Through Black Spruce

December 8, 2008
Following up on the success of Three Day Road
, Boyden delivers the powerful story of former bush pilot and Cree native Will Bird. The novel opens with Will in a coma, with his niece Annie, who just returned from an eight-month excursion in search of her sister, by his side. Narrated by Will and Annie, the story backtracks to tell of Will's fight to keep his bush-country Indian life alive and protected while he suppresses painful childhood memories (and befriends an old bear). Annie, a skillful hunter and animal trapper, dictates her escapades after rushing off to New York City in pursuit of her sister, Suzanne, a model who has shacked up with a member of the narcotics-smuggling Netmakers family. As Will struggles to survive and Annie reintegrates into the isolated bush, the two stories dovetail as the Netmakers cross paths with Will. Though the incongruously melodramatic denouement doesn't fit with the richly textured narrative preceding it, the novel as a whole is an intelligent, multilayered accomplishment, and well worth reading.

February 1, 2009
A vigorous picture of life near"James Bay in the Arctic Lowlands of Ontario" distinguishes this second novel from the Canadian-born author (Three Day Road, 2005).

The book, which was awarded Canada's prestigious Giller Prize, begins unevenly, with a setup much too reminiscent of Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient: a history"dreamed" by Cree Indian bush pilot Will Bird, as he lies comatose in a hospital bed, and juxtaposed with the story recalled by Will's niece Annie, keeping a vigil beside him, of her southward journey to seek her missing younger sister Suzanne, a runaway who became a successful fashion model and"party girl." Boyden ends it even more awkwardly, with a semi-surprising disclosure about a crime that still pursues Will, and a concluding reconciliation that's improbable and sentimental. Between these extremes, the book is frequently energized by visionary splendor and raw emotional force. Annie is a fantastically observed character. A tough, vibrant woman, she's sustained by an increasingly loving relationship with her withdrawn"protector" Gordon and is unafraid to enter the worlds of narcotic and sexual excess that appear to have claimed Suzanne. Alas, the Manhattan scenes too often read like inert chick lit. Fortunately, the story is redeemed by Boyden's rich portrayal of the stoical Will, most fully realized in a subtly fragmented account of Will's arduous stay on a remote island (Akimiski), where wind and weather stalk him as relentlessly as do his old enemies—and his only companions are an elderly settler couple who seem to possess an almost mystical knowledge of his history, marauding polar bears and, in a brilliantly resonating image, a whale skeleton that washed up out of the bay.

Though the forced, contrived plot almost submerges the novel, the sensuous apprehension of a distant, perilous, ineffably beautiful world draws us in and won't let us go.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 15, 2009
Boyden's absorbing second novel (after "Three Day Road") sweeps across northern Canada's barren landscape, capturing the dignity of the Cree people, who, haunted by their proud past, struggle with modern life. Two narratives intertwine, that of Will Bird, a Cree bush pilot lying comatose in a hospital, and Annie Bird, his niece who has just returned from New York City in search of her missing sister, Suzanne, a supermodel involved in the dicey Manhattan drug scene. Once back in Moose Factory, Ontario, Annie comes to Will's bedside every day, hoping he can hear her words about her futile search for Suzanne. From his comatose state, Will recounts his own lifehis perilous flights as a bush pilot, his spiritual encounter with a blind old bear, his numerous run-ins with a local gang, and his continuous battle with alcoholism. Will's and Annie's linked stories, full of many eccentric characters, attest to their family's future survival despite all the misfortune and heartbreak. Boyden writes with unassailable authenticity; his latest is strongly recommended for all fiction collections.Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Grand Junction, CO

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2009
Boyden, author of Three Day Road (2005), spins a mesmerizing double narrative, taking readers on an often-dark journey of the spirit and the soul. As retired Cree bush pilot Will Bird lies in a coma in Moose Factory, Ontario, his niece Annie sits at his bedside. To keep himself connected to this world, the comatose Will recounts the story of his life and his personal struggle for survival in an ever-changing environment. Meanwhile, Annie, an accomplished hunter and trapper recently returned from a frantic search for her missing fashion-model sister, has her own emotionally charged tale to tell. The two individual strands of the narrative eventually intertwine, providing a bittersweet portrait of a devolving community and a moribund culture. Boyden does a remarkable job of communicating the almost-unbearable tension generated by attempting to reconcile the unavoidable duality of the narrators lives.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)