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Porcupines and China Dolls
"A terrific book that deals with present day concerns."--Thomas King, Governor General's Award-wining author of The Back of the Turtle and The Inconvenient Indian
"To understand this story, it is important to know the People and where they came from and what they went through." So begins a haunting story that explores with frank and honest words the dark legacy of the residential school system and its impact on individuals, families and communities.
James Nathan and Jake Noland have been best friends for life. After finishing mission school they return to their Gwich'in community in the Northwest Territories. Their lives revolve around bootleggers, the bar, drug abuse and meaningless sex. James and Jake try to dull their painful memories of the school. Each hides a dark secret that fuels his nightmares. Enough alcohol silences the demons for a night; a gun and a single bullet silences demons forever. When a friend commits suicide and a former priest appears on television, the community is shattered. James and Jake confront their childhood abuse and break the silence to begin a journey of healing and rediscovery.
"To understand this story, it is important to know the People and where they came from and what they went through." So begins a haunting story that explores with frank and honest words the dark legacy of the residential school system and its impact on individuals, families and communities.
James Nathan and Jake Noland have been best friends for life. After finishing mission school they return to their Gwich'in community in the Northwest Territories. Their lives revolve around bootleggers, the bar, drug abuse and meaningless sex. James and Jake try to dull their painful memories of the school. Each hides a dark secret that fuels his nightmares. Enough alcohol silences the demons for a night; a gun and a single bullet silences demons forever. When a friend commits suicide and a former priest appears on television, the community is shattered. James and Jake confront their childhood abuse and break the silence to begin a journey of healing and rediscovery.
302 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2002
3 people are currently reading
602 people want to read
About the author
Robert Arthur Alexie
2 books3 followersRobert Arthur Alexie (1957-2014) was a Canadian First Nations author. He played a vital role in land claim negotiations in 1992 and served two terms as vice president of the Gwich'in Tribal Council.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
December 31, 2015
Stories of the atrocities that took place in many residential schools for First Nations children need to be told but in this particular book I found the writing too simple and the words lacked emotional depth. And the extreme repetitive style the author used was very annoying. I felt as though I had already read every sentence a dozen times (or more). Every chapter began with someone either making coffee, or drinking it. It quickly became very predictable and remained so right up to the very end.
May 19, 2010
After listening to an interview with Robert Alexie, I knew I had to read this book. I have read a number of books and essays relating the residential schools in Canada but none impacted me to the extent that this book has. At first, I had difficulty with vulgar tone but soon I realized that it emphasized the emotional impact that the residential schools had on the survivors and their family. This book is a difficult book to read. Even though it is a novel, you know that many First Nations people endured these tragic events both while attending the residential schools and after returning home.
March 11, 2013
(7/10) After a prologue that tells the story of residential schooling in a mythical, almost fairy-tale way, Porcupines and China Dolls jumps right into the visceral and the raunchy. Over the next hundred pages Alexie expertly depicts a Northern Aboriginal town full of people and relationships, most of them heavily dysfunctional, and with the whole town caught in an endless rhythm of alcoholism and meaningless sex. Alexie's greatest feat in this novel is depicting the town as a believable, if very dark, human ecosystem. What's more, he makes it clear how the social decay of Aberdeen, NWT is a direct result of Canada's economic and social policies towards First Nations people over the past century, most notably the scarring trauma of residential schools.
And then the plot comes along. Characters confront their demons, the story seemingly reaches a climax, then the resolution starts to fall apart, and then there's a second, more tentative resolution. Throughout Alexie's style is hyperbole and maximalism, exemplified by the chapter in which a healing workshop and the disclosing of sexual abuse is described as an epic battle, but also in the endless sexual and bodily debasement. It's striking and at least initially fun to read, but after a while it starts to come off as kind of gimmicky. The climax and resolution also seemed distinctly unnatural -- we're presented at first with a hopeless cycle, and then it suddenly stops being hopeless and people start being able to face their problems, for reasons that are unclear.
