A book club book! Another one of those where I managed to read the book but missed the actual book club, which is a shame because I think discussing it with others would have helped fix the story in my mind. I am writing this post about four months after I read it, and I had to read a review of it to remind myself of what the story was. But as soon as I did, I could feel the atmosphere of this story, one of loss and grief and of having something taken from a person and a people, under the guise of religion and moving on.
Joan is First Nations in Ontario, someone who left her home and then came back with her husband Victor, the love of her life. When he disappears after an argument, he is presumed to either be dead or to have left her, but she never believes either. This is borne out when she sees her husband as part of a traveling revival, but her husband is no longer himself. The book is folklore and monsters combined with religion and colonizers, and at the heart of it is Joan's grief and her single-minded obsession with getting her husband back. It's a read that really centers you in her world and her grief, even when the POV shifts in incredibly disorienting and effective ways. Highly recommended.
Grade: A
