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Checked out
Due 25 Mar 2024
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Set in Canada and the battlefields of France and Belgium, Three-Day Road is a mesmerizing novel told through the eyes of Niska--a Canadian Oji-Cree woman living off the land who is the last of a line of healers and diviners--and her nephew Xavier. At the urging of his friend Elijah, a Cree boy raised in reserve schools, Xavier joins the war effort. Shipped off to Europe when they are nineteen, the boys are marginalized from the Canadian soldiers not only by their native appearance but also by the fine marksmanship that years of hunting in the bush has taught them. Both become snipers renowned for their uncanny accuracy. But while Xavier struggles to understand the purpose of the war and to come to terms with his conscience for the many lives he has ended, Elijah becomes obsessed with killing, taking great risks to become the most accomplished sniper in the army. Eventually the harrowing and bloody truth of war takes its toll on the two friends in different, profound ways. Intertwined with this account is the story of Niska, who herself has borne witness to a lifetime of death--the death of her people. In part inspired by the legend of Francis Pegahmagabow, the great Indian sniper of World War I, Three-Day Road is an impeccably researched and beautifully written story that offers a searing reminder about the cost of war.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member brenzi
Joseph Boyden has written a WWI novel of magnificence and splendor. Told alternately by Niska an Oji-Cree medicine woman and her nephew, Xavier Bird we learn of a side of the war of which little has been written.
When the story opens, Niska is traveling from her home in northern Ontario to reclaim
Niska, at the same time, tells the story of her life, growing up in Northern Ontario and trying to maintain her life as a Cree living in the bush and depending on the earth for sustenance. Most of her relatives abandon that lifestyle and succumb to the charms of city life, which she finds reprehensible.
The author weaves the story back and forth in time and place. From the war-torn fields of France to the fields and streams of northern Ontario we follow the story of the two life-long friends, whose relationship undergoes tremendous strain as Elijah becomes more and more addicted to both morphine and war. Boyden does a masterful job of creating and nurturing that metaphor. The two friends grow further and further apart as the strains of combat overcome them both. On page 285 Xavier remarks:
“Elijah seems to have no more need for food. He is thin and hard like a rope. He is a shadow that slips in and out of darkness. He is someone I no longer know”
In the end, it is Niska who has to use all her skills to save Xavier from addiction, from loneliness, and from himself. Prose that sings and a compulsively readable narrative combine for a mesmerizing read. Highly recommended.
When the story opens, Niska is traveling from her home in northern Ontario to reclaim
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her nephew, who has returned from the Great War. During the trip back to her home by canoe, Xavier relates the story of his time overseas alternately with his years growing up with his boyhood friend, Elijah Whiskeyjack. Elijah and Xavier enter the army and serve together. It soon becomes apparent to those in charge that the two are skilled shooters and they are soon utilized as snipers, aiming to eliminate their German counterparts.Niska, at the same time, tells the story of her life, growing up in Northern Ontario and trying to maintain her life as a Cree living in the bush and depending on the earth for sustenance. Most of her relatives abandon that lifestyle and succumb to the charms of city life, which she finds reprehensible.
The author weaves the story back and forth in time and place. From the war-torn fields of France to the fields and streams of northern Ontario we follow the story of the two life-long friends, whose relationship undergoes tremendous strain as Elijah becomes more and more addicted to both morphine and war. Boyden does a masterful job of creating and nurturing that metaphor. The two friends grow further and further apart as the strains of combat overcome them both. On page 285 Xavier remarks:
“Elijah seems to have no more need for food. He is thin and hard like a rope. He is a shadow that slips in and out of darkness. He is someone I no longer know”
In the end, it is Niska who has to use all her skills to save Xavier from addiction, from loneliness, and from himself. Prose that sings and a compulsively readable narrative combine for a mesmerizing read. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member lit_chick
“Nephew cries out but then goes silent again. The sound of it, the animal fear at the very bottom of that cry, makes me think something I haven’t thought about in a long time. It is the story of my childhood. Now I tell it to you, Xavier, to keep you alive.”
Cree youth Xavier Bird is raised in
“I will tell the elders the many strange things I’ve seen ... the bodies of the dead everywhere so that one gets used to the sight of them swelling in the rain, the shells that whistle from out of nowhere on a quiet morning and blow the arms and head and legs from the man you talked to the day before. But especially I will tell the elders how after a shell attack life returns to normal so fast, how one’s mind does not allow him to dwell on the horror of violent death, for it will drive him mad if he lets it."
Three Day Road is an impressive debut novel, to say the least. Boyden’s powerful prose as he writes of a soldier’s experience of war reminded me more than once of Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front. It was easy to invest in Xavier’s return home: to hope with Niska that might heal and be made whole again. My one criticism of the novel is that it seemed to have a much longer “middle” than necessary. Still, I highly recommend.
Cree youth Xavier Bird is raised in
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the old ways by his auntie, Niska, who lives in the solitude of the northern Ontario bush. Elijah Whiskeyjack comes into Xavier’s life, and the two boys are inseparable. As young men and accomplished hunters, they are employed as snipers when they enlist to serve in WWI. They survive the horrors of Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele, among others, but, like all soldiers, are forever changed. Elijah develops a crippling morphine addiction and goes mad, to all appearances, coming to love the human kill. Ironically, it is Xavier who will later fight for his life against morphine – he will return home with the habit of a needle in his arm, and one leg – his physical being all but unrecognizable to Niska. On the “three day road,” as she paddles them to their home, she will do her best to save him by feeding him stories of her past, his own past, and the larger past of their people, the Cree of northern Ontario. Whether she will be able to save him – to pull him back from the brink – is the suspense that drives the narrative.“I will tell the elders the many strange things I’ve seen ... the bodies of the dead everywhere so that one gets used to the sight of them swelling in the rain, the shells that whistle from out of nowhere on a quiet morning and blow the arms and head and legs from the man you talked to the day before. But especially I will tell the elders how after a shell attack life returns to normal so fast, how one’s mind does not allow him to dwell on the horror of violent death, for it will drive him mad if he lets it."