It's a very strange thing to say, but I would have preferred to stay in the hopeless Aberdeen of the first half of the novel for a little longer. It could have made for a great rural noir, although that's clearly not the story that Alexie wanted to tell. The story he does tell is heavy-handed to the point of didacticism, although the style and huamnity Alexie does it with make it something a bit more. A flawed novel, but definitely an interesting entry into the corpus of Aboriginal literature.
And then the plot comes along. Characters confront their demons, the story seemingly reaches a climax, then the resolution starts to fall apart, and then there's a second, more tentative resolution. Throughout Alexie's style is hyperbole and maximalism, exemplified by the chapter in which a healing workshop and the disclosing of sexual abuse is described as an epic battle, but also in the endless sexual and bodily debasement. It's striking and at least initially fun to read, but after a while it starts to come off as kind of gimmicky. The climax and resolution also seemed distinctly unnatural -- we're presented at first with a hopeless cycle, and then it suddenly stops being hopeless and people start being able to face their problems, for reasons that are unclear.
It's a very strange thing to say, but I would have preferred to stay in the hopeless Aberdeen of the first half of the novel for a little longer. It could have made for a great rural noir, although that's clearly not the story that Alexie wanted to tell. The story he does tell is heavy-handed to the point of didacticism, although the style and huamnity Alexie does it with make it something a bit more. A flawed novel, but definitely an interesting entry into the corpus of Aboriginal literature.
December 17, 2021
Very sad but extremely eye opening to the effects that residential schools had on these children, and how it effected their future. I gave it 3 starts because the first half of the book was a little bit confusing and foggy, I found it very hard to get into. But nonetheless it was very interesting and educational. Absolutely horrible what these people have gone through…
December 31, 2018
An absolutely essential read for everyone. I wish this book was more affordable and still in print- the stories in this book need and deserve to be heard. Not enough people are aware of the trauma of Native American boarding schools. I wasn’t even aware of it before reading this, but now that I have, I will never forget it. The book is split up into three parts, the first solely focusing on the characters as children and giving a background on boarding schools themselves, so prior research is not necessary. Once you get to part 2, you are immediately sprung into a world that no one is prepared for. The main character focus, James, is now in his mid-40s and is a struggling alcoholic. In fact, almost every character we meet is in a similar boat. Stick with it even through the first 30-40 pages of part 2, as it can be hard to grasp at first. I promise it is worth it and everything will make sense soon enough. There is an extremely beautiful scene about halfway through the book that you don’t want to miss; probably some of the best writing I’ve seen in a book. It will make you feel something you’ve never felt before. Anyways, as the book goes on we slowly learn more and more about each character’s past, leading up to where they are now, and we find out that a few of the characters have an unfortunate connection they don’t know they have until one of them makes a staggering confession. The story itself covers a lot of general themes such as suicide, depression, alcoholism, abuse, trauma, and boarding schools. A trigger warning here is necessary, as these sensitive topics are brought out a lot in this book. I know being someone who has struggled with mental health, I had a really hard time getting through some parts without bursting into tears. Although, this book is very important for people to grasp and understand. If there is any way you can get your hands on this book- do it. You won’t forget it either. Despite the tears shed and the amount of times you might need to set it down, you will not want to put it down by the end.
November 1, 2018
This is probably the most emotionally heavy book I've ever read.
Robert Arthur Alexie's story depicts a community of Indigenous peoples in Canada whose lives have been traumatically altered by the mission school placed in the community, which the Native American children were forced to attend and where they were often abused, mistreated, and forced to learn English and abandon their culture. The characters of this novel live in the aftermath of those schools. Alexie's strengths are his ability to create characters and dialogue that just seems to mill about, as people do in small towns, when really it's spurring the plot forward and revealing surprising layers of emotion. The pacing in the book may feel slow at first, but once you get used to it and understand how it's all building on itself, the result is beautiful and profound.
