I thought this book covered a very important subject that isn't seen enough in literature. I wish there had been a little bit more development for the main character. It feels like we were getting there but she reverts back a bit at the end. The prose moved me forward really well, however, it felt confusing and jumbled at points.

This thrilling read takes place in Prince George, Canada, where Jenny Hayes, a housewife, shares a fence with Rachelle, the only First Nations woman in the neighborhood. Despite their differences, Jenny volunteers to babysit Rachelle's girls to suppress her judgment of their living conditions. Only Beth's case receives attention when two women, Beth Tremblay and Rachelle, disappear. Jenny takes it upon herself to investigate Rachelle's disappearance, questioning the police and the Métis people on the Rez. The novel challenges the mythologization of marginalized communities and the consequences of privileging one value system over another.

Sadly, I struggled to get into this read. I don't know if it was because the formatting threw me off or what. The description was very promising, but this read fell short for me. I did like how this read touched on a topic that is so important. People get prioritized based on their skin tones all the time. Jenny did what she knew was right and advocated for Rachelle.

In Fireweed, the protagonist is a bored housewife who starts a misguided investigation into her First Nations neighbors' sudden disappearance. What starts as a well-meaning effort quickly spirals into a series of misguided actions that reveal more about the protagonist's own limitations than they do about the disappearance.

Set in 2001 in Prince George, BC, the novel offers a stark portrayal of a smaller rural working-class community. As someone who grew up in the rural prairies during that time, I found the depiction both accurate and occasionally difficult to digest. The community’s 'white trash' ethos and narrow-minded views, including prevalent racism towards First Nations people, are portrayed with a raw honesty that underscores the novel's critique of systemic issues.

One of the novel's strengths is its exploration of how women’s experiences of violence and disappearance are influenced by their class and race. The contrast in responses between the disappearance of a white woman versus that of the protagonist’s Indigenous neighbor highlights the deep-seated biases in law enforcement, media, and community reactions. The book’s portrayal of these dynamics, alongside other relationships and the mistreatment of women, underscores the systemic nature of these issues.

Ultimately, Fireweed serves more as a character study of both the protagonist and the community rather than a deep dive into the disappearance itself. The protagonist, with her naivety and sheltered perspective, can be frustrating to read. While I wished for a more in-depth exploration of the disappearances and the accompanying injustices, the novel’s focus on the status quo—where women continue to go missing with little change—resonates as a poignant commentary.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Astra Publishing House for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

About 25% into this my spidey DNF senses were tingling, by 32% I was barely holding on. Thankfully, a review marked 'spoiler' had appeared since I'd checked last... After learning how the book ends, I just couldn't put myself through reading any further. I try my hardest to avoid doing this with NetGalley approvals, but this one I couldn't justify.

Perhaps a dodged bullet, I won't be giving this a star rating as I don't feel like 32% in is far enough to make it a fair judgement. (Since NetGalley forces a rating I chose 3/5)

{Thank you bunches to NetGalley, Lauren Haddad, and publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!}

Fireweed follows Jenny, a young Canadian woman whose husband is often gone for weeks at a time for work. In her spare time between infrequent work shifts, Jenny begins speaking a bit to Rachelle, the only First Nations Woman in the neighborhood. Just as the two women begin to strike up a relationship, Rachelle vanishes, and Jenny is determined to find out what happened.

This book felt more like a study of Jenny as a person than anything else. I don't think I liked Jenny, but I found her an interesting and fairly well-written character, and that's what sucked me into this book. She's a naive and ignorant white woman who's spent her whole life in the industrial town of Prince George. From the very beginning, the book is very upfront with how everyone in the town views First Nations people with Jenny's friends openly disparaging Rachelle. The book is written in first person, so we get to see everything Jenny's thinking and feeling while she goes on her journey. Her naïveté, combined with a healthy dose of crime TV, makes her overly confident in her ability to solve Rachelle's disappearance. She does some questionable things in her search for justice, but as the summary says, she really is misguided. She spends the whole book throwing herself at the mystery, and many of her assumptions about her hometown are challenged.

I also felt like the setting was very clearly described. I'm an American with only middling knowledge of Canada, so I wasn't familiar with Prince George at all before reading Fireweed. Haddad does a good job setting the scene with all the talk of the industry and environment, as well as the descriptions of all the characters. When I saw Haddad's bio at the end of the book and saw she'd written extensively about Prince George, the incredibly detailed description made a lot of sense. Also, as someone who has family in a small town in Missouri with that "white trash" air wafting around, the vibe of the setting and the people who lived there felt distantly familiar.

The ending has me feeling a little conflicted. Everything ties up quite neatly, but Jenny has just gone right back to where she was when the novel started. I can see it as an allegory for how women both Native and white continue to go missing, and nothing truly gets done to stop more women from going missing, just like how Jenny went on her journey searching for Rochelle only to return to her old life, Rachelle occasionally crossing her mind. The world keeps on spinning, unchanged. I find the ending unsatisfying, but I guess it makes sense for Jenny's character.

My main critique would be that the writing feels a little unclear at times. Sometimes something would happen, and it felt like some of the key details weren't provided until later when Jenny was reflecting on the events. Other times, Jenny comes to conclusions without providing explanation to how she reached that conclusion. It wasn't bad enough that I couldn't follow the plot, but it did leave me scratching my head every now and again.

Overall, I enjoyed Fireweed. The writing style was easy to get immersed in, and the premise was intriguing, and I never felt bored while reading this.

Rating 3.5/5, rounding up to 4

Content warnings for racism, sexism, sexual assault, mentions of domestic abuse