Three Day Road is an impressive debut novel, to say the least. Boyden’s powerful prose as he writes of a soldier’s experience of war reminded me more than once of Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front. It was easy to invest in Xavier’s return home: to hope with Niska that might heal and be made whole again. My one criticism of the novel is that it seemed to have a much longer “middle” than necessary. Still, I highly recommend.
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LibraryThing member RBeffa
Wonderful book. Superb storytelling. When I begin some books, I can tell right from the start it is going to be a good book. This is one of those. The book has a powerful beginning that hooked me. Not very far in I had a sudden sense of where the story might end. I read something into one line of
There are multiple stories here, woven together. The main story is about two James Bay Cree Indians who enlist in the Canadian Army and are sent to fight the Hun in WWI. Only one returns. The story moves back and forth between characters and in time from their youth to the war to after the war, as well as to earlier days of the Cree and the time of their Aunt who brings one of the young men home on the Three Day Road. The Aunt's life and early Canadian life in the greater James Bay - Moose Factory area is the other story woven into the story. The transitions were mostly very effective but a couple less so. I also thought the narrative stretched maybe a little too long towards the middle of the book. These are minor complaints about a great book. Highly recommended.
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prose. I rarely rate a book 5 stars and I rarely read a book this good. There are multiple stories here, woven together. The main story is about two James Bay Cree Indians who enlist in the Canadian Army and are sent to fight the Hun in WWI. Only one returns. The story moves back and forth between characters and in time from their youth to the war to after the war, as well as to earlier days of the Cree and the time of their Aunt who brings one of the young men home on the Three Day Road. The Aunt's life and early Canadian life in the greater James Bay - Moose Factory area is the other story woven into the story. The transitions were mostly very effective but a couple less so. I also thought the narrative stretched maybe a little too long towards the middle of the book. These are minor complaints about a great book. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member lkernagh
Some stories are crafted to just tell a story. Nothing wrong with that. With Three Day Road], Boyden has done more than just tell a story. He has crafted a journey. A literal journey in the three day canoe trip Xavier and his Aunt take to travel from town to their home deep in the bush country. A
I really liked this one. An awful lot to pack into a debut novel, but under Boyden’s pen, this merging of complex stories is handled with a skill and grace that works wonderfully.
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moral journey as we experience the fine line between heroism and homicide against the backdrop of World War I trench warfare and Cree folklore about the Windago, a monster that is a symbol of despair who comes to hunters who become consumed by an unceasing craving for what is unnatural (cannibalism, morphine addiction, human blood-lust). A cultural/racial journey as we experience, through Niska, the sad decline of Cree culture heralded by the creation of reservations and residential schools, with Niska representing one of the remaining traditional natives who live rough in the woods with their wits and traditional teachings to guide them. I really liked this one. An awful lot to pack into a debut novel, but under Boyden’s pen, this merging of complex stories is handled with a skill and grace that works wonderfully.
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LibraryThing member -Cee-
Here is a stark view of WWI in the trenches of France. It’s bloody and graphic. Instead of glorifying the violence, however, the tone is tragic, reflective, and sad. Xavier a young Cree Indian from Canada struggles with the meaning of the war, his unknown enemies, army life, and their impact on
The two orphaned boys are raised and influenced by a beloved old Indian woman, Auntie, who teaches them the Indian ways of respecting the earth, hunting, survival, spiritualism, becoming an integral part of nature, and facing fear. She is the one essential to Xavier’s story. She passes on ancestral Cree values and specialized skills which enable him to conquer his demons.
Boyden writes a novel that takes you further than you want to go - but you are compelled to walk down his road. He explores what it is to be human. I am generally one of the sensitive types. I cringe at any kind of violence or hurtful behavior. Still, I found I could not stop reading this book.
Boyden pushes you deep inside yourself to meet the tragedies of the dark and frightening aspects of living. You will find this story fearsome, ugly and painful – as well as poignant, captivating and loving.
Guardedly recommended based on the violent deaths of animals and loved ones.
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his psyche. His best friend, Elijah, from the same tribe is caught up in the killing for its own sake, the competition, and the heroic reputation it brings him. Though seemingly cut of the same cloth in boyhood, their developing adult personalities and desires elicit heartbreaking conflict and test their deep loyalty.The two orphaned boys are raised and influenced by a beloved old Indian woman, Auntie, who teaches them the Indian ways of respecting the earth, hunting, survival, spiritualism, becoming an integral part of nature, and facing fear. She is the one essential to Xavier’s story. She passes on ancestral Cree values and specialized skills which enable him to conquer his demons.
Boyden writes a novel that takes you further than you want to go - but you are compelled to walk down his road. He explores what it is to be human. I am generally one of the sensitive types. I cringe at any kind of violence or hurtful behavior. Still, I found I could not stop reading this book.
Boyden pushes you deep inside yourself to meet the tragedies of the dark and frightening aspects of living. You will find this story fearsome, ugly and painful – as well as poignant, captivating and loving.
Guardedly recommended based on the violent deaths of animals and loved ones.
