Hold Your Tongue

by Matthew Tetreault

Upon learning his great-uncle Alfred has suffered a stroke, Richard sets out for Ste. Anne, in southeastern Manitoba, to find his father and tell him the news. Waylaid by memories of his stalled romance, tales of run-ins with local Mennonites, his job working a honey wagon, and struck by visions of Métis history and secrets of his family's past, Richard confronts his desires to leave town, even as he learns to embrace his heritage.

Evoking an oral storytelling epic that weaves together one family's complex history, Hold Your Tongueasks what it means to be Métis and francophone. Recalling the work of Katherena Vermette and Joshua Whitehead, Matthew Tétreault's debut novel shines with a poignant, but playful character-driven meditation on the struggles of holding onto "la langue," and marks the emergence of an important new voice.

Genres: Indigenous, Canada, Fiction

280 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2023

Reviews

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I loved the mix of English, French and Michif, and was enthralled with the feeling of really knowing the locations. It’s not often that someone from southern Manitoba feels at home in a novel’s setting, and can picture the places and smell the smells! The story and characters are engaging and real, and the story is poignant, ending with a feeling of hope for the future.

The editing failed the story a bit - there were occasional missed typos that spoiled the flow for me a bit, but the story is worth it. 4.5 stars

[Léanne Auray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Très bon 3,7 ⭐️, beaucoup aimé le mélange des différentes langues qui ont survécues à la traduction. Mention spéciale à la place qu’occupe le récit oral dans le roman, les histoires racontées qui s’entremêlent et se complètent.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to review because I loved the content. Metis without talking about it, until suddenly you realize you always have been trading those stories. Taking people for granted until you piece together all the ways they have impacted you, or been the unheralded glue. So it's too much like my everyday life to read it as exciting and shiny. But there was a comfort in it. The fun of reading about places you recognize and have spent time in. I loved the inclusion of French and Michif and agree with Joshua Whitehead that the reader has to meet the author and do some of the work, but there were some larger swathes or certain words I had to look up to truly understand what was said.

But overall - if you are looking for a dose of Canadiana, or Southeast Manitoba- c'mon in! There's always tea and usually bannock ;)


P 54. "Roots had wormed into me, coiled through my guts, and fused themselves to me, until I was unable to envision myself apart from this place. Unable to voice the depth of my attachment, I had been powerless to explain to Becky why I could not move to the city..."

[Léa Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Récits de famille interessants qui me rappelaient mes propres "menoncles" et leurs histoires de bois. Beaucoup de va-et-viens temporels, qui deviennent parfois cryptiques avec la traduction. J'aurais préféré lire la version originale (en anglais avec des passages en français/mitchif). Ici, ça devenait difficile de savoir qui parlait, et en quelle langue.

[m.ta.lecture · Rating 1 out of 5]

Malgré un résumé fort intéressant, je n’ai malheureusement pas terminé ma lecture. Cependant, je vous conseille toujours de vous faire votre propre opinion et je crois que ce livre gagne à être connu.

[Jean-Pascal Simard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un peu lent à démarrer mais une belle histoire familiale dans le Manitoba francophone, écrit comme un film qui se déroule sur plusieurs époques.

[Elise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I greatly enjoyed reading this book. I’m a Manitoban anglophone and I never realized until now that I’ve never read anything else written in the French dialect I hear most often in real life. I enjoyed Rich and his mid-twenties existential crisis and I found the non-linear narrative really enhanced the story with how it kept coming back to certain events with new feelings and context.

[Anne Smith-Nochasak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hold Your Tongue by Matthew Tétreault is a work of fiction built around the final days of Alfred, a central figure in his family even though he lives apart from them. It is primarily the story of Richard, who tries to make sense of his family, his history, and his life through the stories told by and about his great uncle Alfred.

Like his father, Richard (“Rich”) does not seem to consider Métis to be his primary definition. He is a laid-off factory worker who sometimes drives his uncle’s septic truck. He is at a crossroads with his girlfriend and still feels betrayed by his sister’s sudden move to the city. He has, over the years, drifted from his great uncle Alfred. When Alfred has a stroke, though, all the stories, both personal and historical, fill Richard’s mind.

The text is interspersed with French-Michif, French-Canadian, and standard French, but remains highly readable. When passages elude the English reader, they need only wait for a comment or action in English that explains what was meant. Good storytelling is not always sequential, and we do not always catch every word, but after we listen to all the parts, we sit back, satisfied.


This is the story of Rich and of Alfred, of history and of future. At times poignant, sometimes harsh, it is always honest and alive. In the end, it inspires us to lift up all the stories that shape our lives. This is a fictional narrative, but a very real story, one that draws us to seek the truth about ourselves and our relationship with the world.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was really good. I loved the descriptive writing and the novel’s take on grief was incredibly relatable and compelling. I’ll avoid spoilers but my favorite scene that really illustrated the protagonist grappling with both grief and his family’s history was the scene where he was by the river experiencing history, loss, and the questions about his future all at once.

[Marcus Bellec · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book felt like a warm Franco-Manitoban hug. Made me cry, made me laugh. Merci Matthew :)