía, podía identificarme con la protagonista y su lucha por evitar lo inevitable.
Want to read
August 3, 2010NCL.2006-10-01
January 31, 2012
Sad. Work in translation. Canadian literature. Possibly racist. Who knows.
April 15, 2012
Quite lovely, acting and moving...a small book..but a good read.
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