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We Survived the Night
A stunning narrative from one of the most powerful young writers at work today, and the director of the Oscar-nominated documentary, Sugarcane, We Survived the Night interweaves oral history with hard-hitting journalism and a deeply personal father-son journey into a searing portrait of Indigenous survival, love, and resurgence.
Julian Brave NoiseCat’s childhood was rich with culture and contradictions. When his Secwépemc and St’at’imc father, an artist haunted by a turbulent past, abandoned the family, NoiseCat and his non-Native mother were embraced by the urban Native community in Oakland, California, as well as by family on the Canim Lake Indian Reserve in British Columbia. In his father’s absence, NoiseCat immersed himself in Native history and culture to understand the man he seldom saw—his past, his story, where he came from—and, by extension, himself.
Years later, NoiseCat sets out across the continent to correct the erasure, invisibility, and misconceptions surrounding the First Peoples of this land as he develops his voice as a storyteller and artist. Told in the style of a "Coyote Story," a legend about the trickster forefather of NoiseCat’s people who was revered for his wit and mocked for his tendency to self-destruct, We Survived the Night brings a traditional art form nearly annihilated by colonization back to life on the page. Through a dazzling blend of history and mythology, memoir and reportage, NoiseCat unravels old stories and braids together new ones. He grapples with the erasure of North America's First Peoples and the trauma that cascades across generations, while illuminating the vital Indigenous cultural, environmental, and political movements reshaping the future. He chronicles the historic ascent of the first Native American cabinet secretary in the United States and the first Indigenous sovereign of Canada; probes the colonial origins and limits of racial ideology and Indian identity through the story of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina; and hauls the golden eggs of an imperiled fish out of the sea alongside the Tlingit of Sitka, Alaska. This is a rewriting and a restoration—of Native history and, more intimately, of family and self, as NoiseCat seeks to reclaim a culture effaced by colonization and reconcile with a father who left. Virtuosic, compelling, and deeply moving, this is at once an intensely personal journey and a searing portrait of Indigenous survival, love, and resurgence.
Drawing from five years of on-the-ground reporting, We Survived the Night paints a profound and unforgettable portrait of contemporary Indigenous life, alongside an intimate and deeply powerful reckoning between a father and a son. A soulful, formally daring, and indelible work from an important new voice.
*Includes a downloadable PDF with a partial family tree, a map, a selected bibliography, and the glossary from the print edition of the book
Julian Brave NoiseCat’s childhood was rich with culture and contradictions. When his Secwépemc and St’at’imc father, an artist haunted by a turbulent past, abandoned the family, NoiseCat and his non-Native mother were embraced by the urban Native community in Oakland, California, as well as by family on the Canim Lake Indian Reserve in British Columbia. In his father’s absence, NoiseCat immersed himself in Native history and culture to understand the man he seldom saw—his past, his story, where he came from—and, by extension, himself.
Years later, NoiseCat sets out across the continent to correct the erasure, invisibility, and misconceptions surrounding the First Peoples of this land as he develops his voice as a storyteller and artist. Told in the style of a "Coyote Story," a legend about the trickster forefather of NoiseCat’s people who was revered for his wit and mocked for his tendency to self-destruct, We Survived the Night brings a traditional art form nearly annihilated by colonization back to life on the page. Through a dazzling blend of history and mythology, memoir and reportage, NoiseCat unravels old stories and braids together new ones. He grapples with the erasure of North America's First Peoples and the trauma that cascades across generations, while illuminating the vital Indigenous cultural, environmental, and political movements reshaping the future. He chronicles the historic ascent of the first Native American cabinet secretary in the United States and the first Indigenous sovereign of Canada; probes the colonial origins and limits of racial ideology and Indian identity through the story of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina; and hauls the golden eggs of an imperiled fish out of the sea alongside the Tlingit of Sitka, Alaska. This is a rewriting and a restoration—of Native history and, more intimately, of family and self, as NoiseCat seeks to reclaim a culture effaced by colonization and reconcile with a father who left. Virtuosic, compelling, and deeply moving, this is at once an intensely personal journey and a searing portrait of Indigenous survival, love, and resurgence.
Drawing from five years of on-the-ground reporting, We Survived the Night paints a profound and unforgettable portrait of contemporary Indigenous life, alongside an intimate and deeply powerful reckoning between a father and a son. A soulful, formally daring, and indelible work from an important new voice.
