Book Review: The Marrow Thieves
Reviewed by Shirley Honyust/ Yenatli:yo
A celebratory book launch was held on March 4 to herald the acquisition of a new book by the London Public Library (LPL). Situated across the way from LPL is the Wolf Performance Hall, the venue where Cherie Dimaline held captive the audience who came to hear her read from and talk about the experience of writing her latest novel, The Marrow Thieves.
Set in a post-apocalyptic era of dystopia where Indigenous people are the only people with the gift of dreaming, groups of young people are hunted like animals to be colonized once again and secured for their bone marrow.
Dimaline reads an excerpt from pager 48 of her book: “I aimed the gun, watching the trees, praying for nothing more than a deer, nothing human, really…It was huge, like a tree had yanked itself up and was slowly moving into the clearing, a tree with white branches. It walked further into the grass. A moose. I’d never seen one this close before. Adrenaline made my teeth chatter.”
The book’s cover is a picture that her daughter submitted as a school art project. Her teacher graded her a ‘C’ on that project so Dimaline used that negative experience to turn her daughter’s demeaning rejection into a resounding success.
Her daughter is a beautiful teenager and very proud of her Indigenous heritage. Dimaline is a Métis woman whose work is internationally published and anthologized. Beginning in 2014, she was named Emerging Artist of the Year at the Ontario Premier’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts, and in 2018, her book The Marrow Thieves became a featured selection by Canada Reads.
Suddenly Indigenous youth from all over the world were responding to The Marrow Thieves by holding the book up to cover the left side of their face and taking a picture to send to her to show their appreciation for her writing the book. It touched their lives in a very personal way, embedding in them a sense of pride in their Indigenous identity and the understanding of the message her book held for them.
“Do you mean that Hermione read my book?” exclaimed Cherie Dimaline, shaking from her long curls to her toes and bouncing excitedly as she relived the joyful exuberance of the moment when she was contacted by a critic in England. This critic reached out on behalf of the publishers of a best reading list, enquiring about the gist of the book and the gender of the protagonist. Her book had been suggested to the list writers by Emma Watson, an actress that played Hermione Granger in the film adaptation of the Harry Potter fantasy series by J.K. Rowling.
After the book launch, Dimaline stayed to sign books and chat briefly with members of the audience who came to purchase a copy of the book, listen to her speak and read passages from the book that had such an enormous impact on so many lives.
The book is recommended for Indigenous Literature and Perspective on issues of social and environmental awareness. Originally written for youth, it is now recommended reading for humans of all ages.
ISBN: 9781770864863
1770864865
Published by Dancing Cat Books, an imprint of Cormorant Books Inc. 2017.