Richard Wagamese (1955–2017)

A Perfect Likeness consists of two novellas with similar narrative arcs, but different atmospheres. Him Standing is a more supernatural/otherworldly story in which Lucas Smoke, a highly gifted woodcarver, is approached by a mysterious man in black who asks him to make a spirit mask. The Next Sure Thing follows Cree Thunderboy, a blues guitarist who also has a knack for picking winners at the racetrack, and this knack attracts the attention of a gangster looking to make some quick bucks. Both show more Lucas and Cree face significant challenges in hanging onto themselves in these tricky situations.

I devoured these novellas in the space of an afternoon. Wagamese is an excellent writer and conjures up two very different atmospheres from the same general pattern. Of the two, I preferred Him Standing, possibly because it was the first one of the two, but also because the supernatural elements were just the right amount of hair-raising for me. The Next Sure Thing was very good, but the challenges faced by Cree were a bit more down-to-earth, or at least familiar to readers of crime fiction. I found them especially familiar, if I can use that word, given my recent binge of Craig Russell’s Lennox series, which features gangsters in Glasgow. But that’s not to take away from the Wagamese novella. It was well done, as all of his work is.

This book is highly recommended, especially in the Orca Book Publishers edition with the stunning cover. It sets the mood nicely. show less

I "read" this because I'm doing the CBC Book Bingo Challenge and this is the only book by an Indigenous author that's in my library audio system that I haven't read. I found it very powerful, with themes of family, connectedness and alienation from the land, and the impact of colonization, and a story that centres on a character dealing with his imminent death.

I was intrigued by how the author is elusive about time and place: I could only make an approximate guess based on a few clues. He show more also never uses the main characters' names in his narrator's voice (although they name each other), rather describing them as "the old man," "the man," "the kid." I also appreciated the thread set in the Korean War, which I don't think I've ever come across in literature before. show less

“Listen, The Old Ones speak to all of us. They tell us that we are in this together and that we always were.”

This is a reprint of a poem Wagamese published in Runaway Dreams 2011, this time in an amazingly beautiful picture book with an iridescent title, as if it had been touched by the Aurora Borealis.

Schoolchildren are given an assignment to write about what makes them proud to be Canadian. As one reluctant child considers the task, her ancestors spiritually share their wisdom, show more allowing her to realize she is part of the country, the heritage, the people, and the future. Although written with the Ojibway author’s heritage in mind, the message and the illustrations reflect children of all ethnicities. Inspiring, lighthearted, and appealing, this fabulous book will be enjoyed by all readers, young or old.

“We are all related, we are all family, we are all kin. Every story is the seed of a thousand more. It is only in coming together that we discover the truth of that and know that we are home.”. show less

Easily...easily one of my favourite reads this year.

I will admit, this one likely dug deeper under my skin because, like Frank, I also had an alcoholic father who traveled to "follow the work", who overpromised and underdelivered with shocking regularity, who disappointed even more often, and ultimately died leaving less of a mark and more of a stain behind.

So, yeah, this one often hit home with me.

But there's so much more here. Wagamese's writing, his word choices are truly incandescent. show more When he's talking about Eldon and Jimmy's past exploits, I could feel my pulse increasing. When Eldon meets, then falls in love with Angie, I did too. When Frank was disappointed and frustrated, I was too.

Wagamese takes a story that's been told often, and injects an incredible level of realism into the story. He does not shy away from the awful stuff—and there's a lot of it here.

But more than anything, he builds two mysteries here. There's the slowly revealed mystery of Eldon Starlight, and the mostly unrevealed mystery of his son Franklin Starlight. And that's the secret heart of this novel that Wagamese hides in plain sight. Because there's a point where Eldon is talking about his friend Jimmy, and talks about how Jimmy once told him that human beings are a “Great Mystery” and that the old Indians did everything in order to learn to live with that mystery. They didn’t try to solve it or make sense of it—they just learned to be with it.

That's a powerful message, and it's one I've never really been given before. The reader sees Frank grappling with the great mystery of his father, and we wonder if he'll learn to live with it. Just like, in my own life, I'll never understand the great mystery of my own father. It's something that both saddens and frustrates me, but I can't solve it. I can't make sense of it. But I have, through the years, learned to be with it.

What a phenomenal story. What phenomenal truths Wagamese reveals. show less