Chief Lightning Bolt

by Daniel N. Paul

Here is a contemporary Mi’kmaq legend of the life of a great man, who becomes chief, the embodiment of Mi’kmaq values of humility, courage, honour, service and sacrifice of personal gain for the sake of others. He lived a long and storied life, hundreds of years ago, before the arrival of the European scouts and, later, their warships. He was a renowned warrior but, more so, a peacemaker. His people followed him to the point of devotion, yet he was uncannily modest, even embarrassed by his own achievements. He suffered great loss, yet his understanding of his place, his role in a great society, a greater natural world and an inestimable metaphysical world, guided him through his pain.
Mi’kmaq readers may recognize these time-honoured themes based on traditional tales passing values generation to generation. Others will gain a new appreciation for what was lost under colonialism and the attempted genocide of this vibrant, sophisticated and successful culture and society.
With We Were Not the Savages, Daniel Paul changed the way the world understood the history of Eastern Canada and the fully developed civilization that existed before the arrival of the European explorers and settlers, and the nature of the subsequent violent attack on that culture. With Chief Lightning Bolt, Paul shows us exactly what was lost, the beauty of the Mi’kma’ki that once existed, the culture that survived and is only now beginning to recover.

Genres: Indigenous, Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

Published October 2, 2017

About the author

Daniel Paul was a Canadian Miꞌkmaq elder, author, columnist, and human rights activist.

Reviews

[Wendy Jensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly great book to read about the native culture. Chief Lightning Bolt is a man who abhors violence and instills in his people love, "all for one and one for all", and thanking the Creator. Great story telling!

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won an ARC of this book. It certainly deserves five stars. The historical aspect is quite enlightening; a peaceful people invaded by European values and culture. The takeaway is more than a historical and personal narrative, it is a guide for living a spiritual life in this world. Beautifully written . This will challenge and alter perspectives on life for many readers. I highly recommend this book.

[Snehan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Canada, we learn that our history began with the arrival of the first European explorers and settlers. Our textbooks teach us nothing of the thousands of years of history existing prior to the relatively recent European colonial era. We learn about Louis Riel and Jean Cabot and confederation, but our education omits the history and way of life of the First Nations who have called this land home for longest. Daniel N. Paul, Mi’kmaq Elder and recipient of the Order of Canada, brings this matter to justice in his most recent book, "Chief Lightning Bolt", where he brings to life the culture of the Mi’kmaq people prior to European colonization.

The story begins by telling of when Little Bear, a young Mi'kmaq warrior, asks for Early Blossom’s hand in marriage. Their marriage is followed by the birth of their first son, Lightning Bolt, who displays exceptional intelligence and bravery from a young age. The story follows the the life of Lightning Bolt, recounting his childhood adventures, his bravery during wartime, and his appointment as Chief of the Mi’kmaq nation. The story ends on a worrisome note with the arrival of European settlers in a nearby nation, who abuse and kill the inhabitants, leaving the village destroyed and the Mi’kmaq people worried about their own future. Paul ends the story here, seemingly because any North American with minimal historical knowledge could guess what was to come.

Chief Lightning Bolt lacks many of the elements expected to be present in a novel. There is no overarching conflict, only minor and trivial conflicts, all of which are quickly and effortlessly resolved. For instance, when the Mi’kmaq nations enter war with a neighboring western nation, the Mi’kmaq people simply win and create an agreement for future peace. Issue solved, and that too, in a single chapter. The struggles of winning a battle and the sacrifices made by the people are not explored and brought to life. This lack of conflict and of intimate insights into the characters' lives give rise to a bland, incoherent, and nearly non-existent plot.

The characters in the novel display no change or complexity whatsoever. Lightning Bolt, the protagonist, is perfect; he is honest, strong, brave, selfless, intelligent, and sickeningly humble, remaining this way from birth to death. The personalities of the characters are largely shown through dialogue, which are all immensely formal, polite (even when occuring between enemy chiefs), poetic, and, quite frankly, unnatural for everyday dialogue. Furthermore, the characters’ flowery dialogues tend to last for several paragraphs, pages even. For all their bulk, the dialogues reveal simple and static characters.

No riveting plot, no juicy characters, it seems that Paul is not trying to tell a story at all. Rather, he is solely trying to educate on the way of life of the Mi’kmaq people. The conflicts may be few and easily resolved, but this is to show how the Mi’kmaq people abhorred violence, were cooperative, and valued life as sacred. The interactions between the villagers shown largely through dialogue, although bland, showcase the respect and love villagers used to treat each other. The appointment of Lightning Bolt as chief demonstrated the democratic political process of the Mi’kmaq people; leaders were appointed for their material accomplishments as well as for their personal qualities, such as honesty, compassion, and humbleness. In fact, Chief Lightning Bolt always doubted his fitness to lead and thought of himself as incompetent, which only made the villagers like him all the more.

"Chief Lightning Bolt" may not impress the average reader hungry for entertainment, but others will appreciate Paul’s work in recounting the Mi’kmaq people’s way of life, their traditions, and their values. Paul’s novel is a window into a different era in Canada’s early history, and those who want to take a peek should crack open "Chief Lightning Bolt".

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best thing I can say about this book is that Daniel Paul is an excellent historian. There is a lot of interesting history written into this novel that paints a fairly vivid picture of what life might have been like in a 15th century Mi'kmaq village. That alone made the book worth reading. It takes what Paul summarizes in his nonfiction account of Mi'kmaq life and politics in the 15th-20th centuries in "We Were Not The Savages" and gives it more life in the form of stories and legends that are included as part of the novel. But the book doesn't hold together very well as a novel. I'm glad to have read it for the feel of the land and people it provides in the time just before European colonists were about to come in for the slaughter, but Dr. Paul might be better off sticking to the nonfiction history at which he excels.

[Doug Frizzle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent read. It is a fictitious account of several generations of indigenous people in Nova Scotia, the Mi'kmak. There is a generous description of philosophy, lifestyle, and religion of the first people before the arrival of Europeans.
The author Daniel Paul is an expert; I believe this is his first novel.

[Mountain · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t have much to say, since… well, nothing really happened. All the sub-plots were resolved within the same chapter they were brought up, and there was no main plot. It was mostly extremely formal dialogue. It felt like a commentary without, well, the commentary. It was extremely dragged out, probably to make you reflect, but it doesn’t really give you any motivation to reflect in the first place.

I won’t say that there isn’t any inherent value to the story—because there is—it just wasn’t my cup of tea.