Black Water by David A Robertson

I am Canadian and I have wanted to since I started blogging to feature more Canadian authors. Doubly so I wanted to feature the different cultures of Canadians and this one also is part of that as the author is indigenous..

When I first started reading I felt very sorry for the author as it seems that he wasn’t given the opportunity to learn of his Crew Ancestry. He had to learn about that side of his culture later. He was a mixed race part of the Cree Nation and part of a European culture. He felt that he was different but not part of either culture.

Seeing the way he was different and how he was treated at a young age with racist and ignorant comments you can feel for him and no wonder he was confused.

The story is sad as the young David had no real friends and seemed to struggle with his life. I think it’s a poignant book that shows what it was like out west during the 70s and 80s and 90s, how much things are still messed up with the way we view those who are Indigenous including the bad stereotypes.

One of the lines that really had me thinking was “I love being recognized as an Indigenous author by my colleagues and by Indigenous kids who might be inspired by what I accomplished, but one day I want to be recognized as a great author, not as s a great indigenous writer, which seems to imply that the measures of excellence are different between the two”

This got me thinking and really puts perspective on my reasoning for reading his work. Yes I am Canadian and want to read great Canadian writers and to hone my craft like they have. I also wanted to read and learn about the culture that European culture tried to stamp out. It is not a bad thing to learn from past mistakes and to learn from them.

It makes me proud to say that this book isn’t a great Indigenous story but a great story. The fact that the author is Cree doesn’t really enter into the equation of what a writer is. It is nice to see more diversity so that we may learn.

I finished this book very quickly and I am impressed. The writing was very clear and concise as well as showing a lot of parts of Indigenous people and seeing his culture through the eyes of his father.