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LibraryThing member hganshorn
Boyden's novel may be Canadian literature's best evocation of how war can warp the souls of normal young men since Timothy Findley's The Wars. Boyden paints a masterful portrait of war, boyhood friendship, and the ill treatment of Canada's aboriginal peoples. There is plenty of grim tragedy here,
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but also a great deal of humour and affection. This was one of my favourite reads of the year, and I'm not just saying that because I won a free copy from Penguin! Show Less
LibraryThing member gypsysmom
The more I read and see about World War I the more I wonder how those men managed to survive the conditions they faced. I get miserable if my feet get wet on the way home from work and I have to squelch in my shoes for a few blocks. They lived in cold water for weeks on end and then were expected
This story of two Ojibwe men from northern Ontario who join up to fight in the war is not an easy read. I had to read it in small bites but in a few hours I couldn't resist picking it up again to read just a bit more. Xavier Bird and Elijah Whiskeyjack are unforgettable characters but Xavier's aunt, Niska, is the true star of the book I think. It is she that rescued both of them from the residential school. She taught them how to hunt and survive which made them "successful" in the war. And her spirit guides Xavier when he faces dilemmas overseas and when he comes back home missing a leg and addicted to morphine.
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to make their way through mud and decaying bodies to face almost certain annihilation. This story of two Ojibwe men from northern Ontario who join up to fight in the war is not an easy read. I had to read it in small bites but in a few hours I couldn't resist picking it up again to read just a bit more. Xavier Bird and Elijah Whiskeyjack are unforgettable characters but Xavier's aunt, Niska, is the true star of the book I think. It is she that rescued both of them from the residential school. She taught them how to hunt and survive which made them "successful" in the war. And her spirit guides Xavier when he faces dilemmas overseas and when he comes back home missing a leg and addicted to morphine.
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LibraryThing member auntmarge64
As WWI ends, a mystic/healer of the First Nations Cree canoes three days to the town where her nephew, whom she raised, is returning after years as a sniper for the Canadian Army fighting in Europe. He is badly injured: one leg missing, addicted to morphine with his supply running out, and almost
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dead of starvation. Her hope is to get him home to "the bush" and to heal him. During their trip the nephew hallucinates the story of his years at war, while his aunt tells him stories of their tribe and of their individual upbringings, hoping to ground him in this life before he slips over to the next. These two voices alternate, and the tales they tell are a rich look at life at war, the Canadian Indian experience, and the love between close family members. I was blown away at the depth of this book. It's not a quick read because it's almost all description, but it's well worth the time. The title refers to the time it takes the soul of a dead person to reach its destination. Very highly recommended! Show Less
LibraryThing member TadAD
In 1919, a Cree-Ojibwa woman, Niska, travels out of the bush and picks up her nephew, Xavier, a recently demobilized sniper in World War I. Xavier has lost a leg, is addicted to morphine and Niska realizes that he lost himself in the war and has returned home to die. This is the opening of a novel
Niska, trying to draw Xavier back into living, begins to tell the stories of her life as a medicine woman of the tribe who refused to assimilate in the white man’s world. Xavier's story of the war from the time he left the bush with his best friend, Elijah, to the time he comes home alone, is told as a series of feverish flashbacks.
These two story lines are interwoven beautifully, each reinforcing the other. At times a brutal story of madness and loss of innocence that strips all pretense of glory from the war, at others a story of hope, love and friendship, this novel gripped me from its opening pages through the very end.
I highly recommend this and cannot wait to see what Boyden produces next.
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about the next three days of their journey back to the bush, told in perspectives alternating between the two.Niska, trying to draw Xavier back into living, begins to tell the stories of her life as a medicine woman of the tribe who refused to assimilate in the white man’s world. Xavier's story of the war from the time he left the bush with his best friend, Elijah, to the time he comes home alone, is told as a series of feverish flashbacks.
These two story lines are interwoven beautifully, each reinforcing the other. At times a brutal story of madness and loss of innocence that strips all pretense of glory from the war, at others a story of hope, love and friendship, this novel gripped me from its opening pages through the very end.
I highly recommend this and cannot wait to see what Boyden produces next.
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LibraryThing member bojanfurst
This is one of the best novels I read in a while. The story of two Native Canadians fighting in the Great War is on par with anything that has been written on the theme and than some. The story and the characters are unforgettable. The narrative is precise and unflinching in dealing with enormously
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complex issues. There are scenes that have kept me up at night. The story brings to light a piece of Canadian, and indeed world history, that is often overlooked or dealt with in superficial manner (movie Windtalkers comes to mind). Boyden throughout the book allows his characters to remain complex and, which is even more important, he allows them to draw strength from their Native spiritual and cultural background. Highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member ChelleBearss
Three Day Road tells the tale of two young men from the Cree nation during combat in WW1. This is a story of family, survival, addiction and madness. It truly pulls on the heart strings at some points. This poignant tale is beautifully written and easy for the reader to fully envision the horror of
I loved how Boyden used two different narrators, Niska and Xavier, alternating between them. Each talks of present day and tells stories from the past.
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warfare and the despair felt by families waiting at home for news of loved ones.I loved how Boyden used two different narrators, Niska and Xavier, alternating between them. Each talks of present day and tells stories from the past.
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LibraryThing member Joycepa
War is ugly and always has been; people die and usually gruesomely. But there seems to be a general consensus that the most horror-filled war was The Great War, The War to End All Wars--World War I. Not before or since have armies been mired down in trenches, where it was possible to die from
Two young Crees from northern Ontario enlist in the Canadian army and become part of the Southern Ontario Rifles, an outfit, that although fictional, mirrors the courage and horror of the Canadian participation in the war. In addition, being First Nation (as indigienous people are known in Canada), Xavier Bird and his best friend, Elijah Whiskeyjack, have additional challenges. Each was marked by the events in which they participated.
