LoveReading Says
Emily is subjected to a horrific attack where she is raped with a glass bottle that breaks inside her. This story, peopled by Native ~Canadians, part of a Métis community, does not centre on the ghastly attack but on the reactions to that attack by all members of the family, bringing them closer together. Each chapter is narrated by a different person: relative, friend, enemy, cop, and crosses the generations where backstories are told and friends met. It is a big tale in only 368 pages, a tale of tragedy yes, but of inspiration, determination and hope, a stunning read, not a quick one but when the tension starts mounting you do feel an urgency to turn those pages fast. A family tree is included, essential as a reminder of who is speaking in each chapter. The best, in my opinion, is the family story and how they interact with each other. Highly recommended. ~ Sarah Broadhurst
Sarah Broadhurst
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The Break Synopsis
A GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD FINALIST
Longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award 2018
Crime Book of the Month, Sunday Times, February 2018
'I loved this... very tough and very real.' - Margaret Atwood
When Stella, a young mother in an Indigenous community, looks out her window one wintry evening and spots someone being attacked on the Break - a barren field on an isolated strip of land outside her house - she calls the police. By the time help arrives, all that is left of the struggle is blood on the snow. As the search for the victim intensifies, people who are connected, both directly and indirectly - police, family, and friends - tell their personal stories leading up to that fateful night, uncovering secrets and resentments long buried and giving blazing testimony to the lived reality of people pushed out to the coldest edges of modern Canada.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781786493910 |
| Publication date: |
6th September 2018 |
| Author: |
Katherena Vermette |
| Publisher: |
Atlantic Books |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
352 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Crime and Mystery
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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Katherena Vermette Press Reviews
A tough, close-up look at a side of female life that's often hard to acknowledge: the violence girls and women sometimes display towards other girls and women ... An accomplished writer who will go far. * Margaret Atwood *
Katherena Vermette is a tremendously gifted writer, a dazzling talent... The lives of the girls and women in The Break are not easy, but their voices are complex, urgent, and unsparing. Vermette lays bare what it means to survive, not only once, but multiple times, against the forces of private and national histories. -- Madeleine Thien * Author of Do Not Say We Have Nothing
Vermette is a staggering talent. Reading The Break is like a revelation; stunning, heartbreaking and glorious. From her exquisitely rendered characters to her fully realized world and the ratcheting tension, I couldn't put it down. Absolutely riveting. -- Eden Robinson * Author of Monkey Beach
The Break is... a beautiful love song of desire to live a full and rich life as cherished women ? even when we cannot have that... Vermette captures the reader from beginning to end. The Break is unforgettable. -- Lee Maracle * Author of Celia's Song *
The Break is a powerful, persuasive novel about the strength and love that bind these women to each other and to the men in their lives... Although this is a novel of social importance, it transcends politics, taking the reader on a journey to the heart of what it means for one person to care about another, survive trauma, and endure. * 2016 Rogers Writers Trust Fiction Prize Jury
About Katherena Vermette
KATHERENA VERMETTE is a Metis writer from Treaty One territory, the heart of the Metis nation, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Her first book, North End Love Songs (The Muses Company) won the Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry. Her NFB short documentary, this river, won the Coup de Coeur at the Montreal First Peoples Festival, and has been nominated for a Canadian Screen Award. Her first novel, The Break was shortlisted for a Governor General Literary Award, the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and is now a Canada Reads finalist.
More About Katherena Vermette
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