Birdie

This is both a wonderfully crafted book and an excellent story about the effects of abuse and the power of healing.

I'll start with the crafting. The book includes stories/legends in the Cree tradition, as well as symbolic dreams. The author weaves these into the story to bring a deeper meaning or context to the thoughts and actions of the main character, Bernice/Birdie.

Because, on the surface, Bernice isn't doing much. She has taken to her bed and doesn't appear to be moving, eating or interacting with anyone....her Auntie Val, cousin Freda and employer/landlord/friend Lola hover about with concern, love and, at times, exasperation.

But, through the dreams and through the main story, we learn of Bernice's life. She is a victim of incest, show more poverty and racial discrimination. Her story is one all too common in Canada, where generations of Aboriginal children were removed from their homes, causing a multitude problems that didn't end when the schools closed. That legacy, while not explicitly mentioned, permeates the story.

As Bernice struggles to make peace with her past, we read a story that is at times, tragic, but also heartwarming as generations of women struggle to do the best they can for themselves and, most often, for each other. There are even humourous moments, making the characters so very real. An excellent choice for Canada Reads. show less

Birdie is a gut-punch of a book.

But it's a hard one to talk about, given the history of indigenous peoples in Canada, and our current political fixation on the plight of native women. (Please note that any criticism here is directed to the fetishization of one cause at a time. The plight is real and serious and deserves to be dealt with, not just in 2015 and 2016 because it became momentarily trendy among progressives, but all the time, until it's solved.)

So what this isn't, is an Issue novel. Or a novel about The Evils of Colonialism. Although the issues are there, as are the generational impacts of Colonialism on Canada's native people.

It's the story of how centuries of all this crap landed right on the head of one young girl, who show more dealt with trauma after trauma until she couldn't, and she ... disintegrated. Psychologically. It's presented in the text in very indigenous terms, in Cree terms, and that is certainly how it was experienced by the protagonist and other characters; it could be understood as the vision quest as written, or as PTSD coming home to roost in spectacular fashion, or both (I tend to both).

Birdie felt very real to me, as did all of her friends and family. The writing is very assured, very sophisticated, for a debut. It's incredible.

Some previous reviews have criticized the tenuous grip on time and chronology, particularly in the first sections. Personally I didn't have any trouble with it. Of course her grasp of time and chronology is tenuous; she's stuck in bed with a massive, massive depression as a result of PTSD and going through flashback after flashback. This does not make for tidy story-telling.

Some previous reviews have also criticized the other characters on a moral level. I can see where they're coming from, but it's not a criticism I share. Yes, the people surrounding Birdie fail her on every level, even the ones who love her, even the ones whose job it is to protect her. They're human and they fuck up, terribly, and then they come back to try to save her when it may be too little too late. I don't feel, myself, that the book let them off the hook for this, only that Birdie is exceptionally forgiving and was able to see the good in them.

I couldn't put it down, which is pretty amazing when you consider that the actual novel is about a woman who is very depressed and goes to bed for a month. It doesn't sound compelling, plot-wise, but the unfolding back-and-forth of the flashbacks, the unspooling of her history, and the tremendous investment of the reader (at least this reader) in whether or not she will be able to continue coping with the cumulative impact of what she has experienced, was very compelling.

I highly recommend Birdie, and I hope it continues to be widely read and discussed for decades, not just while Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women are on the front pages of our newspapers. show less

I related to so much in this book. Family dynamics, generational trauma, sexual assault, surviving, trauma responses including - but not limited to - dissociation. In the back of this book is an interview with the author and I hope that anyone who reads this reads that too. In it she speaks of her hopes and wishes regarding this book and my experience of reading absolutely fulfilled those. It does deal with sexual assault including family members, domestic violence - or partner violence - as it’s sometimes referred to with that identifier. But it also deals with relationships and the strength of women. I’m not sure if I could have related to this book as much prior to starting my healing journey, especially the dissociation and time show more loss. This is going to be a strong favourite for a long time. I looked for any further novels but the only thing I see is that a release in September 2025 by this author is titled “The Cree Word for Love: Sâkihitowin”. I have no idea if it’s going to be a continuation of this family but I can tell you with no hesitation that I’ll be purchasing a copy. The writing from this author is just incredible. show less

My daughter bought me this book for my birthday/Christmas gift. I was stoked to read an Indigenous book by a Canadian Indigenous author, being an Indigenous Canadian myself.
I connected to this amazing story in so many ways. I saw myself in Birdie. I'm sure a lot of us do. I also saw myself in Freda though, and not just in name. The story of these five women was powerful. It was told in the most interesting way, I feel like it is still resonating through me as I write this review.
Pretty incredible debut novel!
Miigwetch to my daughter for gifting it to me!

