Scan barcode
A review by justabean_reads
In Search of April Raintree by Beatrice Mosionier, Beatrice Culleton
4.5
This was the fortieth anniversary edition with an intro by Katherena Vermette and outro by Raven Sinclair, both to the tune of, "Holy shit, this book meant so much to me in the 1980s!" I think I first heard of it on Michelle Good's list of books to read for Indigenous History Month, or something of that kind. It's the kind of thing where one could read it and conclude that it was clearly groundbreaking at the time, but mostly interesting in a historical context now.
I couldn't put this book down! We follow two Métis sisters who get scooped up by the welfare system in the 1950s, and end up in a variety of foster homes (both good and bad), before ageing out into the rough and tumble of 1960/'70s Winnipeg. The older sister, April, can pass as White, and decides pretty young that her life would be easier if she ditched her birth culture, married money, and forgot the whole thing. The problem with that is how much she loves her younger, dark-skinned sister, who keeps writing essays about the buffalo hunt, and trying to give her sister books on Louis Riel. I was rooting so hard for both of them!
The style starts out unadorned and from the point of view of a young child, and grows in nuance and complexity as April grows up and starts to work through her internalised racism and troubled relationships. My library lists the book as YA, and I think is pitched at explaining these issues to younger readers, but also deals with sexual violence and abuse in a level of detail that I don't think would get published in that genre today.
I couldn't put this book down! We follow two Métis sisters who get scooped up by the welfare system in the 1950s, and end up in a variety of foster homes (both good and bad), before ageing out into the rough and tumble of 1960/'70s Winnipeg. The older sister, April, can pass as White, and decides pretty young that her life would be easier if she ditched her birth culture, married money, and forgot the whole thing. The problem with that is how much she loves her younger, dark-skinned sister, who keeps writing essays about the buffalo hunt, and trying to give her sister books on Louis Riel. I was rooting so hard for both of them!
The style starts out unadorned and from the point of view of a young child, and grows in nuance and complexity as April grows up and starts to work through her internalised racism and troubled relationships. My library lists the book as YA, and I think is pitched at explaining these issues to younger readers, but also deals with sexual violence and abuse in a level of detail that I don't think would get published in that genre today.