Reviews

Tainna: The Unseen Ones, Short Stories by Norma Dunning

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bargainandbooks's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was a great collection of short stories. I found myself falling into these stories and lives of the characters and being sucked back out at the end. Wanting more. The topics could get very heavy. The characters were well written for only having so much time on the page.

I had this one recommended a few times and I am so glad I finally did!

sqwaytalqs's review

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5.0

4.5 stars

This collection of short stories from Norma Dunning is astoundingly beautiful and heart-breaking. As a Syilx-Okanagan woman myself, I connected with much of the trauma experienced by the women in these stories. However, I am not Inuit, and therefore some of the experiences were quite eye-opening for me. I felt like I was getting the briefest glimpse of a world that I have yet to step foot in. It was both illuminating and eerie; learning about evil spirits of whose presence you'd previously been unaware can be a disconcerting experience.

There are six stories in this collection.

Amak, to me, is a story about internalised misogyny and colonialism on the one side, and boundaries and cycle-breaking on the other. It deals with the trauma that builds in families, and how different children from the same family will internalise different messages, despite experiencing the same violence.

Kunak is the story of a lost boy and the ancestor who protects him, a story that is very familiar in Indigenous communities. It's also the first introduction to ancestors and spirits in this collection. It's beautifully written. However, this story is part of the reason I'm giving a rating of 4.5 instead of 5 stars. I found that a lot of the ways in which the characters of Kunak and Chevy Bass dealt with the character of Aviak were deeply misogynistic. I'm unsure if the author did this to bring awareness to the misogyny that Inuit women face, but it sure didn't feel that way. It felt normalised and extremely heavy. Having said that, there might be elements of Inuit culture and ways of being that I'm just not understanding here. I'm hoping to read more by Inuit authors in the future, so hopefully I'll begin to gain more insight.

Eskimo Heaven is a fantastic story, and absolutely hilarious! I don't remember the last time I read a story in which the main character was Catholic and I actually liked them. The wisdom and teachings that the character of Ittura passes to the protagonist, Priest Prentice, were eye-opening for me in terms of learning about Inuit ways of being, and I'm so grateful to have had this glimpse into the understandings of a fellow Indigenous culture. And I loved how the author helped the priest to grow instead of just using him as a way to hurt the Indigenous characters. It was refreshing.

Panem et Circenses is an elegantly written story about trying to be something you're not. It reminds me of the song "The Poverty of Philosophy" by Immortal Technique, and in particular, the following quote:

No matter what kind of car you drive
Or what kind of fancy clothes you put on
You will never be them
They're always gonna look at you as nothing but a little monkey
I'd rather be proud of what I am
Rather than desperately trying to be something I'm really not
Just to fit in
And whether we want to accept it or not
That's what this culture, or lack of culture, is feeding us

These Old Bones is an "Annie Mukluk" story, and one that brings focus to the beauty that can be found in escaping colonialism and returning to the love of your community and ways of being. It's a story about finding happiness and success on your own terms, and about learning to see yourself as having value. It was not just beautifully written, but it was extremely heart-warming. 5 stars.

Tainna (The Unseen Ones) is the last and titular story. It's a story about the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls of so-called Canada. This is a heart-wrenching and traumatic topic, but somehow the author manages to approach it with tenderness and hope. It was a beautiful end to a wonderful collection of stories.

My final thoughts are that Tainna is a skillfully-written collection of diverse stories that all focus on the experiences of Inuit women. I would 100% recommend this as reading to any and all adults, and I would even go so far to recommend it for teenagers, as long as someone was there to help them unpack some of the heavier content as they work through it. I'm very excited to read more of Norma Dunning's work!

eatsnacks's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Amazing series of short stories. very much worth the read

Content Warnings

janeycanuck's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was an intense book of short stories, you are dropped right into the middle of each & everything just comes at you. I'm not really a short story fan but I did enjoy the first story and the one about Annie. The writing was really powerful across all 6, though.