Review: Speak to Me in Indian by David Gidmark

A "Throwback Thursday" fiction review from 2016 by James M. Fisher

(Note: June is National Indigenous History Month in Canada. I am reprinting this review I wrote in 2016 of this fine debut novel published by Baraka Books. - James)

Lately, I have reviewed several books about or by First Nations people. Hence, the title Speak to Me in Indian (Baraka Books, 2015) caught my attention. The author David Gidmark has spent considerable time living among the Algonquin people of northern Quebec (he currently lives in Maniwaki, QC) and this is his first novel.

Synopsis

Ostensibly, this is a First Nation love story, but Mr. Gidmark’s narrative goes much deeper than that, covering many of the major issues facing a Native trying to live in the White Man’s world. This, I feel is also part of it’s undoing, but more about that later. The two principals Shane Bearskin (a Cree from Moose Factory, ON) and Theresa Wawati (an Algonquin) are living in Montreal, each attending college. Theresa wants to be a lawyer so she can help her people and Shane desires to one day return to Moose Factory to teach. Shane’s roommate is Jim Gull from Attawapiskat First Nations, on the western side of James Bay.

Do you think an Indian could live in the woods today like the people did long ago?” Jim asks. “I don’t know,” Shane says. “I think so.”

A return to the woods becomes the main determination for Shane and Theresa towards the end of the novel after some life-altering events occur (no spoilers here!). The first three chapters introduce a young Shane who is sent off to a residential school at age six, and Theresa, whose family is torn apart by a raging, alcohol-fueled father. Later on in life, she is to have her children torn from her due to her weakness for the bottle.

So Many Problems, and Yet…

As I mentioned earlier, this novel covers many of the major issues facing aboriginal people today, perhaps too many for one novel and the majority of them are embodied in Theresa’s character: abusive father, removal of her children due to her alcohol addiction, then adopted by a white family (who never really consider her on equal terms as their daughter), and despite turning herself around, a relapse that leads to a physical and sexual assault.

“She’s got incredible resilience,” Shane tells Jim. “Maybe it’s built into the race. Maybe because she’s Indian.”

Shane, on the other hand (and Jim Gull too), seems like a reasonably adjusted individual, despite his experience in a residential school where he was beaten by a nun for not speaking English, even though he was only six years old and knowing only the Cree language. He was also the victim of attempted molestation by the priest. Nevertheless, Shane is the stable, supportive part of the relationship, and he and Theresa rarely fight. He is compassionate and caring, wanting only to make Theresa happy, for he loves her smile.

However, I found this novel somewhat unsatisfying despite it being otherwise enjoyable to read. Unsatisfying in that everything happens (or has happened) to Theresa, and while I am sure that such unfortunate persons exist in real life (aboriginal or otherwise), it just seemed like overkill to embody them all in one person. Shane and Theresa could have set out to find her children, but instead, he gives her a kitten which she names “Annie” after her daughter, much to Shane’s disappointment. Also, the building of their cabin in the remote woods of northern Quebec was accomplished very easily (too easily?) by Shane, all on his own. Then he proceeds (albeit at Theresa’s urging) to go on a three-day adventure in the middle of winter in which he almost loses his life. This seemed kind of pointless to me, considering Theresa was left alone in a weakened state to fend for herself. These were the unsatisfying or disquieting parts of Speak to Me in Indian.

Conclusion

Disquieting parts aside, I read this book in just a few days since I was keenly interested in the characters. Mr. Gidmark also keeps the narrative quite authentic by inserting both the Algonquin and Cree language in conversations and using actual places like Lac Camatose where a roadblock is set up by the natives from the La Verendrye reserve as a protest for being ignored by Ottawa. Also, there is the brief time Shane spends with Patrick Matchewan, a master birch bark canoe builder. The author himself is a lecturer on the birch bark canoe, so he knows what he writes. All of this keeps the narrative solidly established in reality.

In the end, Speak to Me in Indian is a love story encompassing the wisdom and resiliency of the Indigenous people and is well worth reading.

About the Author

David Gidmark is the author of 10 books, including Birchbark Canoe: Living Among the Algonquin, called "a Canadian outdoor classic" by the CBC, and Indian Crafts of William & Mary Commanda. He has written articles for the Chicago Tribune, the Toronto Star, Reader's Digest, and many other publications.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Baraka Books; First Edition (Sept. 1 2015)

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 200 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1771860537

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1771860536

About the Reviewer

James M. Fisher is the Editor-in-Chief of The Seaboard Review. He lives in Miramichi New Brunswick with his wife Diane, their Tabby cat Eddie and Buster the Border Collie. James works as an MRI Technologist at the Miramichi Hospital.