4.5/5. WENJACK is a heartbreaking story of an Ojibwe boy who escapes the residential school he has been forced to attend due to the government's push to culturally assimilate the indigenous people into the white man's world at the expense of losing his own heritage. I read this novella in less than an hour, but I will remember the experience for a long time. Controversy has surrounded Boyden because he is not part of the Ojibwe community. Some have criticized him for writing from that point of view. Cultural appropriation is a thorny discussion point, and I know too little to speak about it here. The book was extremely sympathetic to the Ojibwe people and their plight, so one might argue that Boyden shouldn't have been criticized. What, however, if he hadn't been empathetic? The bigger problem lies in the fact that Boyden claimed to have indigenous DNA, but solid proof is nowhere to be found. It's the opposite effect of what June did in YELLOWFACE. There, she blurred her background (with the help from her editors) to possibly seem to be Asian. Here, Boyden claimed outwardly that he had indigenous blood when the research so far shows he doesn't. All of this controversy takes away from Chanie Wenjack's story, which I feel should still be told. ( )

Joseph Boyden's [b:Wenjack|30079906|Wenjack|Joseph Boyden|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1469406055s/30079906.jpg|50500001] is probably the most important Canadian story published this year. Or possibly any year.

Telling the story of Chanie 'Charlie' Wenjack, a young boy who ran away from a Northern Ontario residential school in the 1960s, Boyden is sensitive and delicate. Even for a novella, Wenjack is short, but Boyden doesn't need more pages, he more than fills the ones he has. It's a hauntingly beautiful elegy.

Alternating between Chanie's perspective and the perspectives of the manitous that watch over him on this desperate journey back home, Wenjack firmly places Chanie, and the brothers he is with, as part of nature. The residential school they are forced to attend, where they are punished for speaking their own language, beaten for any minor transgressions, is anathema to them, a spiritual excommunication from their people, the chasm growing as English "civilization" is forced upon them.

Residential schools are among Canada's greatest transgressions against humanity, perpetuated against indigenous children. It's important to remember that 30% of indigenous children were forcibly ripped away from their family, exposed to physical and sexual abuse, deprived of their language and culture. Nearly every school was built with a cemetery adjacent, because so many children died. The last federally funded school closed in 1996.

Wenjack is beautifully written and the words stir the heart deeply. Boyden's use of language is evocative and easy to read, the subject matter weighing heavily on the reader in a way the prose doesn't. The line between fiction and non-fiction is blurred here, allowing us a glimpse into a world many have not thought of. This book should be mandatory for all students in Canada to read so they can give a face to the unheard victims of our own country. ( )

The imagery is fantastic. The story is heartbreaking. ( )

I was a young college student when I first heard the story of Charlie/Chanie Wenjack in a song written and sung by Willie Dunn. The haunting lyrics sung in a deep voice that reminded me of my friend, Floyd Red Crow Westerman, stayed with me, and to this day, 30 some years later, I can still hear the song in my head. Fast forward to 2020, the lyrics played through my mind as I read Wenjack by Joseph Boyden, a heartbreaking novella about little Charlie/Chanie and his attempt to run away from the cruelties of enforced boarding school to find his way home. He was one among many children who attempted to run away, and he made it farther than most, but not far enough. He died, cold and alone, along the railroad tracks that he hoped would lead him home, some 600 km away. He did not die in vain, as his death in 1966 sparked the initial investigation that would eventually lead to the closure of Indian boarding schools in Canada 30 years later in 1996. Charlie’s/Chanie’s story is just one among many, heartbreaking not only because of the singularity of his suffering and death, but also because he was just one little boy among the thousands of indigenous children who suffered the same fate. Written from the point of view of the Manitous, the spirits, as they inhabit each of the animals that observe little Charlie/Chanie on his journey, this short but beautifully written novella broke my heart. 5 stars ( )

This book is captivating and beautifully heartbreaking. It's a tragic story based on real events. Chanie was a native kid taken from his home and placed in a residential school in the mid 60's (the last residential school was closed in 1996). Boyden weaves Chanie's story by alternating between Chanie and the Manitous (spirits of the forest). While the focus is on his journey and eventual death, Boyden weaves in the reality of residential schools - abuse and cultural genocide.

I highly recommend this book. ( )