A Gentle Habit

by Cherie Dimaline, Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm (Editor)

The inspiration for the collection comes from American Poet Charles Bukowski who wrote "In between the punctuating agonies, life is such a gentle habit." Following this theme of extraordinary ordinariness, A Gentle Habit is a collection of six new short stories focusing on the addictions of a diverse group of characters attempting normalcy in an unnatural world.

Genres: Short Stories, Indigenous, Fiction, Canada

178 pages, Paperback

First published December 11, 2015

About the author

Cherie Dimaline wins her first Governor General's Literary Award in 2017 with The Marrow Thieves. She is an author and editor from the Georgian Bay Métis community whose award-winning fiction has been published and anthologized internationally. In 2014, she was named the Emerging Artist of the Year at the Ontario Premier's Award for Excellence in the Arts, and became the first Aboriginal Writer in Residence for the Toronto Public Library. Cherie Dimaline currently lives in Toronto where she coordinates the annual Indigenous Writers' Gathering.

Reviews

[Farzana Doctor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rarely give a 5 star rating. Cherie Dimaline's writing is poetic and crisp. She offered something elegant or startling in nearly every paragraph and so I moved slowly in order to not miss a beautiful metaphor or description. I am a new fan!

[Jane Mulkewich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, Cherie can write. I read her book Marrow Thieves first, and then purchased this one on the Chi Cheemaun ferry to Manitoulin Island. I was delighted to meet Cherie in person at a literary event in Hamilton in October. She is warm, witty, engaging and her writing is all that and more. A selection of stories that rattle around in your brain and make you think, while you are digesting the feast of words.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good - I'm all caught up on Cherie Dimaline books and I'm excited to have read everything by her. This was her first book and it's a short story collection. It's not my favourite by her as the stories were all very different (I enjoyed the bead one the best), but some were a little too weird for me (also, I struggle with the short stories sometimes as I need a full story!)

[A.S. Brar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got my hands on The Bead Fairy, one of the short stories in this book and I absolutely loved it.

1st 'act', I guess you could call it, brought me back to middle school with all its silliness and wit.

2nd act softly broke my heart, it felt like it was wrapped in a cozy blanket of gloom.

5/5

Additional notes that mean absolutely nothing:
- I really like short stories!
- The story hits a certain chord with me, so I bet most others will be astonished by how much I love this 'garbage' they think it to be.
- yo, if you're from my class and read this, dm me. I got a feeling someone will search the book up to find some sort of summary (you won't find it lmao) and stumble upon this review.

[Tan]

Find out during AllLitUp's second BookClub celebration.

[Jaimie · Rating 2 out of 5]

As much as I agree that Cherie Dimaline is an author to watch, her work seems to either be an absolute smash or a complete miss for me. She’s a decent writer overall, and uses a sparse writing style that is generally easy to engage with, but the crux for me seems to be whether I can connect with her characters and get drawn into the subtle magics that suffuse the stories she weaves about them. In this collection I was disappointed to find only one tale (the first) which seems to be in the hallmark style that I do adore from her. The story tells us of an outcast girl and a children’s urban myth that dominates the playground lore, and is rife with the subtleties of life that hit close to home. And yet, after the identity of the Bead Fairy is revealed in the final scene and we move on to other tales, the magic and slightly dark whimsy that drew us into this collection seem to fade from the page faster and faster with each story. Maybe it’s a sense of disconnect with the male junkie protagonists and the semi-ghosts of unappreciated wives, but even with the potential for more of her trademark small magics I found little to keep me interested in the remaining stories and found myself skipping over them until I could close the book entirely. That being said, I will keep seeking out Cherie Dimaline’s work, because when it sparks for me the flame is well worth the search.

[Sheila Heuvel-Collins · Rating 1 out of 5]

*Tried* to read it. The proofreading and editing is so atrocious that I couldn't get past page 7: I quit at "motherload".

[Darlene Jilks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some nice short stories and a few were a little scary as well depending on how you read them.

[Katie Goulet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Cherie Dimaline's writing so much - she has a way of capturing human emotion and expression unlike anyone else. Whilst I didn't love every single story in this book, I really didn't enjoy it overall, and could feel my emotions rise and fall with each page and as each character developed. These short stories are like poetic vignettes into the lives of others.

[Janet Berkman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first heard Cherie Dimaline read the Festival of Literary Diversity (Brampton, May 2016) and was captivated by her selection. I picked up this collection and am so glad that I did.

These are arresting stories, that have both earthy and out-of-the-world qualities. While my normal practice is to read short stories slowly, with pauses between them, I devoured these one after the other.

Highly recommended.

[Steven Buechler · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a frankness in the language of this collection of stories that would have frightened a lot of teachers back in my high-school days but is refreshing to see here. Dimaline has capture elements of the human condition not often documented. She explores feelings and emotions in a few simple, direct words that are vivid to anybody’s imagination.

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