But this is far more than a war story with an interesting twist. It is also the story of the Crees in the early 20th century, especially those who were “bush Indians”, refusing to accommodate to the white ways and living the traditional Cree way. And that we learn from Niska, a medicine woman, who leaves her home in the wilderness in her canoe to bring back her nephew Xavier, who has survived the war--but as a broken man addicted to opium. The story unfolds during the journey back to the wilderness.
Throughout is the theme of the windigo, a creature of evil that can spread like an infection. Niska’s father and Niska herself are windigo killers, those recognized by the tribes as having the power, which is a gift, of ridding the tribe of these humans turned into monsters. Windigos are made, not born, and therein lies a tale.
It is a remarkable story, profound. It is told in a circular fashion, through flashbacks that are not linear--to the days when Xavier and Eilijah were hunters as boys, to the war to Niska’s childhood to the present. The prose is spare, dispassionate, but the impact is searing.
This is a debut novel for Boyden, and an extremely powerful one. Highly recommended.
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drowning in mud, never mind from bullets or artillery. Being static--unable to move, to have at least the illusion of dodging incoming artillery--did something to the psyches of the soldiers who fought in that war that wasn’t seen until Vietnam, and for different reasons.Two young Crees from northern Ontario enlist in the Canadian army and become part of the Southern Ontario Rifles, an outfit, that although fictional, mirrors the courage and horror of the Canadian participation in the war. In addition, being First Nation (as indigienous people are known in Canada), Xavier Bird and his best friend, Elijah Whiskeyjack, have additional challenges. Each was marked by the events in which they participated.
But this is far more than a war story with an interesting twist. It is also the story of the Crees in the early 20th century, especially those who were “bush Indians”, refusing to accommodate to the white ways and living the traditional Cree way. And that we learn from Niska, a medicine woman, who leaves her home in the wilderness in her canoe to bring back her nephew Xavier, who has survived the war--but as a broken man addicted to opium. The story unfolds during the journey back to the wilderness.
Throughout is the theme of the windigo, a creature of evil that can spread like an infection. Niska’s father and Niska herself are windigo killers, those recognized by the tribes as having the power, which is a gift, of ridding the tribe of these humans turned into monsters. Windigos are made, not born, and therein lies a tale.
It is a remarkable story, profound. It is told in a circular fashion, through flashbacks that are not linear--to the days when Xavier and Eilijah were hunters as boys, to the war to Niska’s childhood to the present. The prose is spare, dispassionate, but the impact is searing.
This is a debut novel for Boyden, and an extremely powerful one. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member jonstamp
Three Day Road is an incredible story about two young Canadian first nations friends' participation in World War I. It is an amazing exploration of friendship, violence, war, morality, survival and human nature. The two first nation's friends are caught up in a war of death and destruction in which
You are reading it and then you close your eyes and suddenly feel your feet rotting away from trenchfoot. You can hear the squish of mud beneath your feet as you walk hunched over, knee deep in mud and water, following the duckboards as you walk down the trench. You bend down even further and look around both ways. There are no officers in sight. You can't remember your last meal and you're weak from exhaustion, starvation and a nagging cough you've had for months on end. You open your pack and consider smoking a cigarette to quell the hungry rumblings of your belly. You decide to risk it, it's day and you figure that a German sniper won't be able to see the burning ember of your cigarette because of the cover of your trench and you hope that the drizzle of rain and steam from the ground will conceal the smoke. So you light up and enjoy the moment's respite, you have seen so many dead bodies in the last week that whenever you sleep you see their eyes. You try not to sleep despite the relaxation from the nicotine. You might wake with a scream if you dream of the eyes and you may as well be shouting at the Jerries to shell you. Suddenly you hear a whistling sound growing louder. The relaxation is over. You dive face first into the mud and hear a deafening explosion. You are still intact but you realize they must have seen your smoke. More whistles and explosions crash down around you while you crawl desperately down the line, hoping to get away from the shelling, but it continues until all of a sudden there is horrific noise and you are airborne. You see blood and gore from your own body, clods of dirt and mud fly through the air in slow motion and then all goes black.... You wake up in a hospital with a homely British nurse standing over you. You are disoriented and confused from the morphine. Your head lolls on your neck and you have no idea where you are, where you've been or even who you are. All you know is that when you look to your right where your arm should be, all that you see is a bandaged stump. You close your eyes and open them again. Wait, this isn't what's happening at all! You're in your bed with the lights on and you've just dropped Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road onto your lap. It was all just a very vivid dream! Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, my arm is still there! You look over and your girlfriend gently sleeps next to you. You kiss her forehead and pick up the book. You keep reading, anything to avoid the dreams the book has been giving you....