Excellent, excellent book about the strength of Bernice (aka Birdie). Growing up with mom Maggie, Aunt Val, sistercousin Freda, and the abusive uncles. As non-status Cree Indians, they cannot live on the reservation except when a city-dwelling cousin lets them stay in his house.

Bernice is bright, a reader, and hides her shame and attractiveness in food. She quietly fights for Freda, and for her own mental stability. After she moves out she lives with Val, and then gets placed in a foster home (only as an adult does she realize how kind the couple was, even if they were white and didn't understand her--but she was too untrusting and abused to truly see the kindness), then the San (a mental facility). Upon release she follows her heart to show more the location of her favorite TV show in BC. She finds a job in a bakery. She makes friends with Lola, the white owner, and then has a breakdown. Val, Freda, Lola, and Bernice's own inner strength pull her through--with some help from traditional medicine. show less

This is a very good book but it is not an easy one to read. It is a very circular story of Bernice (Birdie), a half breed Cree woman who grows up in Northern Alberta and ends up in Gibsons, British Columbia. She was a great fan of the CBC production "The Beachcombers" filmed in Gibsons and wants to meet her idol Pat John. She is a survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of a relative. She is so traumatized by her past the she enters into a semi catatonic state for several months until her body learns to live in peace with her mind. It is during this time that we learn of her past and meet three very strong women who help her survive: Valene, Freda, and Lola, her employer. Family secrets are not talked about and there is guilt that Birdie show more was subjected to so much pain. The story is filled with spirituality, symbolism and poetry and these are important for Birdie's recovery. There is a happy ending as the women friends help her through her illness. This was a Canada Reads 2016 selection and it fits very well into its theme of "starting over".
With the Canadian inquiry into Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women getting underway, this is a very good intro into someone who goes missing spiritually because of past trauma. show less

i cannot guarantee i am going to make a lot of sense here as i work through my thoughts on this novel, so preemptive apologies if you've found yourself here on this review. :)

birdie landed on my radar last year, i kept hearing great things about this debut novel from the incredibly impressive and accomplished tracey lindberg. it was then chosen as a contender for the 2016 edition of canada reads. because of that, the book got bumped up my TBR list. also because of canada reads, the theme of 'starting over' was ever-present in my head as i was reading, as that is the framework for the program this year.

so, birdie. it's such an interesting novel. it's definitely a book that, for me, requires more than one reading. there's a lot going on show more here, and though i know i 'got' the story, there are just so many layers and dots to connect and consider. but it's not a book i want to jump right back into right away. this is an emotional read, to be sure. there are some heavy subjects which are so sad and heartbreaking. but there is also a strong heart and sense of compassion in lindberg's writing. the story, though very tough at times, isn't completely burdened by what birdie has endured. rather it is buoyant in birdie's survival.

i did have a couple of issues with the story. one of these was really getting 'in' to birdie. a good portion of the story has birdie in a bit of a vision quest/catatonic state - aware but unresponsive in her bed. birdie is a bookish, thoughtful woman and the story is very internal to her thoughts and memories. while i liked this aspect of the book very much, i felt a bit detached. at the same time - birdie seeming to be dissociative, given all she has lived through, is completely understandable. my second issue had to do with the timeline of the narrative. though i am usually totally fine with non-linear tellings, there was a very bumpy flow to this book. i think that because there are shifts in time, as well as birdie's dream sequences, it caused things to fragment just a bit too much. though, again, birdie's life was so fragmented. so i do get it... i just wish it had gone a bit more smoothly as i read - i kept getting jostled out of the story. and i wish that i loved it more. but, i am very glad i have read this book, and i hope that many people will discover it and appreciate what tracey lindberg has done in her debut work.

oh - and i have to give an awesome 'hurrah!' for the beachcombers, and jesse jim, specifically, being so important to birdie in her life. canadians of a certain age will likely all be going 'aww. yeah!'

i am quite interested in seeing how bruce poon tip will champion birdie in canada reads. he seems like such a smart, sensitive, and circumspect fellow. show less