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Book Review: As Long As The Rivers Flow

As Long As The Rivers Flow by James Bartleman
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As Long as the Rivers Flow by James Barleman

 

It is 1956 and the Cat Lake Indian Reserve in Northern Ontario is preparing for the annual Treaty Day. But what six-year-old Martha, an Anishinabe child, doesn’t know is that she is about to be shipped off to a Residential School, where the abuse is outrageously violent and at times sexual, and the education is a strict doctrine of anything but her own native culture. The story picks up with Martha returning home after 10 years as a very disturbed and angry young woman. The ensuing drama unfolds in a blank dystopian landscape of sex, substance abuse and suicide pacts. While not an altogether pleasant ride, it leaves in its wake a haunting beauty that finds forgiveness and hope in a place one would least expect to find it.

— Graham McDonald

 

Publisher: Knopf Canada

Price: $29.95   Page count: 272