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they have no real political or moral interest and react very differently to the violence. The story has some 'near-magical' elements and is an interesting juxtaposition of Indian spirituality and Christian culture. The two Indian savages who were once taken from their families to go to a reform school and learn Christian meekness and to 'correct' their 'heathen' ways witness the savagery and violence of the First World War between Christian belligerents. This book is layered with tragic irony, culture clash, and friendship and family. It is an incredible and harrowing read providing a meticulously detailed depiction of trench warfare. Although some of the warfare scenes begin to feel a bit tedious and repetitive about half way through the novel, the first few war scenes are so detailed and engrossing that you must emotionally prepare yourself to go to war, because reading this book can be so vivid that you might lose yourself in your imagination and suddenly be there. You are reading it and then you close your eyes and suddenly feel your feet rotting away from trenchfoot. You can hear the squish of mud beneath your feet as you walk hunched over, knee deep in mud and water, following the duckboards as you walk down the trench. You bend down even further and look around both ways. There are no officers in sight. You can't remember your last meal and you're weak from exhaustion, starvation and a nagging cough you've had for months on end. You open your pack and consider smoking a cigarette to quell the hungry rumblings of your belly. You decide to risk it, it's day and you figure that a German sniper won't be able to see the burning ember of your cigarette because of the cover of your trench and you hope that the drizzle of rain and steam from the ground will conceal the smoke. So you light up and enjoy the moment's respite, you have seen so many dead bodies in the last week that whenever you sleep you see their eyes. You try not to sleep despite the relaxation from the nicotine. You might wake with a scream if you dream of the eyes and you may as well be shouting at the Jerries to shell you. Suddenly you hear a whistling sound growing louder. The relaxation is over. You dive face first into the mud and hear a deafening explosion. You are still intact but you realize they must have seen your smoke. More whistles and explosions crash down around you while you crawl desperately down the line, hoping to get away from the shelling, but it continues until all of a sudden there is horrific noise and you are airborne. You see blood and gore from your own body, clods of dirt and mud fly through the air in slow motion and then all goes black.... You wake up in a hospital with a homely British nurse standing over you. You are disoriented and confused from the morphine. Your head lolls on your neck and you have no idea where you are, where you've been or even who you are. All you know is that when you look to your right where your arm should be, all that you see is a bandaged stump. You close your eyes and open them again. Wait, this isn't what's happening at all! You're in your bed with the lights on and you've just dropped Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road onto your lap. It was all just a very vivid dream! Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, my arm is still there! You look over and your girlfriend gently sleeps next to you. You kiss her forehead and pick up the book. You keep reading, anything to avoid the dreams the book has been giving you....
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LibraryThing member LynnB
A very powerful story of two Cree men who join the Canadian army in World War I. One comes back, and his taken home by canoe by Niska, who still lives a traditional lifestyle as a hunter, trapper and spiritual leader. One the way home, we learn of the war experiences of Elijah and Xavier; how they,
This is a violent story, told with great feeling a just enough dry humour. It is a story of how we come to be who we are, of history and of fate. The relationship between Xavier and Elijah is one of the strongest portrayals of the bonds of friendship between men I've ever read. The role of Aboriginal Canadians in the War, and the way residential schools affected the children who attended them are described honestly without stereotyping.
This is a great book.
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in very different ways, adapted to the horrors of war. We also learn Niska's own story, and of the healing power of story-telling.This is a violent story, told with great feeling a just enough dry humour. It is a story of how we come to be who we are, of history and of fate. The relationship between Xavier and Elijah is one of the strongest portrayals of the bonds of friendship between men I've ever read. The role of Aboriginal Canadians in the War, and the way residential schools affected the children who attended them are described honestly without stereotyping.
This is a great book.
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LibraryThing member CliffBurns
Near perfect book, one of the finest released by a Canadian author in the past decade. A remarkable achievement.
LibraryThing member lamour
Two first nation young men Xavier Bird and his close friend Elijah Whiskeyjack join the Canadian Army in mid WW I. First seen as an adventure, it quickly becomes the nightmare we now know it was. Because their hunting and shooting skills become evident, they are assigned to be snipers who hide in
Elijah eventually enjoys the killing and while Xavier senses Elijah is becoming crazy, the Canadian Army leadership recognizes him as a hero and awards him medals for his killing.
This is a novel that explains the life of a "bush Indian" while also the horrendous, terrifying life in the trenches of WW I. The author has said that the horror of life in the trenches he depicted in the novel was moderate to what he read in his research.
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the mud and rubble waiting to kill German soldiers who expose themselves.Elijah eventually enjoys the killing and while Xavier senses Elijah is becoming crazy, the Canadian Army leadership recognizes him as a hero and awards him medals for his killing.
This is a novel that explains the life of a "bush Indian" while also the horrendous, terrifying life in the trenches of WW I. The author has said that the horror of life in the trenches he depicted in the novel was moderate to what he read in his research.
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LibraryThing member Romonko
This book is so powerful and gripping and so very real that it is difficult to read it. Boyden takes us right into the French and Belgian trenches during the First World War. We are there and we experience the fear and the agony of this terrible war. The story is really about two young Indian boys
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who are friends and who enlist and go to the War together. The war changes these young Canadian boys. One (Elijah) becomes a warrior and goes hunting at night. The more Germans that he kills the darker his personality gets. The other one (Xavier) always has idolized his young friend, but cannot stand to see how this terrible war has changed him. We also have the viewpoint of Xavier's old aunt who is a traditional native medicine woman who stays at home in the woods of Northern Ontario but keeps up with her precious Nephew over in Europe through visions. She is the thread that weaves this powerful tale together. The descriptions of the battles and of "going over the top" are hard to forget. I really can't say enough good things about this book. It is truly exceptional. Yes it is difficult at times to keep reading because the war scenes are so devastating and so real, but I am so glad that I read this book. Show Less
LibraryThing member msf59
The story opens in Northern Ontario, 1919 and World War I has just ended. Niska, a Oji-Cree medicine woman is traveling south to pick-up her nephew, the only family she has left. Several years earlier, her nephew, Xavier and his best friend Elijah, enlisted in the Canadian Army and soon found
This is a beautifully rendered novel and Boyden paints a lovely Canadian landscape and captures the horror of warfare, the ugly battlefields of Belgium and France, the dehumanization of these young soldiers, their daily struggle to survive against horrendous odds. The prose is rich and haunting:
“Death is everywhere around them in the forest, staring at them from behind trees. But something far worse than death crouches close by. It is felt rather than seen. It waits for the moment when they close their eyes to approach.”
