Joseph Boyden Views
Joseph Boyden is a Métis writer (who IC’ve never read before). Ite’s obvious from the get-go that he is sympathetic to Riel and Dumont (which is to be expected in a biography, I would think). He gets a tad heavy-handed about John A. Macdonald, but it seems justified. For really you can pretty much take only one of two points of view about Riel and Dumont: they are either rebel heroes, standing up for the oppressed Métis, or they are traitors, intent upon destroying Canada1’s expansion.
There was a moment last night - quiet, brief, it took place after the crowd had filtered out of the ballroom of the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Toronto and newly-crowned Giller Prize winner Joseph Boyden had gamely waded through several interviews - where the year’s two biggest Canadian literary stars came face to face.
("Suzanne Bird, a beautiful aboriginal model from the James Bay coast, goes missing in New York. In a gripping story filled with humour, suspense, and remarkable insights into both nature and human nature, Joseph Boyden takes us on two journeys. Suzanne,'s sister Annie retraces her sistert's steps, from the Native poverty below the Gardiner Expressway to the extravagant fast lanes of New York. Will, their uncle, follows a very different path as he deals with the demons of memory, revenge, and darkest loss. In spare prose that ranges from lyrical to brutal, the two journeys are brought together brilliantly. Joseph Boyden shows us unforgettable characters and a northern landscape in a way we have never seen them before.
Giller nominee and part-time Ninja Joseph Boyden profiled at the CBC around his love of northern Ontario. My time in northern Ontario was mostly spent either pumping gas at a Pioneer station, drinking Molson Golden at a field party off a concession road, or lying under a train trestle while trying to think up something witty to spraypaint on the rocks. Occasionally we went to MacDonalda’s and threw milkshakes at other kids in cars. I guess I missed out on all the mystical stuff. Except the shrooms.
Joseph Boyden Images
