Winter Child

by Virginia Pésémapéo Bordeleau, Susan Ouriou (Translation), Christelle Morelli (Translation)

A visceral, luminous novel in translation about a Metis woman tracing the life and death of her son.

One late September day, amid the year's first snowfall, the winter child is born. He does not breathe. His mother watches helplessly until "at last the baby uttered a first tentative croak like a frog unsure of spring's arrival."

Then again, and again, and again, the winter child narrowly avoids death's reach. But his mother knows: "he would be her wound, she would have to battle to keep him with her, to defend him against the worst of all enemies."

Originally published in French and told through alternating and overlapping memories, Winter Child is a powerful meditation on grief and life. With a poet and storyteller's language, Virgina Pésémapéo Bordeleau traces a mother's journey from devastation to strength, descending to the darkest inner depths, and finally finding the generosity of life and love.

Genres: Indigenous, Fiction, Canada

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Born in Rapides-des-Cèdres, Quebec, in 1951, to a Cree mother and a Quebecois father with Native ancestry, Virginia Pésémapéo Bordeleau first became a painter. Pésémapeo Bordeleau, who holds a Bachelor’s in fine arts, has taken part in many exhibits in Quebec, the USA, Mexico and Denmark and received many prizes for her canvases. In 2006, she received the excellence in creation award from le Conseil des arts et lettres du Québec and in 2007, the Télé Québec distinction for the Abitibi-Témiscaminque literary award for her poetry collection De rouge et de blanc. Virginia Pésémapéo Bordeleau lived for many years in Quebec City and now resides in Abitibi, closer to her Cree homeland.

(from http://www.nativelynx.qc.ca/en/litera...)

Métisse crie, née aux Rapides-des-Cèdres, Virginia Pésémapéo Bordeleau est peintre et romancière. Bachelière en arts plastiques, elle poursuit une œuvre sensible dans laquelle famille et territoire, animaux mythiques et plantes et rochers forment un monde organique, chargé d’une énergie sans cesse renouvelée. Elle a reçu plusieurs prix pour ses toiles. Elle a publié Ourse bleue (roman, La Pleine lune, 2007), De rouge et de blanc (poésie, Mémoire d’encrier, 2012), L’amant du lac (roman érotique, Mémoire d’encrier, 2013) et L’enfant hiver (roman, Mémoire d’encrier, 2014).

Reviews

[Jodi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another amazing work of art by French-Canadian, Métis, painter, poet and novelist, Virginia Pésémapéo Bordeleau. Reading her work is like a short visit to heaven.😌 I cannot choose a favourite between Winter Child and The Lover, the Lake. They're equally brilliant! And it would do neither justice to try to explain them here, so I'll simply say that, if you love beautiful prose and First Nations or Métis stories, you should consider reading one of her books. There is a third—Blue Bear Woman—her debut, actually, that I haven't read, as yet. All were written in French and beautifully translated by Susan Ouriou. All are gorgeous and will fill your heart right to the brim.😊❤️📚

[Barbara McEwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 or 4 stars?
I won this book through a Goodreads giveaway, woohoo!
I am extra grateful for that as I may not otherwise have come across this author who to date only has this one book translated into English.
I really enjoyed the story. The complex relationships of family and the inter-generational trauma feel all too real.
It did take me a bit of time to orient myself with each new chapter as there is no real indication whose point of view you are getting or what the time frame is but overall I enjoyed the story and the writing. I hope to see more of her work in English in the future.

[Gwen Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a lyrical pleasure to read, a longer poem as much as it is a narrative, based around a search for balance. While it travels between first and third person, and moves back and forth in time and place, the brief effort to orient myself chapter to chapter quickly became simply a the way of reading. In fact, the movement presents life the way it is – always alive simultaneously in both present time and in memory. It is this moving that allows the narrator to marry for the reader a depth of current-day observation with the immediacy of past experience, lightening the weight of sorrow and pain as we watch the story unfold.

The book begins with a birth complication that foretells continual threats through the child’s life. We know, from the beginning, that life will end too soon. As it unfolds, the story layers in the love and joy with its companions of violence and death.

The first child, a daughter, appears from time to time to show how the narrator’s life holds within it the possibility for balance, hinting at the redemption. Friends bring both their generosity and need to the narrator’s life, adding in a more gentle sense of normal. In the end, it is engaging with a friend in need that leads the narrator to the pathway to healing. This adventure brings the friend from a southern clime into the healing cold of northern Canada, and the narrator in return accompanies her friend to an annual ceremony in the southern heat of Dakota. Despite the narrator’s frail condition, following the death of her son, she allows herself to be drawn into a “heated encounter” that shakes and ultimately restores her.

My only quarrel with the book is that the author spends too little time on the stages of redemption. While the potential for it is layered into the whole narrative, the end story feels more like a summary, a narrative telling that diminishes the strength of it, feeling more like an add-on.

That said, it is a strong story, where the inevitability of generations of sorrow is able to be released; where moving on becomes possible. Occasionally the language becomes abrupt, but overall the language is, for the most part, an immediate telling that carries a strong and moving story.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Won as a goodreads giveaway. Beautiful story. A bit difficult at first jumping between perspectives as there is no real indication who is speaking, but enjoyed thoroughly.

[Jaclyn]

Poetic and beautifully written, told in alternating/multiple voices. I like that it touches on racism (it appears to be an Indigenous woman speaking about her Black son, and talking to her racist, abusive father?)

But the book seems more poetry than novel, focusing on the fluidity of the language rather than the flow of the plot. I'm sure some readers will be transported by the writing, but it's not for me.

DNF at page 56.

The physical book itself though is absolutely beautiful. I love the cover, the colours and the blue and red end-pages.

[ananasparachute · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had many beautiful moments- it's an interweaving of the story of an Indigenous woman's relationships with her father, son, and lover(s), and discusses themes of loss, identity, mourning, and rebirth.
I think that it likely lost a lot in the translation from French to English, as it read as jumbled and confusing in parts. It sometimes got bogged down with descriptives and metaphor. However, it was still a brilliantly creative book that illustrated themes of family and spirituality in an amazing way.

[Evelyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book free through Goodreads. This book is not something that I would normally read. It was a little sad and you could feel the sadness of the main character and the whole of her family (who were messed up). To me, there seemed to be spiritual under-currents in the book and that part was pretty good. I was happy with the ending and the way the main character finally seemed to move on from the death of her son even though it was something that affected her greatly

[Amber May · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel pierced my heart as a mother, a woman, and a human being. The way this is written is so personal and beautiful I found myself wiping tears away many many times. Somehow this story of truth, hurt, and loss contains so much beauty.

[Jessie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Have to read all the books of this author for school despite the fact that none of them struck higher than 3 stars.

[Anne Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writing a review about a book that describes a child dying is always a difficult task, especially for a parent that always thinks the worst (I have an overactive imagination!), but I’m trying to choose my words carefully because I don’t want you to be scared off. It doesn’t help that it’s a translation, and written in very poetic language that’s sometimes difficult to follow, so Winter Child has a lot going against it, as these are all traits that typically guarantee low book sales prevent a book from selling, rather than the opposite. But stick with me, this is worth it, and I’ll tell you why.

Read the rest of my review on https://ivereadthis.com/2017/07/17/bo...