As a future teacher, I have to admit that this book was hard to read. Teachers are supposed to bring out the best in their students, to help them become the best versions of themselves that they can be. They’re supposed to protect their students. And the teachers at these school did the exact opposite, and the harm that they did impacted some of those kids for their entire lives. I think every future teacher should read a book like this, to understand just how great an undertaking it is to teach, and just how harmful it can be when a teacher or authority figure in a child's life sets themselves against the students' culture and self expression.
Another really powerful aspect of this book is that Alexie clearly understands that healing is not linear. We see the characters move through high and lows as they try to combat the nightmares from their pasts that haunt them, and we see the way truth bubbles forth in small, quiet ways.
Robert Arthur Alexie's story depicts a community of Indigenous peoples in Canada whose lives have been traumatically altered by the mission school placed in the community, which the Native American children were forced to attend and where they were often abused, mistreated, and forced to learn English and abandon their culture. The characters of this novel live in the aftermath of those schools. Alexie's strengths are his ability to create characters and dialogue that just seems to mill about, as people do in small towns, when really it's spurring the plot forward and revealing surprising layers of emotion. The pacing in the book may feel slow at first, but once you get used to it and understand how it's all building on itself, the result is beautiful and profound.
As a future teacher, I have to admit that this book was hard to read. Teachers are supposed to bring out the best in their students, to help them become the best versions of themselves that they can be. They’re supposed to protect their students. And the teachers at these school did the exact opposite, and the harm that they did impacted some of those kids for their entire lives. I think every future teacher should read a book like this, to understand just how great an undertaking it is to teach, and just how harmful it can be when a teacher or authority figure in a child's life sets themselves against the students' culture and self expression.
Another really powerful aspect of this book is that Alexie clearly understands that healing is not linear. We see the characters move through high and lows as they try to combat the nightmares from their pasts that haunt them, and we see the way truth bubbles forth in small, quiet ways.
October 21, 2022
You have to get about a third of the way through the book, to get to what I felt is the actual story. It becomes a very hard read, I found myself very emotional. Suicide is a recurring thought that comes up a lot, for me this made it extremely difficult to get through.
Once I got past the first third of the book, it became very difficult for me to put the book down, but when I went to pick the book up to continue, I was like do I really want to get back into this again.
Once I got past the first third of the book, it became very difficult for me to put the book down, but when I went to pick the book up to continue, I was like do I really want to get back into this again.
August 16, 2023
So good, a story of residential school survivors. Made me emotional, and was so very well written!
November 11, 2024
This is a must read for anyone who needs an honest accounting of the effects of the residential school experience of our First Nations people in Canada.
July 19, 2023
A wonderful, funny, and heartbreaking story.
January 21, 2023
Porcupines and China Dolls by Robert Arthur Alexie is the story of an Indigenous community struggling to reconcile with the trauma of residential schools and the effects of the genocide against children that took place in those schools. Trigger warnings for sexual abuse and suicide.
This is an incredibly heavy book and I would recommend that one reads it with multiple people so that the hard topics can be discussed and worked through together. Though a devastating novel, Porcupines and China Dolls speaks truthfully about generational and community trauma. Alexie has no interest in making these topics easy for the reader because they occurred to real people who suffered very real, lasting effects.
Through the characters of James, Jake and Chief David, the author shows the importance of speaking out and sharing experience in hopes of healing.
Each character is extremely complex, and entirely realistic. Alexie inserts moments of comedic relief and wit that makes the reader fall in love with those involved in the story.
By the end of the novel, I found myself rooting not just for James, Jake and Mary, but for the entire community. There is a feeling that things have the potential to get better and after experiencing the many journeys that occur in the book, one can’t help but be entirely invested.
Alexie’s writing style takes a while to adjust to, but as the novel progresses, it becomes clear why he made certain stylistic choices. The stream of consciousness narrative can be challenging at times, but adds a depth and vulnerability to the text that would otherwise be hard to achieve.
Alexie is a world-class writer, and this book is full of powerful imagery and metaphor. He utilizes a mixture of imagination and reality to accurately portray the effects of traumatic events, a rare skill. Lines such as “Elizabeth is cutting her wrists, but no blood comes out. She cuts harder, but still there is no blood. She looks at him, and the emotion bursts forth from his soul. He looks to the ceiling and screams. When he is finished, he looks at his wife, and she looks at him. They smile and get on with life” (25) exemplify this robust method of storytelling. Alexie applies this strategy throughout the entire novel.
This is a book that requires a lot of mental work, and certain parts can be mentally and emotionally draining. However, it is a text that is important. It gives an unfaltering look into the types of environments that are created by oppressive governments. It shows the humanity of those who have been forgotten by society. It allows for huge moments of growth and reconciliation with the past.
I recommend reading other Indigenous novels before tackling this one. A fair bit of knowledge about themes in Indigenous Literatures makes this book easier to understand. It is a book worth taking the time to understand, but it is ideal that it would be read in a safe space that is open for conversation. It is a beautiful testament to the relentless strength of Indigenous Peoples.
This is an incredibly heavy book and I would recommend that one reads it with multiple people so that the hard topics can be discussed and worked through together. Though a devastating novel, Porcupines and China Dolls speaks truthfully about generational and community trauma. Alexie has no interest in making these topics easy for the reader because they occurred to real people who suffered very real, lasting effects.
Through the characters of James, Jake and Chief David, the author shows the importance of speaking out and sharing experience in hopes of healing.
Each character is extremely complex, and entirely realistic. Alexie inserts moments of comedic relief and wit that makes the reader fall in love with those involved in the story.
By the end of the novel, I found myself rooting not just for James, Jake and Mary, but for the entire community. There is a feeling that things have the potential to get better and after experiencing the many journeys that occur in the book, one can’t help but be entirely invested.
Alexie’s writing style takes a while to adjust to, but as the novel progresses, it becomes clear why he made certain stylistic choices. The stream of consciousness narrative can be challenging at times, but adds a depth and vulnerability to the text that would otherwise be hard to achieve.
Alexie is a world-class writer, and this book is full of powerful imagery and metaphor. He utilizes a mixture of imagination and reality to accurately portray the effects of traumatic events, a rare skill. Lines such as “Elizabeth is cutting her wrists, but no blood comes out. She cuts harder, but still there is no blood. She looks at him, and the emotion bursts forth from his soul. He looks to the ceiling and screams. When he is finished, he looks at his wife, and she looks at him. They smile and get on with life” (25) exemplify this robust method of storytelling. Alexie applies this strategy throughout the entire novel.
This is a book that requires a lot of mental work, and certain parts can be mentally and emotionally draining. However, it is a text that is important. It gives an unfaltering look into the types of environments that are created by oppressive governments. It shows the humanity of those who have been forgotten by society. It allows for huge moments of growth and reconciliation with the past.
I recommend reading other Indigenous novels before tackling this one. A fair bit of knowledge about themes in Indigenous Literatures makes this book easier to understand. It is a book worth taking the time to understand, but it is ideal that it would be read in a safe space that is open for conversation. It is a beautiful testament to the relentless strength of Indigenous Peoples.
February 10, 2018
A fascinating novel about a time and place and culture I knew next to nothing about. Thank you, Mr. Alexie! 😊
August 18, 2011
Robert Arthur Alexie’s Porcupines and China Dolls is dirty—or at least it gives a glimpse into a world that is dirty.
James Nathan and Jake Noland have been best friends since childhood. They like to get drunk, get high and sleep around. They try to block out their memories of childhood abuse in residential school. But the public disclosure of the past forces them to face their demons or fall into victimhood again.
For generations, Canadian Aboriginals had their children cruelly taken away from them. For years, the history of residential schools in Canada denied that males were abused. This book shows the effects of living in a silence that tears the souls of children apart.
Knowing their brown bodies were going to be scrubbed by white hands ... knowing they were going to be forever ashamed ... knowing they were going to cry that night ... knowing it was going to sound like a million porcupines screaming in the dark ... knowing there was not a thing you can do about it.
This book will provoke discussion about the ability of the human soul to heal when the truth is revealed. Anyone who wants to learn more about the shameful history of Canada’s residential schools should read this book.