*Includes a downloadable PDF with a partial family tree, a map, a selected bibliography, and the glossary from the print edition of the book
Audible Audio
Published October 21, 2025
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About the author
Julian Brave NoiseCat
2 books112 followersAn outspoken activist and engaging speaker, Julian Brave NoiseCat is a passionate storyteller. A proud member of the Canim Lake Band Tsq̓éscen̓ and descendant of the Líl̓wat Nation of Mount Currie, NoiseCat is also an award-winning journalist, Oscar-nominated filmmaker, champion powwow dancer, and student of Salish art and history. Whether involving public policy, environmental justice, or Indigenous rights, all aspects of NoiseCat’s work use the lessons of history to explore how societies can enact positive change. His first book, We Survived the Night, is a profound and unforgettable portrait of contemporary Indigenous life, alongside an intimate and deeply powerful reckoning between a father and a son.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 133 reviews
December 1, 2025
Indigenous Heritage Month 2025 #1
Losing not one, but two father figures, neither through death, but disappointment, must ruin a child.
I hate the term interracial dating, but the author explores dating in and outside of the tribe. As a biracial person, he obviously does this in any relationship, but he specifically mentions two Asian American women. When he went off on cheating and supposed ENM (it's not ENM if the other parties don't know about it), he lost me.
rep: Native American
tw: alcoholism, cheating, colonization, racism
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf
Losing not one, but two father figures, neither through death, but disappointment, must ruin a child.
I hate the term interracial dating, but the author explores dating in and outside of the tribe. As a biracial person, he obviously does this in any relationship, but he specifically mentions two Asian American women. When he went off on cheating and supposed ENM (it's not ENM if the other parties don't know about it), he lost me.
rep: Native American
tw: alcoholism, cheating, colonization, racism
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf
November 22, 2025
Coyote Today
Julian Brave NoiseCat's "We Survived the Night" is a multilayered work, simultaneously functioning as autobiography, journalism, and a modern take on oral folklore. At its heart, the book seeks to define the author's relationship with his father, setting this personal quest within a broader examination of Indigenous existence across Canada and the United States. NoiseCat frames the book as an "extended Coyote Story," resurrecting the traditional trickster narrative to convey a unique, "nonfiction" form of truth.
The book's tone is immediately established with a chilling account of the author's father, known as Baby X, who was born at St. Joseph's Indian Residential School and immediately thrown into a trash incinerator. Baby X's survival was purely accidental, as a night watchman discovered him by chance.
Julian’s father would become an artist and abandon the family when Julian was quite young. Later, unexpectedly, his father would move in with him when he was a young adult. It was at this point Julian recognized that his father embodied the coyote, the trickster of his people’s stories. He later reflected that "Part of the purpose of coyote stories was to understand men like my father, men like my grandfather, maybe even men like me too."
The book explores the enduring legacy of attempted cultural genocide on Native Americans, focusing on their journey to reclaim their indigeneity. The Title, “We Survived the Night,” was the grim greeting Julian's ancestors used, serving as a terrible, constant testimony to their struggle and resilience.
Julian Brave NoiseCat offers a profound look at modern Indigenous life, skillfully interweaving contemporary political and environmental challenges with expanded Coyote parables and temporal shifts. This approach powerfully demonstrates the interconnected nature of these themes. The book has received significant acclaim, including high praise from Tommy Orange, the celebrated author of “There There” and “Wandering Stars,” who stated, “Julian Brave NoiseCat has written a book I’ve been waiting my whole life to read.”
Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and to NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #WeSurvivedtheNight #NetGalley
Julian Brave NoiseCat's "We Survived the Night" is a multilayered work, simultaneously functioning as autobiography, journalism, and a modern take on oral folklore. At its heart, the book seeks to define the author's relationship with his father, setting this personal quest within a broader examination of Indigenous existence across Canada and the United States. NoiseCat frames the book as an "extended Coyote Story," resurrecting the traditional trickster narrative to convey a unique, "nonfiction" form of truth.
The book's tone is immediately established with a chilling account of the author's father, known as Baby X, who was born at St. Joseph's Indian Residential School and immediately thrown into a trash incinerator. Baby X's survival was purely accidental, as a night watchman discovered him by chance.
Julian’s father would become an artist and abandon the family when Julian was quite young. Later, unexpectedly, his father would move in with him when he was a young adult. It was at this point Julian recognized that his father embodied the coyote, the trickster of his people’s stories. He later reflected that "Part of the purpose of coyote stories was to understand men like my father, men like my grandfather, maybe even men like me too."
The book explores the enduring legacy of attempted cultural genocide on Native Americans, focusing on their journey to reclaim their indigeneity. The Title, “We Survived the Night,” was the grim greeting Julian's ancestors used, serving as a terrible, constant testimony to their struggle and resilience.
Julian Brave NoiseCat offers a profound look at modern Indigenous life, skillfully interweaving contemporary political and environmental challenges with expanded Coyote parables and temporal shifts. This approach powerfully demonstrates the interconnected nature of these themes. The book has received significant acclaim, including high praise from Tommy Orange, the celebrated author of “There There” and “Wandering Stars,” who stated, “Julian Brave NoiseCat has written a book I’ve been waiting my whole life to read.”
Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and to NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #WeSurvivedtheNight #NetGalley
October 26, 2025
this is an absolute must read. phenomenal and heartbreaking and so beautifully written.
October 15, 2025
One part memoir mixed in with investigative journalism and familial folklore = 100% storytelling. This book has it all and a must read for anyone who is interested in the history of this country and how it pertains to today's world.
I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.
ETA: Staff Pick 11/25
I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.
ETA: Staff Pick 11/25
November 8, 2025
I recommend WE SURVIVED THE NIGHT: An Indigenous Reckoning by Julian Brave NoiseCat! I loved this memoir! I loved how the writing blended personal stories, history and Coyote stories which are all truth. He shares his experiences growing up mixed race with a Jewish-Irish mother and Sécwepemc father. He reflects on his relationship with his father and his Indigenous identity in the aftermath of colonialism and this book exemplifies the importance of storytelling.
I attended the Vancouver book launch last month and NoiseCat told an enlightening oral story called Cover Story that shared the significance of the Coyote artwork on the cover. He’s a fantastic speaker and I recommend the audiobook as well which is read by the author. I read the first half and listened to the last half and it was great to hear him tell these stories. You’ll be seeing this book again in my faves of 2025!
Thank you to Random House Canada for my ARC!
I attended the Vancouver book launch last month and NoiseCat told an enlightening oral story called Cover Story that shared the significance of the Coyote artwork on the cover. He’s a fantastic speaker and I recommend the audiobook as well which is read by the author. I read the first half and listened to the last half and it was great to hear him tell these stories. You’ll be seeing this book again in my faves of 2025!
Thank you to Random House Canada for my ARC!
August 27, 2025
A cultural masterpiece of native storytelling, personal memoir and history of indigenous people in Northwest US and Canada. It starts off with a bang of how Julian's father as a newborn was saved from an incinerator and got his name because the man who found him thought he heard a kitten's cries. Trauma continued in his dad's life and was passed to Julian who both idolized his fun loving coyote dad and hated him for leaving him as a child. Interspersed throughout are native stories about the coyote or trickster and historical background of the atrocities and injustices of the indigenous people. Strong themes of parent/child relationships, community and inherited trauma carry this unusual story. It is raw, honest and unlike anything I have read before. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
August 13, 2025
There are times when I have to sit with a book after reading it, to figure out exactly what I want to say. Kindly Knopf sent me one of those books, a copy of Julian Brave Noisecat's "We Survived the Night".
Here's the problem. I still don't quite know what to say and it's been over a week. Why the struggle? Because I can't put into words everything this book contains. It's memoir, it's folklore, it's journalism, it's a story if a father and son, it's the story of a people, it's the story of generational trauma, it's heart warming and funny, full of joy, its a gut punch and heart breaking, it's a history lesson, it's a lesson in humanity. It is a reckoning.
The book starts with the troubled beginnings of Julian's Secwépemc and St’at’imc father's life, which leads to learning about Noisecat's non-Native mother and his being embraced by the Native community in Oakland, and the Canim Lake Indian Reservation in British Columbia. This is just the start of this epic journey that Noisecat takes us on. I can't begin to sum it all up, as much as I've tried.
Noisecat certainly doesn't owe any of us an education, but damn if we aren't graced with the pleasure of him giving us all one. Pull up a seat, and tuck in. You are in for, what I will say is one of the best reads I've had this year.
We Survived the Night should be on everyone's TBR list this year when it is released in October.
Here's the problem. I still don't quite know what to say and it's been over a week. Why the struggle? Because I can't put into words everything this book contains. It's memoir, it's folklore, it's journalism, it's a story if a father and son, it's the story of a people, it's the story of generational trauma, it's heart warming and funny, full of joy, its a gut punch and heart breaking, it's a history lesson, it's a lesson in humanity. It is a reckoning.
The book starts with the troubled beginnings of Julian's Secwépemc and St’at’imc father's life, which leads to learning about Noisecat's non-Native mother and his being embraced by the Native community in Oakland, and the Canim Lake Indian Reservation in British Columbia. This is just the start of this epic journey that Noisecat takes us on. I can't begin to sum it all up, as much as I've tried.
Noisecat certainly doesn't owe any of us an education, but damn if we aren't graced with the pleasure of him giving us all one. Pull up a seat, and tuck in. You are in for, what I will say is one of the best reads I've had this year.
We Survived the Night should be on everyone's TBR list this year when it is released in October.
August 25, 2025
Julian Brave Noisecat blends both the retelling of the Coyote tales along with his family's personal history as indigenous Americans, and how he's interacted with this history and identity throughout his life. Gorgeous writing, and love how it's juxtaposed with the Coyote tales. Highly recommended read.