This is a wonderful debut and one I highly recommend.
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themselves deep in the trenches of western Europe. Due to their superb hunting skills, they find themselves in a sniper outfit.This is a beautifully rendered novel and Boyden paints a lovely Canadian landscape and captures the horror of warfare, the ugly battlefields of Belgium and France, the dehumanization of these young soldiers, their daily struggle to survive against horrendous odds. The prose is rich and haunting:
“Death is everywhere around them in the forest, staring at them from behind trees. But something far worse than death crouches close by. It is felt rather than seen. It waits for the moment when they close their eyes to approach.”
This is a wonderful debut and one I highly recommend.
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LibraryThing member jtho
Amazing story!
Canadian First Nations Xavier Bird recounts his time away at war with childhood friend Elijah. Expertly woven in between his chapters are his aunt's memories of her own childhood, and then her memories of Xavier's, and then their lives once Elijah becomes a member of their small
Xavier's descriptions of the violence and madness of WWI are shockingly real. Both Xavier's story of soldiers in Europe, and Aunt Niska's telling of life at home in Canada, including of residential schools, show the racism that First Nations people in Canada have experienced.
The characters here are so well developed, and sadness and joy are both depicted in the most simple of ways. I highly recommend this compelling novel.
Canadian First Nations Xavier Bird recounts his time away at war with childhood friend Elijah. Expertly woven in between his chapters are his aunt's memories of her own childhood, and then her memories of Xavier's, and then their lives once Elijah becomes a member of their small
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family, too.Xavier's descriptions of the violence and madness of WWI are shockingly real. Both Xavier's story of soldiers in Europe, and Aunt Niska's telling of life at home in Canada, including of residential schools, show the racism that First Nations people in Canada have experienced.
The characters here are so well developed, and sadness and joy are both depicted in the most simple of ways. I highly recommend this compelling novel.
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LibraryThing member thesmellofbooks
My mother and I have discussed the two world wars many times over the years, and shared books about them. I was initially repelled by the whole topic of war, but Mum's close personal connection to them and her strong feelings about them changed that for me. Now that she is in her eighties, I am
My trepidation is because I am anxious now for other reasons, and while reading [[Edith Pargeter]] or [[Robert Graves]] on the subject of war is doable, if difficult, my experience of modern books is that they often like to go right over the top with the horror, and I did not want to go there.
This is [[Joseph Boyden]]'s first novel. It could have been edited down some, but it is nevertheless well written and compelling. The main characters have each their own kind of appeal, which make this reader care and want to know how it goes for them. There are elements of First Nations' tradition and experience that give the book a fresh perspective, and something gentle beneath the hell. Still, if not for Mum, I would not have finished this book.
It is almost unrelentingly distressing. Even in the happy scenes there is death. When happy, they are killing animals (for food--nothing weird, but I still don't love it), when miserable they are enduring or escaping torment, are viewing humans killing, or are killing, themselves. Over and over and over and over and over.
This is not surprising in a book about a brutal war. What is surprising is that there is almost no relief. The story is there, but to my mind there is much more horror than needed to carry it. Recall that this is not a memoir--if Boyden had experienced all this and had to get it off his chest, then I would say go for it. As a novel, I think his point is far over-made. But I don't enjoy scenes of murder and chaos, I simply endure them. Another might, and this may be just the thing for them.
If you are interested in war, the history of the Canadians in WWI, in First Nations and their oppression and their lives as soldiers, and you like getting your history in novel form, you may want to read this book. Otherwise you may want to go to a library and pick up some history books on the subjects.
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more than ever inclined to read a book she is excited about. So when I came to visit her last week and she ran up to me with Three Day Road, her eyes lit up with excitement, I took it from her with some trepidation, but decided to read it.My trepidation is because I am anxious now for other reasons, and while reading [[Edith Pargeter]] or [[Robert Graves]] on the subject of war is doable, if difficult, my experience of modern books is that they often like to go right over the top with the horror, and I did not want to go there.
This is [[Joseph Boyden]]'s first novel. It could have been edited down some, but it is nevertheless well written and compelling. The main characters have each their own kind of appeal, which make this reader care and want to know how it goes for them. There are elements of First Nations' tradition and experience that give the book a fresh perspective, and something gentle beneath the hell. Still, if not for Mum, I would not have finished this book.
It is almost unrelentingly distressing. Even in the happy scenes there is death. When happy, they are killing animals (for food--nothing weird, but I still don't love it), when miserable they are enduring or escaping torment, are viewing humans killing, or are killing, themselves. Over and over and over and over and over.
This is not surprising in a book about a brutal war. What is surprising is that there is almost no relief. The story is there, but to my mind there is much more horror than needed to carry it. Recall that this is not a memoir--if Boyden had experienced all this and had to get it off his chest, then I would say go for it. As a novel, I think his point is far over-made. But I don't enjoy scenes of murder and chaos, I simply endure them. Another might, and this may be just the thing for them.
If you are interested in war, the history of the Canadians in WWI, in First Nations and their oppression and their lives as soldiers, and you like getting your history in novel form, you may want to read this book. Otherwise you may want to go to a library and pick up some history books on the subjects.
