A Dream Like Mine

by M.T. Kelly, Daniel David Moses (Introduction)

Considering whether it is moral to use radical and violent solutions to stop the destruction of the environment, this dark novel portrays a succession of fights over land rights and pollution in northern Ontario. As tensions increase, a local Canadian Native man decides to follow his vision of revenge by kidnapping the manager of the paper mill and a reporter who arrives on the scene.

Genres: Indigenous, Fiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up off a Free Library bookcase when I was visiting Seattle. It had an interesting cover that I can't seem to find online. It seems to be obscure despite its proclaimed "Winner of the Governor General's Award." And some Canadian users really didn't like it.

I have no experience with Native tribes, so I could not really say much about if this was cliche or stereotypical or out of touch as the negative reviews suggest. I did not notice anything like, maybe I am ignorant to it.

This read like an 80s surreal action film. After the first two chapters or so, it started rolling and I couldn't put the book down.

Some takeaways:

There is and was so much human suffering in every region of inhabitable space on Earth. The history of each region will reveal so much conflict and bloodshed.
- Tribes hurting their "relatives"
- Colonialists massacring Natives
- Demolition of nature
- Demolition of a people and their way of life

M.T. Kelly concludes the story with the thought that extreme mistreatment will push the mistreated to a point where the majority accept it and a few will retaliate, but no matter how few in numbers, the retaliations are bound to happen until the mistreatment ends or the mistreated end.

[Andrew Korell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been a fan of the movie Clear Cut and finally dug it up again after a few decades. When I re-watched the film my interpretation of Author was that he was a spirit summoned by the lawyer. He seems more human in the novel and much stronger sense of what is guiding Arthur even though the whole story is deliberately out of reach. You really have to think about what is being said about things like oral tradition, and the spiritual relationship with the environment. How Arthur has no interest in being a part of our capitalist society, and how the existence of modern Canada makes his traditional life impossible.

[Caleigh · Rating 1 out of 5]

Truly awful. Badly written with endless cliches and unsympathizable characters. Unfortunately this is typical of Canadian award-winning novels of the '80s.

[Eden · Rating 1 out of 5]

White guy writing about First Nation experience and characters. As expected.