October 6, 2025
This book felt familiar. It reminded me of stories my Native American step father would tell me when talking about his past. It was in the cadence more than the words. This book conveys strongly held beliefs and culture in the way that it is told where you can see how the good and the bad are woven together to mold the writer and the tapestry that is being created through his movement through this life. The voice is clear and the folk tales add imagery and understanding to parallel the writer's walk through life. This was not a quick read for me but it was enjoyable. It's not a happy go lucky story, but its real, nostalgic, and meaningful.
October 17, 2025
I loved this book so much. I first heard about it after watching the documentary Sugarcane last Spring - sitting in stunned silence after it ended, I googled the director, only to learn he had a forthcoming book. I waited eagerly for months to get my hands on it, and despite my high hopes, this surpassed all my expectations.
We Survived the Night is a work of narrative nonfiction that weaves together personal autobiography with oral history and investigative journalism. At its core, its a story of father-son relationships, and what it means to love and forgive a complicated figure who has been hurt and caused hurt and is an inseparable piece of who you are regardless. Julian Brave NoiseCat seeks to make sense of his father through interior Salish stories of the trickster Coyote, whose tales are interspersed throughout the book.
NoiseCat shares personal stories growing up in Oakland, CA and his Secwepemc community of Canim Lake, but travels beyond that to tell stories of communities fighting for sovereignty, land rights, and justice all across turtle island. While this book is multi-layered and doesn't quite fit neatly into any conventional genre, it felt cohesive throughout, and I was interested in every new chapter. I really enjoyed the audio version narrated by NoiseCat himself - I'd often sink into the book as if I were listening to a friend telling me a story. I laughed, I learned, I grew curious, and I found myself thinking about it throughout my day.
We Survived the Night is a work of narrative nonfiction that weaves together personal autobiography with oral history and investigative journalism. At its core, its a story of father-son relationships, and what it means to love and forgive a complicated figure who has been hurt and caused hurt and is an inseparable piece of who you are regardless. Julian Brave NoiseCat seeks to make sense of his father through interior Salish stories of the trickster Coyote, whose tales are interspersed throughout the book.
NoiseCat shares personal stories growing up in Oakland, CA and his Secwepemc community of Canim Lake, but travels beyond that to tell stories of communities fighting for sovereignty, land rights, and justice all across turtle island. While this book is multi-layered and doesn't quite fit neatly into any conventional genre, it felt cohesive throughout, and I was interested in every new chapter. I really enjoyed the audio version narrated by NoiseCat himself - I'd often sink into the book as if I were listening to a friend telling me a story. I laughed, I learned, I grew curious, and I found myself thinking about it throughout my day.
November 3, 2025
Thank you to PRH audio and Random House Canada for the gifted audiobook and paperback 🫶
💭I don’t read a lot of non-fiction, but I enjoyed this one! I really liked how this book wove Julian’s own story, his family history, and the history of his people together with Indigenous storytelling centering around the trickster coyote. His story is raw and honest and explores the challenging relationship he had with his father and another man who acted as a father figure in his life. He was also open and honest about his own struggles with alcohol and self doubt around his indigenous identity. I really admired how forthcoming he was as these are not easy things to share. I learned more about historical events between colonizers and Indigenous peoples and I think everyone could become more informed and learn something from reading this book.
🎧: the audiobook is actually narrated by the author himself and I’d highly recommend it! I really like when non-fiction audiobooks do this because I really enjoy hearing the author’s story told in their own voice. It was also super helpful to hear the correct pronunciation of the different words and names by someone who speaks the language.
💭I don’t read a lot of non-fiction, but I enjoyed this one! I really liked how this book wove Julian’s own story, his family history, and the history of his people together with Indigenous storytelling centering around the trickster coyote. His story is raw and honest and explores the challenging relationship he had with his father and another man who acted as a father figure in his life. He was also open and honest about his own struggles with alcohol and self doubt around his indigenous identity. I really admired how forthcoming he was as these are not easy things to share. I learned more about historical events between colonizers and Indigenous peoples and I think everyone could become more informed and learn something from reading this book.
🎧: the audiobook is actually narrated by the author himself and I’d highly recommend it! I really like when non-fiction audiobooks do this because I really enjoy hearing the author’s story told in their own voice. It was also super helpful to hear the correct pronunciation of the different words and names by someone who speaks the language.
December 1, 2025
I knew nothing about Native Americans and was mostly triggered to read this book because of the author’s fantastic surname.
Now I know a lot more about them, because this author really immerses the reader in his family’s story, Indian Coyote myths, as well as actual historical events of the many tribes that still exist in North America.
