Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - The Strangers

The Strangers is an illuminating and compassionate read exploring intergenerational trauma in a Métis family. It unfolds over five years and is the story of four women from three generations. Margaret was studying to become a lawyer, under pressure from herself and others to overcome low expectations of Indigenous people, when an unexpected pregnancy derailed her plans. Life did not turn out the way she wanted and she is angry, resentful and bitter. In the present her daughter Elsie is battling addiction, wanting to become clean and to be there for her daughters but plague by grief and demons and constantly relapsing. Meanwhile her oldest daughter Phoenix is in a youth detention facility while Cedar-Sage is moved around the foster care system before being able to move in with her father, who she’s never known, and step-family.

It was tragic seeing how the Stranger family became estranged from each other. This was precipitated by the death of Annie the family matriarch and the sale of the family home, and exacerbated by hurt women being unable to look after themselves let alone nurture and support others. Yet the role of government institution and systems, underresourced yes but also arguably focussed on the wrong things, should not be minimised. Towards the end there was a small yet pivotal scene, where I felt if another choice had been made the lives of at least three of the four women could have been very different. In many ways this was a depressing story, yet the love the women had for each other was as undeniable as it was imperfect, and the novel ended in a way that offered glimmers of hope.

Definitely a recommended read.

Content Warnings

dnlrbchd's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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annemaries_shelves's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Several weeks after finishing this book, I still think about it.

The Strangers is a really powerful and emotional companion novel to The Break, following four women and their POVs of the The Stranger family: two sisters and their mother in modern day, and their Grandmother through her life.

The Storykeepers podcast covers the themes and discussion much better than I (and I highly recommend checking out that episode specifically and the podcast generally. But Vermette spends a lot of time developing and exploring themes of memory and family history (particularly on how traditions can be lost through time, trauma, and grief), addiction and the impact it has on the substance user and their loved ones, and insidious, ongoing effects of colonialism and racism on Indigenous communities - specifically Métis women. Men are acknowledged to have their own struggles but are really not the focus nor given much grace due to their role in perpetuating intersectional gender-based violence.

I adored the characters and felt so strongly for their situations. I was rooting for each and every one of them, even when they let themselves down or others disappointed them. Margaret in particular reminded me of a lot of women of that era, including my own family members. Constrained by societal roles and expectations, poverty, and choices partially outside of their control, and embittered by those experiences. Elsie, to me, would have been someone much stronger if she'd grown up in a different situation - and I felt my heart breaking every time she relapsed, even though I was also frequently frustrated by her decisions and behaviour. Phoenix broke my heart from the first pages. Having been introduced to her in The Break, I knew what she was capable of, but she was failed by people from the start and was never given the chance to heal (except by Ben, who tried his hardest to share teachings/medicine with her). I think her story's resolution was the hardest to bear because she couldn't let go of the anger that had festered in her from her trauma. Cedar Sage, I think, represented the hope of the future. Given a name (and names mean a lot in this story) was that indicative of her heritage, and eventually reunited with her father (and her Native-obsessed white stepmother) in her teen years, she demonstrates the possibility of healing from intergenerational trauma and poverty, and breaking the cycle. And that last scene where she meets a character from The Break was *so* well done.

You don't have to have read The Break necessarily, but I highly recommend it because it gives a lot of context to this story and some of the characters' histories. Plus it's just damn good.

Overall, a fantastic, unflinching, and beautifully written novel.

CW: references to rape and sexual assault and molestation, substance use and addiction, abortion, pregnancy complications and traumatic births, prison system, violence, intergenerational trauma and grief, foster system, depression and PTSD, racism and colonialism.

Content Warnings

safsaf118's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.75

I've been trying to think about how I feel about this book and I'm just so conflicted. It's so, so depressing and draining -- at the beginning, the author mentions she tried to cram as much love and hope as she could but I really struggled to find it. Of course, this story is about intergenerational trauma and the long-lasting impacts of colonialism so I wasn't expecting a necessarily happy story but I really felt like there was not really any structure. There were so many characters and family relatives it was hard to keep track of names, the timelines jumped all over the place and there was a lot of missing information that I found out was revealed in The Break (the author's previous book, wish I had known that before reading but oh well). The thing about telling a story from multiple perspectives is that there are always some characters you end up liking more. I really did like how each of the perspectives had their own distinct voice and the palpable emotions we can feel in their words. I was so anxious the whole time and worried about what the characters would do, and some chapters ended up "cliffhangers" that aren't really revealed??? It's a heavy, exhausting read but after hundreds of pages of despair it ends up becoming quite numbing.

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naomibender's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

jacq_s's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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