Rare intellect

Page 15

Carol Greyeyes - Performer/Writer

Recommends: The Hundred Secret Senses

By Amy Tan

Vintage Books, New York-1996

A friend gave me this book last Christmas and I only got around to reading it now. Maybe it's because I have lost loved ones recently, but I was so moved by this story about sisters, loyalty and families, love and death. The Hundred Secret Senses covers the lives of two women and several generations of relationships.

Amy Tan's vivid writing engages all five of your senses, as well as the 100 secret ones. I laughed and cried and by the last page felt reassured that love is all that really matters and that only it truly lasts forever.

Carol Morin - Host, Canada Now/Northbeat

CBC TV North

Recommends: Angel Wing Splash Pattern

By Richard Van Camp

Kegedonce Press-2002

It's not often that I sob out loud and out in public, but that's how moved I became reading this book of short stories by N.W.T. Dogrib author Richard Van Camp. I was on a plane flying from Edmonton to Yellowknife when I met the unsavory and drunken Torchy in Van Camp's book.

I didn't like Torchy; too much of a loser for me. He knows very little about Aboriginal culture and spirituality. He knows even less about respect. I mean, for gawd's sake, the guy goes to a medicine person to have his hands blessed so that he can win at bingo?

Then there is the foreshadowing that Van Camp so masterfully excels at. We know that Torchy is a pyromaniac, but is he also a pedophile? That underlying premise creates gut-wrenching tension for the reader, after Torchy finds himself alone in a run-down apartment with a young Native girl. At her age, she should be out on the street only to sell Girl Guide cookies. Instead, Van Camp has her picking up the drunk Torchy outside a downtown bar. She brings him home to sleep it off.

Torchy wakes up to the young girl touching him. She's putting Barbie Band-Aids on his feet and arms. "Doesn't she know who I am? And why is she alone? Where's her mom?" The words resonate as you realize that a drunken stranger is alone in a room with a young girl. She's defenseless and utterly alone. But is she in danger?

Yes, but the threat does not come from Torchy. It is, instead, neglect, apathy, dysfunction. As a reader, I felt the young girl's loneliness. That's when I cried. Her story was there in the pages of Van Camp's book, but I have seen it too many times in real life.

Then there's the twist, as Van Camp takes us deeper into the psyche of both characters. It is a story of belonging, tenderness and acceptance of circumstance and self. Of course, not all the stories in Angel Wing Splash Pattern touch your heart in this sadly, profound way. A lot of them made me laugh out loud-a belly laugh. You'll have to pick the book up for yourself, and enjoy.