Some chapters are too long and have too much detail, but overall this book is engrossing and entertaining. The author is actually an Oscar-nominated filmmaker as well, so there’s more to explore out there!
Now I know a lot more about them, because this author really immerses the reader in his family’s story, Indian Coyote myths, as well as actual historical events of the many tribes that still exist in North America.
Some chapters are too long and have too much detail, but overall this book is engrossing and entertaining. The author is actually an Oscar-nominated filmmaker as well, so there’s more to explore out there!
November 20, 2025
This is a hard one for me to review. There was so much to like about this book, and yet it did not grip me or hold my attention how I hoped it would.
First, the good: Julian Brave NoiseCat is a great writer. I like the way he tells stories and I like how his brain works to create his art. His writing can be clever, is well-researched, and is very thorough and detailed. I loved the parts where he wove Coyote legend into his family stories and into current life. The idea of weaving together narrative nonfiction and personal memoir was an interesting concept.
Unfortunately (for me), this was where it lost me. The jumps between memoir, family history, and journalistic essays about Native life past and present made the pacing and cohesion of this book all over the place. The further into the book I got, the harder it was to pick back up, because there was no flow to get you settled into the story. The blurb synopsis for the book is an oversimplification of what is inside. Had it been more marketed as essays that bring out themes in each other, I would have set a better expectation.
My big critique is this: had the memoir parts and the journalistic nonfiction parts been separated into two different books, I think I would really enjoy both of them! The combination just didn't work for me, but I definitely would read more of NoiseCat's work!
Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the e-ARC and ARC!
First, the good: Julian Brave NoiseCat is a great writer. I like the way he tells stories and I like how his brain works to create his art. His writing can be clever, is well-researched, and is very thorough and detailed. I loved the parts where he wove Coyote legend into his family stories and into current life. The idea of weaving together narrative nonfiction and personal memoir was an interesting concept.
Unfortunately (for me), this was where it lost me. The jumps between memoir, family history, and journalistic essays about Native life past and present made the pacing and cohesion of this book all over the place. The further into the book I got, the harder it was to pick back up, because there was no flow to get you settled into the story. The blurb synopsis for the book is an oversimplification of what is inside. Had it been more marketed as essays that bring out themes in each other, I would have set a better expectation.
My big critique is this: had the memoir parts and the journalistic nonfiction parts been separated into two different books, I think I would really enjoy both of them! The combination just didn't work for me, but I definitely would read more of NoiseCat's work!
Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the e-ARC and ARC!
November 24, 2025
"That's how I learned that tsecwínucw-k is a morning greeting, kind of like 'good morning' in Secwepemctsín. Except it doesn't mean 'good morning'...tsecwínucw-k means 'you survived the night'. I often wonder what it meant for our people to greet one another and the day with the simple but profound acknowledgement that we are still here."
We Survived the Night is part memoir, part historical narrative, part Native Canadian/American folktale(s). Noisecat shares personal history, often from an anthropolgical and historical lens, and weaves all these diverse stories together beautifully. The year is almost over so I feel comfortable saying that this is my favorite book of 2025.
We Survived the Night is part memoir, part historical narrative, part Native Canadian/American folktale(s). Noisecat shares personal history, often from an anthropolgical and historical lens, and weaves all these diverse stories together beautifully. The year is almost over so I feel comfortable saying that this is my favorite book of 2025.
November 9, 2025
Stop scrolling … this book is an absolute must-read
Julian Brave NoiseCat’s We Survived the Night reads like the most honest, heartrending, funny, and hopeful conversation you’ll have all year.
Part memoir, part history, part cultural reflection, and totally unforgettable, it’s a debut that does what the best nonfiction does: it changes how you see both a person and the history around them.
Why it hits
At the heart of the book is NoiseCat’s quest to reconnect with his father, Ed Archie NoiseCat, a gifted artist who, as an infant, survived the almost-unbelievable trauma of being found in the incinerator of a Catholic-run Indian residential school.
That single image holds a lifetime of pain and resilience, laying the groundwork for a story about survival, identity, and reconciliation.
What NoiseCat does brilliantly
The book’s genius lies in its framing as a Coyote Story, rooted in the trickster tales of NoiseCat’s Secwépemc and St’at’imc heritage. That framework lets him blend humor and humility as he reckons with family, community, and history.
The book moves beyond family memoir: NoiseCat’s reporting threads the personal into the political, linking private wounds to collective histories, from Wounded Knee to Standing Rock, and to contemporary Native leadership, resurgence, and reclamation.
Who should read this
If you want a book that will make you feel deeply, think harder about history, and leave you with a richer understanding of Indigenous resilience — read this.
It’s for readers who value honesty over mythmaking and insight over easy answers.
