Bringing Canada’s Aboriginal, English-speaking and French-speaking communities closer together is not an exercise in the snap of a finger, but one that can certainly be facilitated by fiction, adept at reconciling cultural differences. With his trilogy Reckonerthe Canadian author David A. Robertson adds one more piece to this puzzle: that of attracting teenagers to literature.
First published in English, Reckoner received rave reviews from the ROC side before making the jump to French. Its author, a member of the Norway House Cree Nation, located in the heart of Manitoba, received the Governor General’s Award in 2017 and 2021. “Strangers”, the first novel in the trilogy, has been adapted in French by KATA publisher and will arrive in bookstores on 1er June.
“Strangers” tells the story of Cole Harper, a young antihero who struggles to come to terms with his Aboriginal origins, his desire to forget painful events dating back almost ten years and the character of an upset and upsetting teenager. The character must return from Winnipeg to his hometown of Wounded Sky, named after the First Nation he is a part of, to come to terms with his past.
An exchange of text messages with a childhood friend who remained in the village finally convinced him to return to where he was able to save two friends from a deadly fire, but where several other inhabitants of the village perished. What he does not know at this time is that he is obeying the request of a spirit whose intentions are not always very benevolent and that he is not at the end of his troubles, since the village of Wounded Sky suddenly becomes the scene of a series of shocking murders and the outbreak of a very strange disease that ravages the local population. An evil that worries in this village where there once existed a very mysterious medical laboratory…
For Cole, who happens to be a formidable basketball player and dreams of going to college after barely finishing high school, it’s both a step back in time and the soul-searching needed to move on. adulthood. A much more difficult passage for the one who, over the course of this trilogy, will adopt the features of a superhero.
It is an unprecedented mix of genres between science fiction, fantasy and thriller that the Manitoba author tries with some success in this first volume, which only sets the table for the rest of the story divided into two subsequent volumes. . The narrative is skillful and engaging. It keeps a good rhythm and the twists and turns are frequent, enough to keep the reader in suspense until the end… and even further, since this is only the beginning.
From antiheroes to superheroes
Series Reckoner also helps bridge cultures in a country — Canada — that needs it. Everyone identifies with this antihero who does not appear to be particularly sympathetic — Cole Harper is the antithesis of a Harry Potter — but whose past explains his behavior to say the least. irrational.
There are certainly some figures specific to Aboriginal folklore, such as this ghost of Coyote called Choch who skillfully embodies the world of spirits. The author also uses this often mischievous spirit to address the reader directly at times, a way to make the text more engaging.
Other elements are typically canadian. Saturday night hockey, sacred activity on both sides of the Ottawa River if ever there was one, is very present here too. And finally there is this universal opposition between life in the remote areas and that of the big city – as far as one considers Winnipeg as a big city…
In short, familiar elements, fantastical elements, and a few surprises along the way make up a story that can be read on its own. Something to please a category of readers who may not have the taste for stuffing themselves with drier and above all more voluminous history books, but who have been around enough with the universe of comic books à la Marvel to recognize the same breeding ground from which the most improbable heroes emerge.
Because as the other would say, we are not born heroes – not even on a planet other than the Earth, like, say, Krypton –, we become one. And that, David A. Robertson proves it twice: first by drawing the portrait of a young adult who will learn to know himself better, then by preparing the way for more works that mix the many solitudes forming Canada are emerging in the future.