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"A novel about the role of stories in our lives, those we tell ourselves about ourselves and those we agree to live by." -Globe and Mail When Franklin Starlight is called to visit his father, he has mixed emotions. Raised by the old man he was entrusted to soon after his birth, Frank is haunted by the brief and troubling moments he has shared with his father, Eldon. When he finally travels by horseback to town, he finds Eldon on the edge of death, decimated from years of drinking. The two undertake difficult journey into the mountainous backcountry, in search of a place for Eldon to die and be buried in the warrior way. As they travel, Eldon tells his son the story of his own life-from an impoverished childhood to combat in the Korean War and his shell-shocked return. Through the fog of pain, Eldon relates to his son these desolate moments, as well as his life's fleeting but nonetheless crucial moments of happiness and hope, the sacrifices made in the name of love. And in telling his story, Eldon offers his son a world the boy has never seen, a history he has never known"--… (more)
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Franklin was adopted by an “old man” and raised close to nature but as much as he reveres and respects the old man, he yearns to know more about himself, where he came from and who his mother was. This final journey with his deathly ill father through the mountainous wilderness of British Columbia will hopefully give him the answers that he needs.
Richard Wagamese is a wonderful story teller and has a way of inserting life’s tragedies and sorrows into the narrative that make his stories into thoughtful, literary works of art. This story unfolds over a period of just a few days yet the author is able to add alcoholism, domestic violence, and the nature of being “Indian” to the story. Medicine Walk is a complex and moving father-son story from this accomplished author.
Franklin Starlight is a 16 year old boy of native ancestry who has been raised
Will knowing these things help Franklin? I hope so but I felt so bad for him that I shed tears when I finished the book. And yet, Franklin's story is probably far from unique. Similar events happen to far too many youngsters. Let's hope that there are some "old men" (and old women) around to give them a fighting chance.
He uses words in a way that few can, his portrayal of the woods, and the trip Franklin undertakes in a last effort, out of duty to a father who was mostly absent, I found beyond compare. My feelings at the end of this book were certainly melancholy but also glad that Franklin had someone who loved him throughout his life. Though this is the first book I have read by this author, it certainly will not be my last.
He's been raised on a small ranch in northern British Columbia by "the old man", who's taught him everything he knows about ranching and wilderness survival. He's
At sixteen, Franklin's more a man then most.
When he gets a call from his father he's tempted to ignore it, but this time it's different. His father is dying of liver disease and wants Frank to help him travel to remote ridge forty miles out in the wilderness. Once there he wants "a warrior's death", buried sitting upright in the ground facing east "so he can follow the rising sun across the sky to the Happy Hunting Grounds."
As it's his father's dying wish, Frank feels duty-bound to oblige him. Besides, he's longing to know more about his family history including how he came to be brought up by the "the old man".
So begins the journey, from a small mill town into the wilderness, Frank walking and leading a horse his father rides because he is too weak to walk.
As each mile passes Franklin begins to know his father as the man slowly divulges his personal history, Franklin's history.
In Medicine Walk, Richard Wagamese has created a story that resonates on many levels. There's the portrayal of a Spartan way of life defined by hard manual labour, loyalty and integrity as conveyed in the characters of Franklin and "the old man".
Then there's the life Franklin's father has lived - one of never facing up to your demons and using alcohol to keep them at bay.
It's a story of the extremes of human nature - of doing the right thing no matter how tough and painful it is, and doing everything to avoid it.
Wagamese' dialogue is authentic, his characters complex, and his story is brutal in it's truth.
Franklin Starlight has been brought up by a grandfather-type figure and only seen his unreliable, often drunk father very couple of years or so. At the beginning of the story his terminally ill father summons Frank for a last journey to a ridge where he wants to die.
Beautifully
Thought-provoking and some how both unjudgmental and deeply moral at the same time.
