Birdie : a novel

Format:

Book (regular print)

Title:

Birdie : a novel

Author:

Lindberg, Tracey, 1967- author.

ISBN:

9781443451352

Edition:

HarperCollins trade paperback edition.

Publication:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada : HarperCollinsPublishersLtd, 2016.

Physical Description:

266 pages : map ; 22 cm

General Note:

Originally published in Canada by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd in a hardcover edition 2015.

Contents:

Prologue : Where she is now -- when she made two journeys: ôtah mâcipayim: It starts from here -- 1: Who She Is: nayahcikewiyiniw: a person who bears things on her/his back -- 2: At Home: witokemakan: one who lives with family -- 3: Bernice Travels Lightly: awasispihk: before. the time before -- 4: Where She Is: kasakes: a glutton, one who eats a lot -- 5: Many Trips, Many Sufferings: misiwanacihow: someone who fell victim to suffering -- 6: Nowhere: anisinowin: lost. the act of losing one's way or being lost -- 7: Who Will Love You: awîyak ka kehnipat: someone who slept -- 8: Where She Was: kakosoweht: s/he is the one who is afraid of people -- 9: What Was Done Was Done: wahkewisiw: s/he is vulnerable to sickness -- 10: She Writes Her Own Story: omekinawew: one who shares food -- 11: The Last Travel Before The Final Destination: nakipayiw: s/he stops travelling, s/he makes broth -- 13: Home Coming / Coming Home: Kiwehtahiwew: s/he takes people home with him/her -- 14: Ceremony -- What She Must Do: iskwew: woman -- 15: The Shift -- Who She Has Become: otâcimow: a Storyteller, one who tells legends -- Epilogue: Where She Begins -- When Maggie Made Two Journeys: ati-itohtew: s/he begins going along -- Acknowledgements -- For Book Clubs: An Author Interview.

Summary:

A darkly comic and moving first novel about the universal experience of recovering from wounds of the past, informed by the lore and knowledge of Cree traditions. Bernice Meetoos, a Cree woman, leaves her home in Northern Alberta following tragedy and travels to Gibsons, BC. She is on something of a vision quest, seeking to understand the messages from The Frugal Gourmet that come to her in her dreams, but also driven by the leftover teenaged desire to meet Pat Johns, who played Jesse on The Beachcombers, because he is, as she says, a working, healthy Indian man. Bernice heads for Molly?s Reach to find answers but once there finds she is making the same poor decisions as always. Part road trip, dream quest and travelogue, the novel touches on the universality of women's experience, regardless of culture or race. Tracey Lindberg is a woman of Cree-Metis ancestry from northern Alberta. She has a doctoral degree in law as well as law degrees from the University of Ottawa, Harvard Law School and the University of Saskatchewan.

Subject(s):

Cree Indians -- Fiction.

Cree women -- Fiction.

Cree Indians -- Folklore -- Fiction.

Self-actualization (Psychology) -- Fiction.

Genre:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Salem Main Library	Lindberg, T.	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Bernice Meetoos will not be broken.

A big, beautiful Cree woman with a dark secret in her past, Bernice ("Birdie") has left her home in northern Alberta to travel to Gibsons, B.C. She is on something of a vision quest, looking for family, for home, for understanding. She is also driven by the leftover teenaged desire to meet Pat Johns--Jesse from The Beachcombers--because he is, as she says, a working, healthy Indian man. Birdie heads for Molly's Reach to find answers, but they are not the ones she expected.

With the arrival in Gibsons of her Auntie Val and her cousin Skinny Freda, Birdie begins to draw from her dreams the lessons she was never fully taught in life. Informed by the lore and knowledge of Cree traditions, Birdie is a darkly comic and moving first novel about the universal experience of recovering from tragedy. At heart, it is the story of an extraordinary woman who travels to the deepest part of herself to find the strength to face the past and to build a new life.

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Lindberg's debut novel is a twisting, darkly funny, heartbreaking, sometimes brilliant and sometimes incoherent tale situated in the complicated inner life of Bernice "Birdie" Meetos. Bernice is a Cree woman who was born and spent her childhoood on a reserve in northern Alberta. From there, she is sent to a Christian school, foster care, and a psychiatric hospital, and eventually ends up living on the streets of Edmonton, Alta. Finally, she moves from Alberta to Gibsons, B.C., ostensibly in hopes of meeting a native actor whom she idolized as a teen. Throughout much of the book Birdie has taken to her bed in her room above Lola's Little Slice of Heaven, the bakery in Gibsons where she works. There, in waking dreams, she begins to deal with the emotional and sexual abuse she endured as a child as well as the death of her mother. The novel's timeline and plot are difficult to follow as they move between Bernice's past and present, waking and dreaming, concrete reality and spirit world. The book's strength lies not in its larger story but in its small moments, particularly when Birdie is reflecting on her childhood. Lindberg is a Cree and Métis lawyer and a professor of law and indigenous studies at two universities. If her next work of fiction has better structure and a more coherent narrative, she will also be an important voice in Canadian literature. Agent: Carolyn Swayze, Carolyn Swayze Literary Agency (Canada). (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.