The Break
Books | Fiction / Literary
4.5
(319)
Katherena Vermette
Winner of the Amazon.ca First Novel Award and a finalist for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award, The Break is a stunning and heartbreaking debut novel about a multigenerational Métis–Anishnaabe family dealing with the fallout of a shocking crime in Winnipeg’s North End.When Stella, a young Métis mother, looks out her window one evening and spots someone in trouble on the Break — a barren field on an isolated strip of land outside her house — she calls the police to alert them to a possible crime.In a series of shifting narratives, people who are connected, both directly and indirectly, with the victim — police, family, and friends — tell their personal stories leading up to that fateful night. Lou, a social worker, grapples with the departure of her live-in boyfriend. Cheryl, an artist, mourns the premature death of her sister Rain. Paulina, a single mother, struggles to trust her new partner. Phoenix, a homeless teenager, is released from a youth detention centre. Officer Scott, a Métis policeman, feels caught between two worlds as he patrols the city. Through their various perspectives a larger, more comprehensive story about lives of the residents in Winnipeg’s North End is exposed.A powerful intergenerational family saga, The Break showcases Vermette’s abundant writing talent and positions her as an exciting new voice in Canadian literature.
AD
Buy now:
More Details:
Author
Katherena Vermette
Pages
288
Publisher
House of Anansi
Published Date
2016-09-17
ISBN
1487001126 9781487001124
Community ReviewsSee all
"Book may cause triggers. Has sexual violence. Good book, typical rez story and characters. "
Tadie Bill
"I’ve been meaning to read this one for a while. Mostly, at first, because it’s set in Winnipeg and not enough books are set outside of places like New York City. As I read, I found myself drawn in partially by the suspense - but it’s not really a thriller or a mystery, despite pieces of plot unfolding. It’s more a suspense of character development, which is a unique talent to produce. A massive cast should be harder to follow than it is (though I wouldn’t mind a family tree as I kept picking up and then losing again the threads of interrelatedness). Much as I’ve just said I want a family tree, I actually feel like part of the point is to not follow precisely how everybody is related. I learned more about the Anishnaabe concept “all my relations” reading this book than in any cultural sensitivity training I’ve received so far. The people are broken and troubled, and the story is dark. But it feels hopeful and real. The last book I read was a memoir of a former prostitute, and I felt almost voyeuristic reading it. The Break manages to avoid all sense of voyeurism and instead draws you in closely, intimately, into the lives of real and complex people. Lives that on the surface look so different from my own but when you go past the surface, are only a hair’s breadth away. This is an important book but it is also a GOOD book. Every Winnipegger should read it - every Canadian should read it too."
T P
Teresa Prokopanko
"This is a book about family and trauma. The violence that's warned about at the beginning mostly lurks around the edges, but it colours everything that happens. A very heavy read, but it does end on a bittersweetly hopeful note."
a
awesome_user_984860
"Kathena Vermette is a Métis writer from Winnipeg, Manitoba. It is a very well written book that makes it easy to picture what is going on and connect with the characters. The book does centre around a sexual assault, which is always hard to read. <br/><br/>The Break is a prequel to The Strangers. You get to see a bit of a background to mom and what happened with the daughter who is in juvie. Like The Strangers, you follow a handful of different characters and see into their past. We also get to see more of the struggle of being Métis, but “not Métis enough” or not being Indigenous enough. This is something that is popping up more and more amongst Indigenous groups currently and is creating a divide. <br/><br/>I recommend this book, but with the trigger warning of sexual assault."
Jade Hawreschuk
"This book talks about the very best and worst of human capabilities and possibilities. It is beautifully written and the author walks you through intense heartbreaks and then shows you the kindness, love and strength that often surround tragedy. It's just beautiful. If you want a cast of powerful women who remain human this is the read for you. "
A A
Ashley Amini
"A good read, and easy to get into. I read this for a class, and so my pages and genealogy at the front are all marked up to heck. I'm glad I did it, because this many female characters, often with male nicknames, can be tricky to keep track of. I'd encourage any potential reader to make notes on that chart in the front, and make notes in the margin for non-relation characters!<br/><br/>That said, I felt more of a climatic event was needed, as a violent act was in the beginning and further violence was hinted at. But perhaps that's more of the nature of the circular style of traditional Indigenous storytelling."
Andrew Greene
