Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden ISBN 9780143037071, 0143037072 instant download

Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden ISBN 9780143037071, 0143037072 instant download

THREE DAY ROAD is a First World War novel told through the eyes of two Canadian Cree Indians: Niska, the last Indian woman living off the land in Canada, and her nephew, Xavier, who reluctantly joins the far-away war at the urging of his only friend, Elijah - a Cree boy raised in the reservation schools. Weaving between the horrors of the trenches and the wastes of No-man's land (where Elijah and Xavier hone their hunting skills as snipers and react in their very different ways to the never-ending carnage around them), and Niska's memories of growing up in the snowy wilderness of the Canadian North, the stories of aunt and nephew counterpoint each other forming a rich and spellbinding tapestry.Powerful, poignant and utterly compelling, THREE DAY ROAD is a novel about war and loyalty; ancestors and history; friendship and family, and the dark secrets of the human heart. It tells the story of the unknown, and unsung Indian snipers of the Great War, offers a unique and unforgettable account of life in the trenches and paints an evocative portrait of wilderness existence and the death of the Indian way of life.

Joseph Boyden's first novel is the story of two Cree friends, Xavier and Elijah, who leave their pristine northern country to end up in the horrific trenches of World War I. Loosely based on the real life of a famous Canadian sniper, the story is told from two first-person views: those of Xavier and his old aunt and only living relative, Niska. After the war, Niska is taking her wounded nephew back home north to the bush in a canoe. Their trip is the three-day road of the title, which also refers to the journey taken after death. The story of the war is told in flashbacks on this journey as Xavier recovers from morphine addiction. Niska also relates various stories to Xavier, believing there is "medicine in the tale."

Boyden is a natural storyteller. Both the Native tales of the north and the grim accounts of the war in France and Belgium have the ring of truth. His images can be subtly appropriate--raiders who go over the top are "eaten by the night"--and his characterizations are excellent, especially the three main players and Xavier's Canadian trenchmates. Eventually, Elijah seems to feed on the death all around him, becoming a "windigo," while Xavier begins to question the sanity of the war and his friend's growing madness, realizing "we all fight on two fronts, the one facing the enemy, the one facing what we do to the enemy." Not for the squeamish reader, this is a powerful novel that takes a new angle on a popular subject, "the war to end all wars." --Mark Frutkin, Amazon.ca

Starred Review. When Cree Indians Xavier Bird and Elijah Whiskeyjack join the Canadian Army in 1915, they expect to go to France, become warriors and kill Germans. What they don't expect is that the war will drive one of them mad and make the other a morphine-addicted cripple. This is Boyden's first novel (after the story collection Born with a Tooth), a powerful tale of two young men numbed by the horrors and brutality of trench warfare. Boyden vividly portrays the chaos, fear, cowardice and courage of infantrymen condemned to wallow in the mud and blood of the Western Front. Best friends Xavier and Elijah are both expert sharpshooters and, using the field craft they learned hunting in the forests of Hudson Bay, quickly become accomplished snipers. Elijah is outgoing and boastful, while Xavier is quiet and reserved, but both are deadly efficient soldiers. A parallel story line tells of Niska, Xavier's aunt, a Cree Indian prophet and healer, as she tells of the sad decline of Cree culture and waits for her nephew to come home. As the war drags on, one of the men's addiction to drugs and killing causes him to take extreme risks; when he finally commits murder to hide the ugly truth, his friend sees only one solution to save his own soul. Friendship is riven with resentment and war is stripped of glory in this remarkable, wrenching novel, the work of a gifted storyteller. Agent, Nicole Winstanley at Westwood Creative Artists (Toronto). 6-city author tour. (May 9)
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