Verdict
Buy or borrow it — either way, don’t skip it
We Survived the Night is urgent, honest, and unforgettable.
Julian Brave NoiseCat’s We Survived the Night reads like the most honest, heartrending, funny, and hopeful conversation you’ll have all year.
Part memoir, part history, part cultural reflection, and totally unforgettable, it’s a debut that does what the best nonfiction does: it changes how you see both a person and the history around them.
Why it hits
At the heart of the book is NoiseCat’s quest to reconnect with his father, Ed Archie NoiseCat, a gifted artist who, as an infant, survived the almost-unbelievable trauma of being found in the incinerator of a Catholic-run Indian residential school.
That single image holds a lifetime of pain and resilience, laying the groundwork for a story about survival, identity, and reconciliation.
What NoiseCat does brilliantly
The book’s genius lies in its framing as a Coyote Story, rooted in the trickster tales of NoiseCat’s Secwépemc and St’at’imc heritage. That framework lets him blend humor and humility as he reckons with family, community, and history.
The book moves beyond family memoir: NoiseCat’s reporting threads the personal into the political, linking private wounds to collective histories, from Wounded Knee to Standing Rock, and to contemporary Native leadership, resurgence, and reclamation.
Who should read this
If you want a book that will make you feel deeply, think harder about history, and leave you with a richer understanding of Indigenous resilience — read this.
It’s for readers who value honesty over mythmaking and insight over easy answers.
Verdict
Buy or borrow it — either way, don’t skip it
We Survived the Night is urgent, honest, and unforgettable.
October 23, 2025
I hope this finds wide readership. I listened to the audiobook thanks to an ALC from Libro.FM but also purchased the book for the school and am confident that I will flip back through it, especially for the coyote stories. An impressive hybrid-style book with a lot of BC area content.
November 28, 2025
Julian Brave NoiseCat's debut is an exciting birth of a new talent. What a writer!
November 5, 2025
I tried to write a review for this book. I can only say you need to experience it for yourself.
November 5, 2025
I went into this book thinking it was a work of fiction (my own fault for notoriously not reading the back of the book). This was not the case. At first, I was dismayed, knowing this tome-like novel would take me forever to read, despite how compelling the narrative may or may not be. And it did take a while. But I came out of the novel knowing it was worth it.
This novel is a beautiful mix of personal narrative, Salish legend, and indigenous history both colonial and contemporary. NoiseCat has a gift of pulling multiple seemingly disparate plots together to weave a story of community, trial, and perseverance. He delves deep into his familial relations, namely his relationship with his father. Tying in Salish Coyote history, we see the lineage of the trickster flowing to Julian from his father, to his father from his pa7a Zeke, and (we can assume) so on. We learn about life on the Rez (reservation) both from his visiting perspective and the interviewees everyday perspective.
One of my favorite parts of this book was the interwoven tales of Coyote, the ultimate trickster. I have always had a special appreciation for native tradition, from the connection to nature to the importance of community and ritual. The stories of Coyote and his womanizing, not-so-sly antics provided a bit of intentionally pure and unadulterated story-telling.
Traveling across North America collecting record and stories from different tribes, Julian explores what it means to be native. He brings up the striking, but revealing greeting between strangers: “who’s your people.” We are exposed to the beautiful history of various tribes, juxtaposed with the atrocities committed universally (essentially) upon the first peoples of the land we stand on.
Thank you to the publishers for the ARC!
This novel is a beautiful mix of personal narrative, Salish legend, and indigenous history both colonial and contemporary. NoiseCat has a gift of pulling multiple seemingly disparate plots together to weave a story of community, trial, and perseverance. He delves deep into his familial relations, namely his relationship with his father. Tying in Salish Coyote history, we see the lineage of the trickster flowing to Julian from his father, to his father from his pa7a Zeke, and (we can assume) so on. We learn about life on the Rez (reservation) both from his visiting perspective and the interviewees everyday perspective.
One of my favorite parts of this book was the interwoven tales of Coyote, the ultimate trickster. I have always had a special appreciation for native tradition, from the connection to nature to the importance of community and ritual. The stories of Coyote and his womanizing, not-so-sly antics provided a bit of intentionally pure and unadulterated story-telling.
Traveling across North America collecting record and stories from different tribes, Julian explores what it means to be native. He brings up the striking, but revealing greeting between strangers: “who’s your people.” We are exposed to the beautiful history of various tribes, juxtaposed with the atrocities committed universally (essentially) upon the first peoples of the land we stand on.
Thank you to the publishers for the ARC!
