by Shelley McAneeley
Five Little Indians
by Michelle Good
Harper Perennial (2020)
Michelle Good reminds me of my grandfather and the time when storytellers spun words into magic. Five Little Indians is a curl up book. Residential school survivors, fresh and innocent to the horrors of living in a big city, are woven into a compelling tale. The characters, already Isolated and torn from their natal families, these children became masters of survival while at residential school; but life in the cloistered church school could hardly prepare them for life on the tough Vancouver streets. Their ages vary somewhat from 16 to early 20s when they are ‘dropped’ into their new lives. Naïve to the difficult conundrum of living alone, and under employed in Vancouver, each one is confronted with the bias of the colonial world. Good unfolds a tapestry that illustrates how these young adults limp through the
new challenges. Below is an introduction to some of the characters Good creates with an enticing quote.
Maisie
“I sat in front of the vanity mirror, looking at the reflection, this stranger. I looked close into my own eyes and saw a truth there I knew I would never be rid of.” pg 76Kenny and Lucy
“Not a day without fear. Through it all, she had relied on Kenny. Not just for his encouraging notes and shy smiles, but because he ran and ran and ran. He would not let them beat him. And he believed in her. He even told her so. He was not as hollow then as he was now.“ pg 106Clara and Mariah
Clara stiffened, the familiar rage rushing through her veins. “Pray? You mean talk to myself and imagine some guy in the sky will make it all better?” pg 193Howie
“You have no idea what that man did to me and a whole lot of other boys. He deserved what he got and a whole lot more. Where was the law then when he was beating us, breaking bones and other, even worse things?” pg 16
Some escape, some die, and others survive despite the agony of their recurring nightmares they all live as best they can. Good creates compelling and convincingly real scenarios. Her characters desire to be regular men and women whose lives are not driven by their past, nor compelled and unchangeable. They shoulder each other to get beyond the camaraderie of nightmares. Though Good’s dialogue style has been commented on, it fits, it all fits so well as to be believable. Good’s book does not depend on sympathy or misery, it harkens to hope and healing. Even to an awakening. Like Maisie, take a good look in the mirror, you just might see truth staring back at you.
This book is a compelling read and highly recommended.
Shelley McAneeley ponders art in its many forms. You can enjoy some of her poems in Drifting Like a Metaphor, edited by Micheline Maylor, and available through Frontenac House.