The Orenda

Starred review from October 21, 2013
Epic in scope, exquisite in execution, Boydenâs spellbinding third novel tells the story of the French conquest of Canada from the point of view of both the conquerors and the conquered. Boyden, winner of the 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize for Through Black Spruce, here divides his story between three narrators, two of them aboriginal, the third a French Jesuit missionary based loosely on Jean de Brebeuf, recognized as a saint following his martyrdom at the hands of the Iroquois. Set in the early 1600s, as the French were exploring todayâs Canadian province of Ontario, Boydenâs narrative depicts in compelling detail how the French exploited ancient enmities between the Iroquois and Huron tribes to speed their conquest of New France. The novel abounds in riveting battle scenes and stomach-turning physical torture, but it shines most brightly in quieter passages that root the reader firmly in daily life in a tribal village where the spectre of famine and enemy attack compete with rich family life and a powerful spiritual attachment to the land. This is a long novel, and some readers may balk at the graphic torture sequences, but those who stay the course will be rewarded with a fascinating glimpse of what it felt like to live at the sharp end of the spear of European conquest. Agent: Eric Simonoff

February 15, 2014
Violent tribal warfare and disagreements about dogma abound in a historical epic set in 17th-century Canada. This sprawling novel by the Giller-winning Boyden (Three Day Road, 2005, etc.) alternates among three narrators. Bird is a Huron leader who strives to fend off attacks from enemy Iroquois while establishing a trading relationship with French settlers; Snow Falls is a young Iroquois woman captured by the Huron and claimed as a daughter by Bird; and Christophe is a young French Catholic priest, also captured by the Huron but determined to convert his keepers to Christianity. Boyden doesn't explicitly signal who's speaking in each chapter, but who's who is quickly clear: Bird is sage but ruthless, Snow Falls, spirited and independent, and Christophe is prayerful yet frightened. And Christophe has good reason to be scared: One of his fellow missionaries has been badly tortured by the Huron, his hands now fingerless stumps, and Boyden includes plenty of harrowing scenes of the dayslong torture the tribes would inflict on each other. (In a cruel irony, the Huron term for it is "caressing.") Yet the overall tone of the book is contemplative; violent scenes are matched by those about the nature of God in such a violent milieu, particularly in terms of Christophe's mostly unsuccessful attempts to turn the Huron to the "great voice." ("Orenda" is the life force the natives believe inhabits everything in nature.) For all the high-action savagery and brutality that Boyden details (even friendly lacrosse matches get bloody), the novel can feel slow and static, particularly when it cycles through each narrator's perspective on a single incident. But the tighter prose in its climactic chapters gives the novel sharpness and lift. A well-researched tale that mostly strikes a shrewd balance between thinking and fighting.

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Starred review from March 1, 2014
A noteworthy literary achievement, Boyden's mesmerizing third novel sits at the confluence of three civilizations in seventeenth-century Ontario. The narration alternates among Bird, a Wendat (Huron) warrior; Snow Falls, the young Iroquois captive he adopts after killing her family to avenge his wife and daughters; and P're Christophe, a thoughtfully intelligent, multilingual Jesuit missionary. Over some years, as the growing French presence in the New World upsets a fragile balance and threats from the Iroquois become urgent, the French and Wendat move toward alliance, which, tragically, increases the latter's susceptibility to European diseases. In this deeply researched work, Boyden captures his characters' disparate beliefs, remaining impartial even as they pass judgment on the customs they find simultaneously fascinating and repellent in the others. The prose conveys a raw beauty in its depictions of trade journeys, daily life within longhouses, and spirituality; the Huron Feast of the Dead, for example, is presented as a majestic symphony of reverence. The scenes of ritual torture are difficult to read, and the novel offers many intense impressions of cross-cultural conflicts and differences, yet it is most affecting when evoking its protagonists' shared humanity and the life forcethe orenda burning brightly within each of them.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

December 1, 2013

Canadian Boyden has a shelf full of awards for his first two novels, and from what I've seen of this arrestingly written new work, soon he'll have more. When his guides flee the rampaging Iroquois, Jesuit missionary Christophe finds himself abandoned in the Canadian wilderness, then captured with an Iroquois girl named Snow Falls by the Huron warrior and elder Bird. With a nine-city tour.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 1, 2014

Based partially on real-life events during the mid-1600s in southern Canada near the shores of Lake Huron, this new book from Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Boyden (Through Black Spruce) centers on Bird, a Huron warrior and leader. Bird captures the Jesuit missionary Father Christophe and brings him back to his village with young Snow Falls, who is from the rival Iroquois tribe. Father Christophe immediately begins evangelizing but also absorbs the Huron nation's language and customs, while Snow Falls refuses to cooperate in any way with Bird or his people, being hostile to the point of wounding Bird, and herself, accidentally, which serves the purpose of uniting them instead. Gradually accepted into her new location, Snow Falls comes under the tutelage of Gosling, a wisewoman possessing magical powers. In the ongoing warfare with rival tribes, most frequently the Iroquois, the Huron's most dangerous enemies are the diseases from the foreigners. Weakened from battle and illness, Bird and other members of the tribe decide to move temporarily to a white settlement in hopes of escaping the Iroquois wrath. VERDICT In this long and detailed story, Boyden seeks to re-create the rhythms and patterns of living a life close to nature, battling the elements, and surviving in a harsh climate. Dignified and penetrating, this work offers themes of clashing cultures and religions that resonate in today's world. [See Prepub Alert, 12/9/13.]--James Coan, SUNY at Oneonta Lib.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2014

Based partially on real-life events during the mid-1600s in southern Canada near the shores of Lake Huron, this new book from Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Boyden (Through Black Spruce) centers on Bird, a Huron warrior and leader. Bird captures the Jesuit missionary Father Christophe and brings him back to his village with young Snow Falls, who is from the rival Iroquois tribe. Father Christophe immediately begins evangelizing but also absorbs the Huron nation's language and customs, while Snow Falls refuses to cooperate in any way with Bird or his people, being hostile to the point of wounding Bird, and herself, accidentally, which serves the purpose of uniting them instead. Gradually accepted into her new location, Snow Falls comes under the tutelage of Gosling, a wisewoman possessing magical powers. In the ongoing warfare with rival tribes, most frequently the Iroquois, the Huron's most dangerous enemies are the diseases from the foreigners. Weakened from battle and illness, Bird and other members of the tribe decide to move temporarily to a white settlement in hopes of escaping the Iroquois wrath. VERDICT In this long and detailed story, Boyden seeks to re-create the rhythms and patterns of living a life close to nature, battling the elements, and surviving in a harsh climate. Dignified and penetrating, this work offers themes of clashing cultures and religions that resonate in today's world. [See Prepub Alert, 12/9/13.]--James Coan, SUNY at Oneonta Lib.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.