December 3, 2025
Is it memoir? - the author does tell his own personal story. Or is it a set of touchpoints of the North American Indian story? - certainly that, both US and Canadian. It’s also a sharing of a passel Indian genesis narratives of Coyote; NoiseCat intersperses Coyote stories to show how they help him make sense of his personal narrative. So is it, then, the journey of a boy raised between white and Indian worlds seeking to understand the tribal world his own dad left behind, and perhaps more importantly, his own Indian story? Yes, but it’s also an exploration of the challenge faced by the current generation of Indian parents, who parent without role models, their parents having been ripped from their families as small children and raised in faraway residential schools intent on stripping them of their language and culture. And it’s also the on-the-ground reporting of an Oxford-educated journalist - NoiseCat explores the culture and life of tribal peoples today, east and west, from far into Canada and Alaska to the southern border, as well as the environmental, cultural and political movements and leaders that may foretell Indian peoples’ future; having spent a decade as a journalist, myself, I admire the quality and the evenness of NoiseCat’s reportage.
Remarkably, We Survive the Night is all of these and more. So many rich threads trace its reach across Indian life and culture, current as well as historic, his own as well as from far-distant tribes, some stretching to origin stories, some the uprooting of tribes from dominion over vast territories to confinement on reservations, boundaries of which continue to be governmentally redrawn even into the late 20th century..
NoiseCat, now early 30s, is also the co-director of the Oscar-nominated documentary, Sugarcane, which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Fiim Festival, where he and his co-director won the U.S. Documentary Directing Award.
Here, in book form, he shows his story-telling ability extends to print: We Survive the Night is an extraordinary read.
Remarkably, We Survive the Night is all of these and more. So many rich threads trace its reach across Indian life and culture, current as well as historic, his own as well as from far-distant tribes, some stretching to origin stories, some the uprooting of tribes from dominion over vast territories to confinement on reservations, boundaries of which continue to be governmentally redrawn even into the late 20th century..
NoiseCat, now early 30s, is also the co-director of the Oscar-nominated documentary, Sugarcane, which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Fiim Festival, where he and his co-director won the U.S. Documentary Directing Award.
Here, in book form, he shows his story-telling ability extends to print: We Survive the Night is an extraordinary read.
December 22, 2025
This book is such a beautiful merger of so many genres. It is the memoir of a young man and his family history and complicated relationship with his father, a Canadian Indian from the Salish people of the Pacific Northwest. But it is also the author’s retelling of the oral tradition of Coyote stories AND an exploration of the stories and themes that bind indigenous people across America as they grapple with a changing world and planet. It is beautifully written, compelling, and funny while also very instructive to me as someone who had not read much about present day native people in North America. Noisecat embraces the imperfection of Coyote as a way to embrace the challenges of Indiana communities with appreciation, love, and grace. He names intergenerational trauma as a cause while refusing to shy away from the damage it has led to and casting a vision of hope and healing. It is interesting to read a memoir type of book from someone who is so young and still defining his own story but the deep love and appreciation for those who have come before him and taught and raised him is wise beyond his years.
I loved it and urge every American and Canadian to read it and consider how we can all help direct policy and empathy and respect for indigenous wisdom towards the sovereign people who have lived on and cared for these lands long before most of us.
I loved it and urge every American and Canadian to read it and consider how we can all help direct policy and empathy and respect for indigenous wisdom towards the sovereign people who have lived on and cared for these lands long before most of us.
December 22, 2025
This book is doing a lot. The thing it is doing best and most clearly, is telling Noisecat's family's story interspersed with Pacific NW indigenous stories about the trickster Coyote. This piece of the book is an excellent and interesting way to draw connections between indigenous lore and modern Indian lives. It is the most original and creative writing in the book, and would get at least 4 stars from me if that's all it was.
Then there is a bunch of, for lack of a better word, filler. This includes both abbreviated surveys of the current state of Indian affairs and histories of specific incidents in Indian history. There's nothing wrong with these, but they are entirely unrelated to the premise of the book--Noisecat does a poor job tying them in--and are surface-deep compared to the richness of Noisecat's family story and the Coyote lore. It distracts from the core story of the book and makes the project feel disjointed and bloated. Reading the acknowledgements and notes, it seems like many of these parts were previously stand-alone articles for other publications, and have been crammed into the book for simple purposes of wider and different distribution. Cutting them out, or substantially reworking them to better fit, would have made this book much more compelling.
Then there is a bunch of, for lack of a better word, filler. This includes both abbreviated surveys of the current state of Indian affairs and histories of specific incidents in Indian history. There's nothing wrong with these, but they are entirely unrelated to the premise of the book--Noisecat does a poor job tying them in--and are surface-deep compared to the richness of Noisecat's family story and the Coyote lore. It distracts from the core story of the book and makes the project feel disjointed and bloated. Reading the acknowledgements and notes, it seems like many of these parts were previously stand-alone articles for other publications, and have been crammed into the book for simple purposes of wider and different distribution. Cutting them out, or substantially reworking them to better fit, would have made this book much more compelling.
