The Outside Circle
A Graphic Novel
-
-
4.3 • 3 Ratings
-
-
- $10.99
-
- $10.99
Publisher Description
Winner, CODE’s 2016 Burt Award for First Nation, Inuit and Métis Literature
In this important graphic novel, two brothers surrounded by poverty, drug abuse, and gang violence, try to overcome centuries of historic trauma in very different ways to bring about positive change in their lives.
Pete, a young Indigenous man wrapped up in gang violence, lives with his younger brother, Joey, and his mother who is a heroin addict. One night, Pete and his mother’s boyfriend, Dennis, get into a big fight, which sends Dennis to the morgue and Pete to jail. Initially, Pete keeps up ties to his crew, until a jail brawl forces him to realize the negative influence he has become on Joey, which encourages him to begin a process of rehabilitation that includes traditional Indigenous healing circles and ceremonies.
Powerful, courageous, and deeply moving, The Outside Circle is drawn from the author’s twenty years of work and research on healing and reconciliation of gang-affiliated or incarcerated Indigenous men.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This debut graphic novel, pairing LaBoucane-Benson's words with Mellings's captivating art, take readers into the journey of a young aboriginal man from a life of violence and gangs to healing. The tragic toll Canada's colonial past has taken and still takes on young aboriginal people today is vividly brought to life when readers meet Pete. He's a thug collecting money for a drug dealer, but he is also taking care of his young brother Joey, with no father and a drug-addicted mother. When he comes home to find Joey sitting in an empty apartment, with all their belongings pawned for drug money, a violent confrontation with his mother's abusive boyfriend quickly ends with Pete's arrest, and Joey is placed in foster care. During Pete's incarceration, he is given a chance to transfer to an aboriginal healing centre and to be part of a program that teaches him about aboriginal history and culture. As he begins to find himself and develop an identity tied to a community, the story becomes one of hope, not only for Pete, but for all aboriginal people healing from the intergenerational wounds of Canadian colonialism.
