Wenjack
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4.5 • 72 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
The acclaimed author of The Orenda gives us a powerful and poignant look into the last moments of Charlie Wenjack, a residential school runaway trying to find his way home.
An Ojibwe boy runs away from a North Ontario Indian School. Too late, he realizes just how far away home is. Along the way he's followed by Manitous, spirits of the forest who comment on his plight, cajoling, taunting, and ultimately offering him a type of comfort on his difficult journey back to the place he was so brutally removed from.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Spare, poetic, and achingly beautiful, Wenjack reconstructs the last days of Charlie Wenjack, a 12-year-old Anishinaabe boy who perished after fleeing from a residential school in 1966. Giller Prize–winning novelist Joseph Boyden infuses the book with an expansive sense of First Nations history, summoning spirits and totemic creatures as narrators and providing a visceral sense of the lush natural world his characters traverse. Wenjack’s story—which prompted Canada’s initial inquest into the residential-school system—is heartbreaking; Boyden’s reverent testament is an urgent reminder of the generational trauma caused by this disgraceful legacy.
Customer Reviews
Fantastic novel and incredibly powerful.
I was out in Mantioba filming a project when I read this book. On the way back to Ontario I was able to stop in Kenora and find the exact site where this story took place. It wasn’t well marked but I found it and spent some time there at the memorial. This book should absolutely be part of national reading curriculum.
Wenjack
Very moving, and very well written.
Wenjack -
A must read hour novel that should be in schools curriculum, to start a conversation. A must read for Canadians that turn a blind eye to our history.