Fire Song

CW: suicide, sexual assault/abuse

Before I get into the meat of the review, there are a couple of things I'd like to mention. First, this book is based on a movie of the same name. Secondly, it is written in present tense, which was a little awkward for me and took me several chapters to become accustomed to this style of writing.

This was difficult read. Difficult in that this story tackles some pretty heavy issues (suicide, sexual assault, poverty, drugs). The author does an excellent job of telling this story and conveying emotions.

Fire Song is set on a reserve of indigenous Canadians and is told mainly from the perspective of Shane. At the start of the book, Shane is coping with the suicide of his younger sister and the effects of her tragic death on the community. Throughout the book, Shane shoulders several responsibilities while juggling his own grief. His mother isn't coping well with her daughter's suicide and is shutting out the support offered by the community's elder, the trailer in which Shane and his mother live is falling apart, his girlfriend is looking for a more physical relationship, he is struggling to find a way to fund his college education, and his secret boyfriend is resistant to revealing their relationship due to the community's vehement disapproval of homosexuality.

So yeah, heavy.

At times, I felt overwhelmed with Shane's frustration and despair. He tries to do the best with what he's been dealt and the oppressiveness of the lack of opportunities afforded him due to his heritage. He doesn't always make the best decisions, but one never knows how one would react until put in a situation.

I appreciated learning about the Anishinaabe community and culture. The language, customs, and traditions were woven seamlessly in the telling of Shane's story. The author tells of Shane's struggles in a manner relatable across cultures, and the imagery is so detailed that I easily felt like I was looking through Shane's eyes.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It left me raw, but in a good way. Not any author can invoke such a visceral reaction from me,

**Copy provided by publisher for an honest and impartial review.**
**

Wow, what an incredible piece of fiction that touches on so many and in some ways, uncomfortable topics as we follow along on this downward spiral of grief and the unintentional domino effect our actions could have on those we love.

I have never read anything that dealt with Native culture and so going into this book I was excited to see how that community dealt with some of the themes that play out over the course of this novel and it just broke my heart.

There was a sense of skirting around the problem, whether it be suicide or another one of the issues mentioned over the course of the book, and pretending like it doesn’t exist until it happens and you can’t run from it anymore and that was a big weight Shane had to carry in regards to his sister’s suicide and desire to move on with his life even if it meant leaving others behind, David with his sexuality and finding a balance between who he is and his culture, and finally Tara as discussed in her journal writing and poetry intermixed between the main narration.

It’s difficult to write more because I don’t wish to spoil anything but the whole time I was reading all I wanted to do was hug everyone and let them know that it was okay to talk about things and just listen so all of those thoughts, emotions and the darkness in their past didn’t eat at them from the inside until it had nowhere else to go but out into the open where, like in the book itself, it would end up as just another picture in a scrapbook of pain and suffering locked away in a safe where no one could see or do anything to change it for the better.

**thank you to netgalley for proving an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**