January 6, 2026
NoiseCat is an incredible writer. After reading an excerpt of this book in The Walrus, I was hooked - I knew I had to finish it.
NoiseCat manages to weave three separate threads together in this book - stories about his own family and childhood (especially his father), oral histories of the Coyote People, and investigative journalism focused on Indigenous populations across North America, from Nunavut all the way to North Carolina.
Some of these articles do start to drag in places, but NoiseCat always manages to bring it back to Coyote and the story of his father. It’s a very personal piece of literature, told with care and with respect (and some humour, too). I look forward to reading more from this author.
NoiseCat manages to weave three separate threads together in this book - stories about his own family and childhood (especially his father), oral histories of the Coyote People, and investigative journalism focused on Indigenous populations across North America, from Nunavut all the way to North Carolina.
Some of these articles do start to drag in places, but NoiseCat always manages to bring it back to Coyote and the story of his father. It’s a very personal piece of literature, told with care and with respect (and some humour, too). I look forward to reading more from this author.
January 2, 2026
This is my first book of the year, 2026. I started reading it thinking it was fiction until I got deep into the book, and it’s actually historical non-fiction.
This is not necessarily a type of historical book I would want to read, but it was a good read. I learnt one or two things, despite it being very tedious a few times.
It will definitely be a good read for you if it’s something you are interested in. If not, maybe not.
This is not necessarily a type of historical book I would want to read, but it was a good read. I learnt one or two things, despite it being very tedious a few times.
It will definitely be a good read for you if it’s something you are interested in. If not, maybe not.
December 4, 2025
This was truly beautiful.
I finally picked up We Survived the Night, a title I bookmarked at the start of the year and regret waiting on. Even though I missed Indigenous Heritage Month, it hit especially hard having grown up in rural Canada alongside many Indigenous people and holding a deep appreciation for their way of life. A powerful, necessary read that stays with you long after the last page.
I finally picked up We Survived the Night, a title I bookmarked at the start of the year and regret waiting on. Even though I missed Indigenous Heritage Month, it hit especially hard having grown up in rural Canada alongside many Indigenous people and holding a deep appreciation for their way of life. A powerful, necessary read that stays with you long after the last page.
October 21, 2025
I enjoyed how stories of Coyote the Trickster are interwoven along the author's family history and more history of Native Canadians and Americans.
November 28, 2025
I really liked the book. Part Biography and history mingled with entertaining “mythological” Native American stories. It helped me better understand the indigenous peoples. Based primarily in Canada but certainly would reflect the historical treatment of Native Americans in the United States. I also watched the 2024 documentary sugarcane made by this book’s author. I would suggest if you read this book to also watch the documentary film as they go together.
December 31, 2025
Impressive research and careful writing from the author. He doesn’t hold back and writes a memoir, biography, historical record, and love letter to his peoples. Gives me hope that there’s another way to live
September 30, 2025
It’s Truth and Reconciliation Day in Canada, which is a time to listen, to learn, and to remember the stories that residential schools tried to erase. And there is no more powerful book to add to your TBR than We Survived the Night.
Julian Brave NoiseCat’s memoir begins with the unimaginable: his father, a newborn, found alive inside the incinerator of a residential school. What follows is a breathtaking journey through memory, myth, history, and healing. With the lyrical power of an epic and the emotional force of lived experience, NoiseCat traces the legacy of colonial violence through the generations of his family. He is guided by the trickster tales of the Coyote People and the slow, painful reclamation of language and love.
This is not just a book about survival. It is about resurgence. About what it means to carry the stories your family never got to tell. About what happens when silence breaks, and a voice like Julian’s rings out.
Read it for the children who never came home. Read it for the ones who did. Read it for yourself.
Julian Brave NoiseCat’s memoir begins with the unimaginable: his father, a newborn, found alive inside the incinerator of a residential school. What follows is a breathtaking journey through memory, myth, history, and healing. With the lyrical power of an epic and the emotional force of lived experience, NoiseCat traces the legacy of colonial violence through the generations of his family. He is guided by the trickster tales of the Coyote People and the slow, painful reclamation of language and love.
This is not just a book about survival. It is about resurgence. About what it means to carry the stories your family never got to tell. About what happens when silence breaks, and a voice like Julian’s rings out.
Read it for the children who never came home. Read it for the ones who did. Read it for yourself.
November 26, 2025
The book is hard to define. It is a mixture of the creation story of the author’s tribe with the real life story of his relationship with his father and stepfather. He also weaves in historical events such as the 1862 Dakota uprising. It is above all a story of resilience. In spite of the genocide, generational trauma, and the racism which still exists today, indigenous peoples have survived the night.
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