Indian Horse book review by National Post

                I found this review by National Post  to be very well written. The author of this review did a very good job at touching on topics of the book and relating that to the world outside of the book. For example the author talks about Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and it's studies on the impact of residential schools. Another reason I enjoyed this review was because the author took the already existing themes of the book and analysed them in a way that made them easier to understand. An example of this is when the author explained the way Richard Wagamese incorporated a lot of "native ritual's and spirituality" into the book demonstrated largely by the language they used.  Not only were the themes easier to understand but the author summed up events very clearly as well like when the author says; "Saul chronicles his life story as a means of identifying the source of his addiction." Not only did I like that it was clear but I felt that it answered Jordan's fifth question in the theme section of our blog very well. Additionally I liked the way the author wasn't limited in just talking about the novel and expanded into giving a bit of a background information on Richard Wagamese such as his date of birth (1955) and some of his earlier novels. Overall I totally agree with the author of this review and feel that even after reading the book this review still cleared things up very well for me.

http://news.nationalpost.com/afterword/book-review-indian-horse-by-richard-wagamese

- Sierra 

Indian Horse Review by National Post

This was a pretty good review. I thought that the conclusion that he reached was very similar to my own and I very much agree that this was a very good book. I did like that there was a back story of the author  and talked about some of his other works. This is something that I liked as it gave a broader picture of some of the other things that this author has done. One particular statement that caught my eye was "So audible is Saul’s voice, that I heard him stop speaking whenever I closed the book." This was something that I never considered, but the author did such  good job at using description throughout the entire book that it did really make the book come to life, which is one of the things that made this novel so appealing. This review also pointed out how this novel took place during the time that Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission studying the impact of residential schools had released its reports on how bad these schools were, which makes the impact even more significant. There was one more paragraph that really caught my eye " Wagemese’s writing qualifies as an act of courage, for we are in the midst of one of the most effective silencing campaigns in generations: People who dare to address historical wrongs are regularly accused of whining; unbelievably, the word “victim” has become a derogatory term. Yet, Wagamese writes without apology; and with such specificity and emotional restraint the reader sometimes forgets to breathe." This is very true. If we refuse to look back at out past and understand our wrongs, there's no way we will ever be able to correct them and this book is a perfect example of this. Even though many parts of this book were depressing and unpleasant, it only served to drive home the point of the novel and ultimately, what made this book so good. I liked this review and it brought out some unique perspectives and ideas. The only small issue I had with it was  that it seemed like there was a lot of summarizing done in the review. Other than that it was pretty good.

Link: http://news.nationalpost.com/afterword/book-review-indian-horse-by-richard-wagamese

-Jordan

The author

Here's a picture of the author, Richard Wagamese.

Indian Horse book review by national post

My group has chosen a review from the National Post for the novel Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese. I think the author of this review Donna Bailey Nurse has done a great job with it. Personally, I really enjoy the opening paragraph to start off the review that gives people who haven’t read it a good insight on what the story might be like. I also specifically enjoy her use of adjectives throughout the review because I think it gives a good description for what the story was like. I specifically enjoy the way she tells us a bit about the author Richard Wagamese. Before reading this novel, I hadn’t known of Wagamese because I’m not a big reader, but by her explaining to us exactly who he is, I could make connections as to why he might have chosen a topic like this to write about. Overall, I think the author of this review has really told the summary of the story well by including all of the most important points and I don’t think she missed anything. Near the end of the review she says ‘’ As Saul’s opportunities increase, so does the racial hostility.’’ I personally couldn’t agree with this more and I think she choose the exact right words to describe Saul’s experiences. I think this review has made many people read this novel because it captivated the novel and I think it was really well done.

-Katie

Indian horse book review by National Post

http://news.nationalpost.com/afterword/book-review-Indian-horse-by-Richard-wagamese

I personally think this is a great review! The author uses lots of diverse language and summarizes the book nicely without boring the reader. She talks about different themes of the novel and relates it to other novels and the authors personal life which I find quite interesting since I personally have never heard of the author before reading this novel so it was quite nice to have some background knowledge on him. I enjoy how she also gives the reader a bit of background information on the author and previous books he has written and his inspiration for the novel. She keeps the reader intrigued to read more with a intense and interesting first line into her review calling the novel " a severe but beautiful novel." I like how she also tells the reader about her experience when she interviewed him and how he creates his novel and why he does it. She ends the review perfectly by saying how she google mapped the area that Wagamese talks about in his novel, this made me interested to do the same and find out about that region in Northern Ontario. I agree with the author of the review that Wagamese crafts an unforgettable work of art that really tugs at your heart strings and is a severe eye opener to what really happened to aboriginal children during the residential school era and to present day. I really enjoyed this review and if I had not already read the novel I would be very interested to read it after reading this review.
-Brianna

Review

http://news.nationalpost.com/afterword/book-review-indian-horse-by-richard-wagamese

Here's an image that I feel captures the hockey aspect of the novel pretty well