A First Nations former hockey star looks back on his life as he undergoes treatment for alcoholism in this novel from the author of Dream Wheels. Saul Indian Horse is a child when his family retreats into the woods. Among the lakes and the cedars, they attempt to reconnect with half-forgotten traditions and hide from the authorities who have been kidnapping Ojibway youth. But when winter … But when winter approaches, Saul loses everything: his brother, his parents, his beloved grandmother—and then his home itself.
Alone in the world and placed in a horrific boarding school, Saul is surrounded by violence and cruelty. At the urging of a priest, he finds a tentative salvation in hockey. Rising at dawn to practice alone, Saul proves determined and undeniably gifted. His intuition and vision are unmatched. His speed is remarkable. Together they open doors for him: away from the school, into an all-Ojibway amateur circuit, and finally within grasp of a professional career. Yet as Saul’s victories mount, so do the indignities and the taunts, the racism and the hatred—the harshness of a world that will never welcome him, tied inexorably to the sport he loves.
Spare and compact yet undeniably rich, Indian Horse is at once a heartbreaking account of a dark chapter in our history and a moving coming-of-age story.
“Shocking and alien, valuable and true… A master of empathy.”—Jane Smiley, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Golden Age
“A severe yet beautiful novel…. Indian Horse finds the granite solidity of Wagamese’s prose polished to a lustrous sheen; brisk, brief, sharp chapters propel the reader forward.”—Donna Bailey Nurse, National Post (Toronto)
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I didn’t know I even liked hockey until I read this book. But all that aside, what a powerful story of working through trauma and learning to live again! It has to hurt before it gets better. Knowing it and living it are two different things. The truth about schools is finally coming to light in the far reaches of whitedom, and the kids deserve better, and to be with their loved ones again.
This book was really difficult for me to read. I went into this not expecting to relate to anything, based solely off of the synopsis. However, I quickly found out that I was wrong.
I might not have been able to relate to living off the land and having your people stolen in the middle of the night and shipped off to God-knows-where, and I might not be able to relate to being targeted specifically because of your skin color and origins, but I understand what it’s like to feel like, to be treated like, an outcast, like you don’t belong. I understand what it feels like to have one thing that brings you relief from it all and to have it wrenched away from you. I understand what it feels like to watch others go through what the kids in the school went through, and I understand what it feels like to remember those same things happening to you.
I relate especially to finding comfort and escapism in books. Books to me are what hockey was to Saul and reading about his struggles with coming to terms with his past and remembering it hit home for me because I’ve felt the same way. It’s a constant, uphill battle and this novel did an amazing job of capturing the emotions of that struggle, not only with addiction and recovering from your addiction, but with the struggle of isolation, whether self-imposed or otherwise, and with the struggle of remembering who you are and fighting to get that person back.
This was a work of art, and I’m definitely going to need some recovery time after reading this.
Quite an amazing book. The author brings a reader into his world with care, patience, detail and skill. An engrossing read. I learned a lot about indigenous people and hockey.
An important read. Shameful the way the Canadian an US treated native Americans. We should not forget.
Great book. Subject was very interesting and I didn’t know anything about this before I read the book.
Whether you are a hockey fan or not, you will become a fan of Richard Wagamese after reading this phenomenal book. It’ll grab your heart. I highly recommend any book by this author. I wish he were still alive to write more.
A voice that needs to be heard and a story that feels like you could listen to by the embers of a campfire.
I had not read any books by this author prior to this book but I will definitely read others now. This book was sad but the truths presented are a reality in our history. The story was well written,
I know people who forced to go to to the Indian schools. This book brought back the stories they told, the sadness that was felt by all, the embarrassment they felt and the determination to recover their spirit in spite of the federal government and church dominated schools. They worked to regain their culture and especially relearn their languages.
Shocking and alien, valuable and true… A master of empathy.
Wagamese was a master who died too young. A terse, compassionate and sensitive writer who doesn’t waste a word; a poet, who rips your heart out with his characters’ stories.
The late Richard Wagamese has written a haunting story in Indian Horse. He tore my heart out with words that cut to the truth. He gently takes you on a journey of simple pleasures, broken trust, horrible injustice and the process of healing. A truly wonderful story. Rest in peace, Richard.