James Nathan and Jake Noland have been best friends since childhood. They like to get drunk, get high and sleep around. They try to block out their memories of childhood abuse in residential school. But the public disclosure of the past forces them to face their demons or fall into victimhood again.
For generations, Canadian Aboriginals had their children cruelly taken away from them. For years, the history of residential schools in Canada denied that males were abused. This book shows the effects of living in a silence that tears the souls of children apart.
Knowing their brown bodies were going to be scrubbed by white hands ... knowing they were going to be forever ashamed ... knowing they were going to cry that night ... knowing it was going to sound like a million porcupines screaming in the dark ... knowing there was not a thing you can do about it.
This book will provoke discussion about the ability of the human soul to heal when the truth is revealed. Anyone who wants to learn more about the shameful history of Canada’s residential schools should read this book.
February 15, 2016
An edifying novel around the topic of the residential school story in Canada. Interestingly, the novel is written without actual blame toward the white man. It is read as that was part of time; what is today is part of time and in this story it is a time of healing. The book is harsh in places, full of sorrow but also compassion and hope. My eyes were opened to what had been taken from the First Nations people by the Churches of that time, due to the utter ignorance and superstition of what was then a very fundamentalist either Catholic or Anglican point of view on religion and what was "right". If anyone had relatives rounded up and placed peremptorily into POW camps in WWI or WWII in Canada, by the "ruling class" of that day, there might be some inkling at the helplessness facing the native population in this righteous and powerful majority.
You have to allow yourself to be swept into the magic of healing powers within tradition, the soulfulness of the community and its spirit.
This is a tremendous Canadian story and all of us should read it. It has given me a greater respect for the efforts of the working First Nation population to heal and recover and become a community within Canada, not outside, as it was.
You have to allow yourself to be swept into the magic of healing powers within tradition, the soulfulness of the community and its spirit.
This is a tremendous Canadian story and all of us should read it. It has given me a greater respect for the efforts of the working First Nation population to heal and recover and become a community within Canada, not outside, as it was.
September 18, 2014
The beginning of this book put me off a bit as it seemed to be about nothing but drinking and gratuitous sex and the tone was extremely emotionally flat. However, I'm glad I persisted as the reason for the lack of passion in the writing was a deliberate depiction of how abuse in the Residential School system caused the protagonist to shut down emotionally. Revelation brought a degree of healing and opened up possibilities to live a more honest and open life, allowing him to lose the flatness that abuse had imposed upon him and allow the possibility of love into his life
November 15, 2017
Wow, what a haunting book. I gave it 3 stars because at times the writing style didn't resonate with me and I didn't feel like the story was moving forward, but at other times the writing was absolutely beautiful and really resonated. This was definitely a hard book to read because of the subject matter, but I think it's important to remember this is an absolutely horrible part of Canada's history, and everyone should know what happened.
July 10, 2009
What a heart wrenching book that begins with a suicide and ends in redemption. The book takes place on a Native Reserve in Canada and deals with Native culture and abuse in modern Canada. A very difficult book to read, but worth it in the end.
June 16, 2010
This book taught me something about the residential school in northern Canada. I grew up in Yellowknife never knowing what went on all around me in the very recent past. I can't stress how important this book is. It has changed my whole understanding of historical events. It's a must read.
January 30, 2013
Heart-breakingly beautiful - want to know what the Residential school experience did to the survivors - this painful novel is stunning in how it gets at the rawness of abuse and how it affects those who are haunted by the ghosts of the past
April 12, 2015
Heartbreaking true to fact and gritty story of the trickle down effects of Residential Schools. Alexie created a vivid story, with true to life characters and a rough around the edges writing style. This book is not one to pass up.
October 19, 2010
This wasn't an easy read, nor was it perfectly written, but it was a compelling novel about a difficult topic.
August 8, 2011
Love this book! It was hard to put down and kept you guessing until the very end. It was easy to love the characters and I was sad when the book ended.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews