Jaime M > Recent Status Updates

I’m enjoying reading the magical descriptions of midwives and midwifery, the regular intervals of frantic and sparkling introductions of Rene, the author’s younger brother. There was a part with an animal, some sled dogs, mother and child that had me in contradictory emotions by story’s end. I loved being able to laugh out loud followed by happy cry of feeling joy for the author and his family.

Oh yes. I remember this style of writing and I adore it. Just getting started but I’m already in love with the colour in Highway’s writing.

So far, I think this is a great Thanks giving story to read around thanksgiving holidays and celebrations.

Oh boy.

So much to process. Spoiler 🚨

I’ll do a little processing at a time. Just having finished it, read a few other reviews because I thought I missed it somewhere about why Phoenix was in jail, why she’s on the sex offenders list and what exactly happened to the first Sparrow.
I’m glad I don’t know but had a deep dread AA I kept reading on right up until the end thinking it would.
come.

Cont…

Spoiler 🚨

“My Maman, your dear Auntt and Mamere, Rosemary, always said we had to work twice as hard to get anything. I always thought that was what it meant to be a halfbreed. That we were only ever going to be half as good, no matter what we did.”

🥺

SPOILER 🚨
This line will probably hit every Métis person in the gut (these lines after explaining the part about Annie’s life where she is followed by being driven out of various areas on her own homeland):“They never wanted us. They never acknowledged us or I coudes us. They wanted us to fade away. To die. But we didn’t…” & “we all fought for anything we could have. We worked for everything…cont..

Spoiler 🚨

Note to self: If the book Five Little Indians is the story of my father’s generation, than The Strangers is about the intersection of my father’s generation with the generations before and after closely followed throughout. This is an important Métis story right now. The “don’t look away” book; the deeper understanding of the messiness and hardening of people within a family from trauma.

Spoiler alert* 🚨

Let’s talk about Margaret.

Tough, harsh, trying to do the right thing, can’t get ahead - finds inter-generational wealth and decided to keep it. She decided not to be like her mother who helped her raise her children. She didn’t want to raise her own grandchildren. She wants something for herself for once with all that work she does for everyone else. Where does that leave everyone else?