Friday Books: Indian Horse

Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese was a Canada Reads book in 2013. It's the story of a boy who is growing up in Ojibway traditions and then ends up being snatched and tossed into a boarding school, separated from his family.

The main character in this book finds joy in learning to play hockey. Hockey becomes an important part of his life that provides an outlet separate from the trauma of the boarding school experience. Nevertheless, he goes through quite a bit of turmoil and, with great difficulty, attempts to "find himself" as an adult.

This is a typical and all-too-prevalent experience of Indian people of the current adult population. It's a shameful part of our U.S. and Canadian histories. Negative attitudes toward Indians persist; this book and others like it are an important part of our necessary healing and coming to terms with the atrocities that took place. And to improve things for the present and future.

This was a good story, very engaging, which I read in a day. Four stars.

(she gave me her permission to photograph her and post the photo at my blog)