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Emily is subjected to a horrific attack where she is raped with a glass bottle that breaks inside her. This story, peopled by Native ~Canadians, part of a Métis community, does not centre on the ghastly attack but on the reactions to that attack by all members of the family, bringing them closer together. Each chapter is narrated by a different person: relative, friend, enemy, cop, and crosses the generations where backstories are told and friends met. It is a big tale in only 368 pages, a tale of tragedy yes, but of inspiration, determination and hope, a stunning read, not a quick one but when the tension starts mounting you do feel an urgency to turn those pages fast. A family tree is included, essential as a reminder of who is speaking in each chapter. The best, in my opinion, is the family story and how they interact with each other. Highly recommended. ~ Sarah Broadhurst
Stella, a young Metis mother, lives with her family by the Break, an isolated strip of land on the edge of their small Canadian town. Glancing out of her window one winter's evening Stella spots someone in trouble; horrified, she calls the police. But when they arrive, no one is there, scuff marks in the compacted snow the only sign anything may have happened.What follows is a heartbreaking and powerful tale of a community in crisis as the people connected to the victim, a young girl on the edge of a precipice, begin to lay bare their stories leading up to that fateful night. From Lou, a social worker grappling with the end of a relationship, to Cheryl, an artist mourning the premature death of her sister. And from Phoenix, a homeless teenager released from a youth detention centre with no one to turn to, to Officer Scott, a Metis policeman caught between two worlds. Through the prism of one extended, intergenerational family, Vermette's urgent story shines a light on the power, violence and love shared between women of all cultures, creeds and ages.
A tough, close-up look at a side of female life that's often hard to acknowledge: the violence girls and women sometimes display towards other girls and women ... An accomplished writer who will go far. * Margaret Atwood *
Katherena Vermette is a tremendously gifted writer, a dazzling talent... The lives of the girls and women in The Break are not easy, but their voices are complex, urgent, and unsparing. Vermette lays bare what it means to survive, not only once, but multiple times, against the forces of private and national histories. -- Madeleine Thien * Author of Do Not Say We Have Nothing
Vermette is a staggering talent. Reading The Break is like a revelation; stunning, heartbreaking and glorious. From her exquisitely rendered characters to her fully realized world and the ratcheting tension, I couldn't put it down. Absolutely riveting. -- Eden Robinson * Author of Monkey Beach
The Break is... a beautiful love song of desire to live a full and rich life as cherished women ? even when we cannot have that... Vermette captures the reader from beginning to end. The Break is unforgettable. -- Lee Maracle * Author of Celia's Song *
The Break is a powerful, persuasive novel about the strength and love that bind these women to each other and to the men in their lives... Although this is a novel of social importance, it transcends politics, taking the reader on a journey to the heart of what it means for one person to care about another, survive trauma, and endure. * 2016 Rogers Writers Trust Fiction Prize Jury
ISBN: 9781786493880
Publication date: 01/02/2018
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Format: Hardback
| ISBN: | 9781786493880 |
| Publication date: | 1st February 2018 |
| Author: | Katherena Vermette |
| Publisher: | Atlantic Books |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Genres: | Crime / Mystery, eBook Favourites, Family Drama, Relationship Stories, |
| Categories: |
KATHERENA VERMETTE is a Metis writer from Treaty One territory, the heart of the Metis nation, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Her first book, North End Love Songs (The Muses Company) won the Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry. Her NFB short documentary, this river, won the Coup de Coeur at the Montreal First Peoples Festival, and has been nominated for a Canadian Screen Award. Her first novel, The Break was shortlisted for a Governor General Literary Award, the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and is now a Canada Reads finalist.
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