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The Donkey Cutter (204)
Years after the death of her mother, Mareika Doerksen moves through her adolescence with feelings of loss, confusion, and isolation as she seems somewhere between not being a child and not being a complete woman. Her father, a Mennonite only ethnically and socially, and a long-time atheist, has always been distant but pragmatic as he prepared her for the day he expects her to abandon their homestead on the Canadian Prairies for an education once impossible for women of their time. They move day to day avoiding the tragedies, traumas, and social expectations they rebel against in their Mennonite community during the infancy of Canada. But with the looming arrival of the 1910 Halley’s Comet, so too comes a handsome, charismatic Doomsday preacher. He captivates Mareika as he offers her solace and his ear. Meanwhile the local Bishop with a troubling and violent past sewn to the Doerksens, too, becomes obsessed with the maturing Mareika and sets out with the goal of saving her from the chiliast stranger and her atheist father.
310 pages, Paperback
Published April 1, 2023
7 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 22, 2023
The Donkey Cutter by Gregory Koop begins with a historical note about a man named Claas Epp Jr who in 1887 helped organize and lead a group of over 200 Mennonites from Crimea to Central Asia. Salvation and prophecy were Epp Jr’s motives for leading this expedition. You see, he believed that the End of Days was coming and, being the great speaker that he was, was able to gain the support of hundreds of believers who followed him on his grand journey only to be met with danger, hardship, and disappointment. When the End of Days did not come, many Mennonite families immigrated to Canada in hopes of a better life.
Set in Saskatchewan in 1910, the novel begins with a short, three-sentence chapter that speaks of death, love and the Rapture which immediately piqued my interest. The story follows Mareika, a teenage girl growing up in a Mennonite community in the isolated Canadian Prairies. She struggles to understand her religion, her community, her family secrets, and herself as she enters womanhood without the guidance of her mother who she lost to illness when Mareika was a child. Mareika holds onto as much as she can of her mother through memories, but she feels she is forgetting her and the lessons she taught. Mareika was raised on the farm by her atheist father who, although kind and loving, could not prepare her for the questions she had about life and love. When a handsome, well-spoken man comes to town preaching the End of Days, Mareika becomes infatuated with him but is not sure what to believe or who to trust. With the help of her father, she comes to learn many truths and sees the love she has had in her life all along.
As Mareika’s character develops, the timeline shifts back to when her mother Rebecca was growing up in a strict Mennonite family and we slowly learn of Rebecca’s dark secret that she held onto for many years. Through the shifting timeline, recipes, and journal entries, Mareika and Rebecca’s stories unfold, and we get to see the differences between how mother and daughter were raised. Rebecca was portrayed as a very hard woman and in the beginning, I did not care for her character at all but as the truth of her upbringing becomes known over time, it was easy to see why she was such a hard character to love. Mareika’s father John became my favourite character early in the story because he stands by what he believes in and does not give in to pressure from the outside world. He is the rock of this story with a keen sense of right and wrong; a man everyone could look up to.
The plot of this novel was perfect. I felt as if I were on a roller-coaster ride due to all the twists and turns that this story took. The author was able to flawlessly weave the true events of Claas Epp Jr’s pilgrimage to Central Asia into this story showing how easily people can be influenced and manipulated. Adding in historical elements like the coming of Haley’s comet was also interesting, especially to see how people sometimes give religious significance to a natural occurrence which they cannot explain. Religion itself always adds to a story simply because it can be interpreted in so many ways by so many people. This story shows how religion, or any belief for that matter, can be a beautiful thing but in the hands of the wrong people, can become dangerous and twisted. This story also shows a non-conventional family structure for that time, highlighting the special bond that lies between a father and daughter.
The Donkey Cutter touches on many prominent issues that we, as a society, continue to face today. Religion, racism, sexism, homophobia, sexual assault, and the vulnerability of young people are all discussed throughout this novel and Koop does a wonderful job of incorporating them into the plot. This novel will make you think and will have you in tears as each character faces their own problems. The Donkey Cutter is a fantastic Canadian historical fiction novel and I highly recommend it.
Thanks to The Miramichi Reader for the opportunity to review this amazing novel.
To read my other reviews for TMR click the link below:
my link text
Set in Saskatchewan in 1910, the novel begins with a short, three-sentence chapter that speaks of death, love and the Rapture which immediately piqued my interest. The story follows Mareika, a teenage girl growing up in a Mennonite community in the isolated Canadian Prairies. She struggles to understand her religion, her community, her family secrets, and herself as she enters womanhood without the guidance of her mother who she lost to illness when Mareika was a child. Mareika holds onto as much as she can of her mother through memories, but she feels she is forgetting her and the lessons she taught. Mareika was raised on the farm by her atheist father who, although kind and loving, could not prepare her for the questions she had about life and love. When a handsome, well-spoken man comes to town preaching the End of Days, Mareika becomes infatuated with him but is not sure what to believe or who to trust. With the help of her father, she comes to learn many truths and sees the love she has had in her life all along.
As Mareika’s character develops, the timeline shifts back to when her mother Rebecca was growing up in a strict Mennonite family and we slowly learn of Rebecca’s dark secret that she held onto for many years. Through the shifting timeline, recipes, and journal entries, Mareika and Rebecca’s stories unfold, and we get to see the differences between how mother and daughter were raised. Rebecca was portrayed as a very hard woman and in the beginning, I did not care for her character at all but as the truth of her upbringing becomes known over time, it was easy to see why she was such a hard character to love. Mareika’s father John became my favourite character early in the story because he stands by what he believes in and does not give in to pressure from the outside world. He is the rock of this story with a keen sense of right and wrong; a man everyone could look up to.
The plot of this novel was perfect. I felt as if I were on a roller-coaster ride due to all the twists and turns that this story took. The author was able to flawlessly weave the true events of Claas Epp Jr’s pilgrimage to Central Asia into this story showing how easily people can be influenced and manipulated. Adding in historical elements like the coming of Haley’s comet was also interesting, especially to see how people sometimes give religious significance to a natural occurrence which they cannot explain. Religion itself always adds to a story simply because it can be interpreted in so many ways by so many people. This story shows how religion, or any belief for that matter, can be a beautiful thing but in the hands of the wrong people, can become dangerous and twisted. This story also shows a non-conventional family structure for that time, highlighting the special bond that lies between a father and daughter.
The Donkey Cutter touches on many prominent issues that we, as a society, continue to face today. Religion, racism, sexism, homophobia, sexual assault, and the vulnerability of young people are all discussed throughout this novel and Koop does a wonderful job of incorporating them into the plot. This novel will make you think and will have you in tears as each character faces their own problems. The Donkey Cutter is a fantastic Canadian historical fiction novel and I highly recommend it.
Thanks to The Miramichi Reader for the opportunity to review this amazing novel.
To read my other reviews for TMR click the link below:
my link text
December 24, 2025
Early 20th Century life on the Canadian prairies meets the fear of 1910 Halley’s Comet, coupled with religious zealotry as “experts” predict the comet will bring End Times. It is a depressing and dark book, but it is also filled with hope and some timely humour. It deals with feminism, atheism and homosexuality, not only in the early 20th century but within the strict Mennonite religion; it also has a lot of sex…not all of it consensual. Mostly gut-wrenching and raw, it is 100% amazing. A must-read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews