Book 257: The Break

I still have a lot of feelings about this book. I finished it slightly before the start of the Canada Reads competitions this year and Candy Palmater, who was defending the book, signed my copy at a Canada Reads event. This was before all hell broke lose on the first day and it got voted off. This is by far the worst thing that has happened in my reading world this year.

Feeling so privileged and fortunate to have met @thecandyshow tonight at her talk about The Break by Katherine Vermette and her life for CBC's Mainstreet (it will air there later if you missed it tonight). She makes me feel more hopeful both as a young women who has no idea what I want to do with their life and about the future of my country. She also inspires me to learn more about our indigenous peoples by listening and reading their stories and to (hopefully) learn how to be a better ally and friend to them by the things that they teach me. I also thank her for inspiring me to come out of my reading shell of mostly white male authors and read both more Canadian literature and books by women. Candy also signed my book which has been one of the highlights of my year. If you are not familiar with Candy YOU NEED TO BECOME FAMILIAR. She is hugely inspiring and has the best culture lists. She is the coolest individual I've had the pleasure of meeting. . . . #canadareads #greatcanadian #inspired #inspirationalpeople #selfie #blessed #cbc #cbcmainstreet

A post shared by Colleen Earle (@unphilosophize) on Mar 9, 2017 at 5:18pm PST

The Break is a weird sort of mystery. It opens with an assault and the rest of the book goes through different points of views and the events of the night of the assault are slowly revealed.

The story is told by a family of women whose relationship, some of them distant, other fraught, and some who were very close; and both revealed and mended throughout the novel.

So excited for this book! I've just started it and it's addicting. Candy Palmater is coming to talk about this book as part of Canada Reads on Thursday. I hope I can get it done by then! . . . #canadareads #canlit #currentlyreading #book #books #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookworm #booklover #booklove #bibliophile #readers #reader #readerlife #readerofig #readersofig #readersunite #booksofinstagram #goodreads #bookish #bookaholic #bookaddict #booknerd

A post shared by Colleen Earle (@unphilosophize) on Mar 7, 2017 at 9:14am PST

During Canada Reads two of the panellists said that they did not like the book or feel that it was the novel that Canada needs to read, this year's theme, because of the under-representation of "good men". I yelled about this for about a week. Perhaps longer. (for full details see me twitter) Why they felt that a book about women, told by women, need to have men in it I'm not entirely sure. Secondly, there were several good men in the book, one of them was even a narrator. These comments were so infuriating, especially given that a lot of the books that I have read have male main characters and the only female characters are often poorly written and secondary.

I'm still upset.

This is a beautiful written book about an important topic. It is the book that all Canadians need to read. It is the book that should have won Canada Reads. I rate this book a 10/10. Absolutely wonderful.