Together with Indian Horse, Medicine Walk will give Canadian readers a greater understanding of the injustices experienced by our country’s aboriginal people
This story encompasses so much. It gives details of the lives of Canada's Native people, the life of an uneducated labourer, the effect of war on a young
Franklin Starlight, is a sixteen year old Native teen who was adopted by "The Old Man" when he was a little boy. He was taught the value of work and he found satisfaction in farm work and his joy in horses. He left school at an early age, as it was not his thing. He never knew his father or mother. Over the years he visited his father, Eldon, but he was an alcoholic and those visits usually ended quickly and badly. One day, Franklin is called to visit his father and he went because it was his duty. He finds his alcoholic father in a small flophouse, dying of liver failure. Eldon asks his son to take him into the mountains, and bury him in the traditional Ojibway ways. “I need you to bury me facing east. Sitting up, in the warrior way.”
This began the journey both up the mountain with his father, and in learning the story of his father's life as well as what happened with his mother. Eldon tells his son about his life history, his happiness and sacrifices made along the way. And we see both father and son connecting, for the first time. This was an extremely sad story but I could not stop reading. Eldon's life was not an easy one and he carried scars from the battles he had endured. As Franklin buried him he told him "the was is over". An extremely emotional read that was so well written that you could not put it down. The descriptions of the scenery as well as the toll the illness took on Eldon made you feel like you were there. This is a novel about courage and love, and redemption.
Which matches the book, to some extent. It's a slower paced, two plot-lines (then and now) kind of tale about a boy who doesn't know much about his origins and his memories of his father, and then the father's memories of his life, culminating into the present. It's about knowing you are and learning where you come from; it's about father/son, mother/son relationships. It's about the land. It's good, in that down-home, tough life kind of way.
Evocative to me, at least because I'm nigh on to that point, but I'd think engrossing and emotive to a larger audience.
The story ... well you might say it's about the circumstances life throws at us and how in varying ways we get through them as we move on. Some things we never get over, and others are easier set aside. The gist of the story is as good or better than others along this line I've read, and the natural settings, realistic behaviors, and questioning appealed to me.
The story also exemplifies the value of listening and observing, as opposed to rattling on half baked, which in my younger days I was guilty of ;-)
“The old man always said people waste a lot air talkin’ about nothin’.” Seems to me a lot of writing mirrors that, but there is still some good, even needful, reading to be found such as this book.
It's pure poetry. The kid's father calls for him one last time, and for once he does not get drunk and screw it up. An epic journey of compassion, generosity, and self-discovery. You can't not read this book.
So, I guess I'll say this:
This is a book that I had
This is a book that I'll be recommending, and an author that I'll be reading more of.
I received a free copy of Medicine Walk from the publisher through Goodreads.
I will admit, this one likely dug deeper under my skin because, like Frank, I also had an alcoholic father who traveled to "follow the work", who overpromised and underdelivered with shocking regularity, who disappointed even more often, and
So, yeah, this one often hit home with me.
But there's so much more here. Wagamese's writing, his word choices are truly incandescent. When he's talking about Eldon and Jimmy's past exploits, I could feel my pulse increasing. When Eldon meets, then falls in love with Angie, I did too. When Frank was disappointed and frustrated, I was too.
Wagamese takes a story that's been told often, and injects an incredible level of realism into the story. He does not shy away from the awful stuff—and there's a lot of it here.
But more than anything, he builds two mysteries here. There's the slowly revealed mystery of Eldon Starlight, and the mostly unrevealed mystery of his son Franklin Starlight. And that's the secret heart of this novel that Wagamese hides in plain sight. Because there's a point where Eldon is talking about his friend Jimmy, and talks about how Jimmy once told him that human beings are a “Great Mystery” and that the old Indians did everything in order to learn to live with that mystery. They didn’t try to solve it or make sense of it—they just learned to be with it.
That's a powerful message, and it's one I've never really been given before. The reader sees Frank grappling with the great mystery of his father, and we wonder if he'll learn to live with it. Just like, in my own life, I'll never understand the great mystery of my own father. It's something that both saddens and frustrates me, but I can't solve it. I can't make sense of it. But I have, through the years, learned to be with it.
What a phenomenal story. What phenomenal truths Wagamese reveals.