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LibraryThing member Widsith
This seemed like a serendipitous discovery when I stumbled on it in an Ontario bookshop last week. Not literally stumbled – although, come to think of it, there were several piles of books on the floor there which gave browsing something of a parkour flavour. But I had negotiated those hazards
So yes, I hadn't heard of Boyden before, but clearly he's something of a literary darling north of the 49th parallel (in Canada – less sure about Kazakhstan) and this novel, his first, begins with what seems to be an entire chapter's worth of adulatory press cuttings to whet your appetite for what follows. Apparently every critic and literary prize in Canada welcomed this one with open arms and legs. By the time you have crawled out of Roman numerals and made it to the start of the story at page 1, you have been primed to be disappointed by anything less than a new Ulysses written on the Stone Tablets of Sinai, with jokes by the ghost of Lenny Bruce.
It is easy to see why critics got excited about it. This story of two Cree boys from northern Ontario who become snipers in the First World War shines a light on an aspect of 1914–18 that most readers will know little about, and it does so in the uncomplicated, present-tense, flashback-heavy style that is so wildly popular these days.
Sure enough, there was a lot here I responded to and that filled a gap untouched by my other First World War reading. It is inspired in part by the real-life Ojibwe sniper Francis Pegahmagabow, the most lethal sniper of the war and one of Canada's most decorated (who, as ‘Peggy’, hovers just off-stage at several points in the novel). But the scenes of chaos and misery from the Western Front are never allowed to take over, and they are always interspersed with chapters describing Elijah and Xavier's Cree childhood and family, juxtapositions that offer the reader a range of unusual and productive comparisons that can be made at his or her leisure. This cross-cutting between industrialised slaughter in Europe and the very different ritualised violence of ‘native’ communities reminded me of what Pat Barker attempted with Melanesian islanders in The Ghost Road, though here the conceit is built much more fundamentally into the book's structure.
This is one of those books that goes for full-on immersive storytelling: it is all about spending plenty of time with these characters, seeing the trenches and the carnage of Ypres and Passchendaele through their eyes, learning, through Xavier's medicine-woman aunt, about how the boys ended up in this place so far away from home.
Perhaps the overriding motif is the windigo, that figure of Algonquian mythology associated with cannibalism and insanity. Just as First Nations communities sometimes suffered outbreaks of internal violence that saw people turning in desperation to eating human flesh, so too (we are encouraged to consider) have developed nations in 1914 begun to cannibalise their own population through what seems to be nothing other than collective madness.
I realized then that sadness was at the heart of the windigo, a sadness so pure that it shrivelled the human heart and let something else grow in its place. To know that you have desecrated the ones you love, that you have done something so damning out of a greed for life that you have been exiled from your people forever is a hard meal to swallow, much harder to swallow than that first bite of human flesh.
Much as I enjoyed the story and the general idea, I must admit there was something about the prose style that stopped me from ever loving this book the way I'm sure many others will love it. The prose isn't bad – it just doesn't display much intelligence or wit; there's a kind of flat, undemonstrative quality to it that, perhaps, is appropriate given its narrators but that left me slightly cold. I couldn't shake off a vague sense of Creative Writing courses, reinforced not only by the present-tense narration but by the alternating narrators in different chapters, and the metaphors that tried, I thought, a little too hard to show off their cultural background (‘His skin is the colour of cedar ash in the setting sun’). There is also a certain amount of ‘magic Indian’ stuff going on – a face-value acceptance of some of the Cree mythology and ritual – that sits very uneasily with me.
Still, this is a book I'd recommend. If you want to know more about Canada's involvement in the war, and First Nations participation in particular, it's a brilliant introduction – and you'd have to be a hard-hearted reader indeed to resist the melodrama of violence and insanity that Boyden skilfully builds up for his climax.
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successfully. No, I meant stumbled on in the metaphorical sense that I found it by chance. Anyway, can we move on? I have a review to write.So yes, I hadn't heard of Boyden before, but clearly he's something of a literary darling north of the 49th parallel (in Canada – less sure about Kazakhstan) and this novel, his first, begins with what seems to be an entire chapter's worth of adulatory press cuttings to whet your appetite for what follows. Apparently every critic and literary prize in Canada welcomed this one with open arms and legs. By the time you have crawled out of Roman numerals and made it to the start of the story at page 1, you have been primed to be disappointed by anything less than a new Ulysses written on the Stone Tablets of Sinai, with jokes by the ghost of Lenny Bruce.
It is easy to see why critics got excited about it. This story of two Cree boys from northern Ontario who become snipers in the First World War shines a light on an aspect of 1914–18 that most readers will know little about, and it does so in the uncomplicated, present-tense, flashback-heavy style that is so wildly popular these days.
Sure enough, there was a lot here I responded to and that filled a gap untouched by my other First World War reading. It is inspired in part by the real-life Ojibwe sniper Francis Pegahmagabow, the most lethal sniper of the war and one of Canada's most decorated (who, as ‘Peggy’, hovers just off-stage at several points in the novel). But the scenes of chaos and misery from the Western Front are never allowed to take over, and they are always interspersed with chapters describing Elijah and Xavier's Cree childhood and family, juxtapositions that offer the reader a range of unusual and productive comparisons that can be made at his or her leisure. This cross-cutting between industrialised slaughter in Europe and the very different ritualised violence of ‘native’ communities reminded me of what Pat Barker attempted with Melanesian islanders in The Ghost Road, though here the conceit is built much more fundamentally into the book's structure.
