I closed the book, wiped away tears, put my face in my hands to let a few more tears seep out, then made room inside myself for characters that will not soon leave me, the characters that inhabit the world of The Marrow Thieves, Cherie Dimaline’s powerful and moving 2017 novel. I am adding content warnings though, for semi-explicit descriptions of sexual assault and medical procedures for without consent, as well as racism, assault and violence and death of a minor in page.“…as long as there are dreamers left, there will never be want for a dream.” I keep thinking back on this book a lot even weeks after finishing it, and I really can't recommend it highly enough. It was the gripping story combined with a wonderful cast of characters, all written in amazing prose that sucked me in and never let me go. I was struggling to breathe at times, cried more than I thought I would, but also smiled and sighed contentedly more than I thought possible. It was dystopian, but not out of the realms of possibility all together and the story did a tremendous job connecting past, present and future to have you *feel* every word of it and watch it in front of your inner eye. The Indigenous MC and his found family running from the white society trying to steal their bone narrow in order to be able to dream again. I honestly don't have another word for it. Not only that, it's beautifully written and deeply informed with a spirit of inclusivity and love for the People and the land. This isn't, ultimately, a story about destruction-it's about how people survive that destruction with their cultures and their relations intact. Seen through the eyes of Frenchie, a young Anishinaabe man fleeing from the government's "Recruiters" along with a motley community of Indigenous fugitives, the novel presumes survival and continuity as givens, and pushes back against the fetishized violence that infects so much post-apocalyptic writing.
A familiar story, but taken to very fresh and frightening ends. Beyond these qualities, *The Marrow Thieves* is a smart, skeptical, and scary consideration of the continuing extractive hunger of settler colonial Canada, posited on a simple premise: in a future of environmental collapse, settlers have lost the power to dream, but Indigenous peoples haven't-their dreams are embodied, and now settlers want to pull that power from their very marrow. Oh, this novel-where do I begin? First, there's a reason it's a choice for Canada Reads-it's a tightly paced page turner, with a richly imagined and terrifying future Canada, fully realized characters in well-plotted peril, and a style accessible to young adult readers but engaging for adult readers as well.
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