This is one of those books that goes for full-on immersive storytelling: it is all about spending plenty of time with these characters, seeing the trenches and the carnage of Ypres and Passchendaele through their eyes, learning, through Xavier's medicine-woman aunt, about how the boys ended up in this place so far away from home.
Perhaps the overriding motif is the windigo, that figure of Algonquian mythology associated with cannibalism and insanity. Just as First Nations communities sometimes suffered outbreaks of internal violence that saw people turning in desperation to eating human flesh, so too (we are encouraged to consider) have developed nations in 1914 begun to cannibalise their own population through what seems to be nothing other than collective madness.
I realized then that sadness was at the heart of the windigo, a sadness so pure that it shrivelled the human heart and let something else grow in its place. To know that you have desecrated the ones you love, that you have done something so damning out of a greed for life that you have been exiled from your people forever is a hard meal to swallow, much harder to swallow than that first bite of human flesh.
Much as I enjoyed the story and the general idea, I must admit there was something about the prose style that stopped me from ever loving this book the way I'm sure many others will love it. The prose isn't bad – it just doesn't display much intelligence or wit; there's a kind of flat, undemonstrative quality to it that, perhaps, is appropriate given its narrators but that left me slightly cold. I couldn't shake off a vague sense of Creative Writing courses, reinforced not only by the present-tense narration but by the alternating narrators in different chapters, and the metaphors that tried, I thought, a little too hard to show off their cultural background (‘His skin is the colour of cedar ash in the setting sun’). There is also a certain amount of ‘magic Indian’ stuff going on – a face-value acceptance of some of the Cree mythology and ritual – that sits very uneasily with me.
Still, this is a book I'd recommend. If you want to know more about Canada's involvement in the war, and First Nations participation in particular, it's a brilliant introduction – and you'd have to be a hard-hearted reader indeed to resist the melodrama of violence and insanity that Boyden skilfully builds up for his climax.
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LibraryThing member larryerick
It would be very easy to describe this as a war book, World War I, to be precise. Certainly, there is a lot of coverage of war (in more of a Red Badge of Courage mode than in a Band of Brothers one.) Having said that, I don't regard this as a war book, but that of a very spiritual journey. I
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started reading it and was immediately put off to some degree by the way in which the author would shift from "present" to "past" and back again, sometimes transitioning so imperceptibly that you often were half way down a new path before you noticed, causing you to back up and make sure you hadn't misunderstood that last few paragraphs, now that you realized you were in a new "time zone". Eventually, I got used to this and tolerated it well. Perhaps it was just my starting biases, but I read nearly all of this book expecting a conclusion, a resolution, an end point. The narrative goes back and forth between a war past and a war's aftermath present, not unlike a mystery novel laying out what the detective knows now and what he or she has discovered happened in the past. There's a driving force to the narrative that keeps you interested. And then comes the ending pages and you realize that whether or not "the butler did it" is not -- well, it is important -- it's just not the point. And I'm very impressed that the author handled that so extremely well. Show Less
LibraryThing member Zumbanista
Just wow! Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden is a masterfully interwoven story of two Cree snipers in the First World War and their Auntie living in the bush of northern Ontario.
Simply told but deep, dark and intense all the same. The graphic battle scenes are stomach turning.
Sometimes the tales go
Simply told but deep, dark and intense all the same. The graphic battle scenes are stomach turning.
Sometimes the tales go
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on a little too long but the language and manner of storytelling ensures Three Day Road will stay in my mind for a very long time. Very highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member fiverivers
An astonishing novel. An even more astonishing first novel. There can be no disputing Joseph Boyden is not only an accomplished story-teller, but a significant Canadian voice in the 21st century.
Three Day Road, drawn from real people and real history, is an impeccably researched, and skilfully
A singularly great novel and great read. Highly recommended.
Three Day Road, drawn from real people and real history, is an impeccably researched, and skilfully
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wrought tale of two Cree soldiers who fight in the nightmare of WWI. It is a story about the terror of residential schools, the descent into madness, and the arduous journey back to peace of mind and body.A singularly great novel and great read. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member janerawoof
This was an odd mixture of two Cree Indian youths and the fighting in World War I. These two elements worked very well together. The novel was very effective and touching, even frightening in the evocative realistic war scenes. Two Cree Indian young men from North Ontario, enlist in the Canadian
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Army in World War I and fight in France, most notably at Vimy Ridge. The two youths in the novel become sniper and scout. They have always hunted together since boyhood. One, Xavier, loses a leg and is invalided home. Due to the mistranslation of his aunt's letter and another mix-up, he is thought to be his friend, Elijah, who had died in the same attack. Niska, an old healer/seer, who still lives in the 'bush', meets him at the railroad station and then paddles him upriver home in her canoe. The journey takes three days, and the novel consists of each of their memories and telling incidents from their lives and Xavier's memories and telling of his horrific war experiences. We see the prejudice of the wemistoshiw [white men] and learn of Elijah's school years in the mission school. We learn many of the customs and folkways of the Indians. The novel was based in part on a real-life Ojibwa Indian hero of that War, a famous sniper. Besides being the length of the journey home, I thought 'three day road' as a metaphor for death. The novel was beautifully written, and we really got to know the three main characters. Show Less
Awards
Governor General's Literary Award (Finalist — 2005)
Libris Award (Winner — 2006)
Canada Reads (Nominee — 2006)
Evergreen Award (Nominee — 2006)
Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize (Winner — 2005)
Amazon.ca First Novel Award (Winner — 2005)
Manitoba Book Awards (2005)
Canadian Authors Association Award (Winner — Fiction — 2006)