Mini Aodla Freeman’s Life among the Qallunaat (1978; 2015) is the third book published in the University of Manitoba’s First Voices, First Texts series. It chronicles her experiences as an Inuit woman adjusting to life south of the Arctic in the 1950s, working as a translator for many years.
Mini means “gentle rain” in Inuktitut and this edition preserves her abundant use of subheadings to arrange her thoughts and memories. Another mystery about the first edition was what happened to 4200 of the 6254 copies originally printed; they were directed to the basement of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and remained there for years, until someone determined that the book didn’t reflect badly on the Department.
So, not many people read Mini’s book then; now it can, at least, find a proper audience. It’s a down-to-earth account of her first experiences with southern, urban life (e.g. restaurants, escalators, shopping, laundry, telephone) and her observations about language (Cree and Inuk and other Inuit dialects new to her) and relationships (eventually she marries).
Readers hear what it was like for her growing up and how difficult it was to return (she was considered “lazy and too spoiled, that I was like an icicle which would break if I was given orders”) and travel between such different cultures.
“I keep telling myself that I had been born twice, once to grow and learn my own culture, and secondly, to learn qallunaat culture.”
Originally, I thought this might be a book better suited as a text than a good read—maybe I would read the introduction and sample, I thought—but her voice won me over immediately and I read to the end.
Eden Robinson’s Return of the Trickster (2021) is the third and final book in her trilogy. (First, Second) On one hand, Jared’s life is very ordinary. He inhabits a “my couch is your couch” kind of world (that’s something his cousin says, actually), where people eat KD and weiners, watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy after supper.
But Jared’s world is also the world the author inhabited when she was a girl, hearing the stories told in her culture, about Wee’git, the trickster raven, and other creatures: “The transforming raven, the ogress, the otters, the ghosts and the spirits are pulled from stories I heard growing up that are within the Haisla public domain.”
It’s a world that requires a definition for ‘extirpation’, with zipties, and organs on the wrong side of skin. Jared’s worry that he “had always been defective, an exploding airbag that, instead of protecting you from accidents, broke your face and sent shrapnel through your heart” hints at the visceral fears and realities that haunt our protagonist.
This is a dark and troubled scene which provokes questions like “What are nihilists?” but it’s also Eden Robinson’s scene, so the response includes “You need to read more” and this retort “You need to kidnap less”.
“The benefit of being eaten alive and torn apart so many times and surviving was that a part of him had been rendered cold.” It’s super human with regret “like knives” and grief “sour and metallic”: it’s a human story.
Favourite line: “The very basics of magic: everything you meet, you’ll meet again.”
I cannot wait to find out how the Trickster series ends! And after how fast the last one went, I’m confident I’ll be able to fit it in one of these days.
Life Anong the Qallunaat also sounds amazing – especially it being somewhat historical, too, at this point. I love the cover image!
Did you feel as though the second volume read twice as fast as the first? I did! The books in this series gain momentum like a rockslide–the last one leaves you breathless.
Me too, I want to read/find the others in the series now.
Yes – so fast!
The ‘mystery’ of the missing books is just another indication of the way Indigenous lives were owned by white administrators until quite recently – well into my lifetime anyway. Like Liz and Ali I think Life Among the Qallunaat sounds fascinating.
I’m not so sure about the Trickster series, except you and Naomi like it so much.
What interests me about those “missing” books is that, because this book has been republished, we know about those “missing” copies. But how many similar books were published in those years, whose author did not marry into southern (i.e. white) culture, have gone “missing” entirely? All contributing to the “disappearing Native” mythology. All silently buttressing the historical genocidal policies and practices that continue to reverberate around questions of sovereignty today.
Ha, yes, it’s true: we’re both fangirls. From a political perspective, I suspect you and the author are on similar terrain. And I do think you’d relate to Jared’s character and enjoy his sense of humour. But the way that she integrates Indigenous stories and mythic figures into this series is surprising and invites a polarized response; I think you might decide you’d had enough after ten chapters or you might listen to the entire trilogy on a single haul (especially given that you’ve read a lot of sci-fi so you know how often spec fic is social commentary). I suspect there’s a no middle ground…Naomi?
Agree! And my guess is that Bill would be in the “gobble it up” camp!
I think the family relationships (and other relationships) would cinch the deal!
[…] BIP […]
I’ve only read the first in the Trickster series, but I’d love to read the other two because I really enjoyed the first. The first book you review sounds really fascinating – I love first person accounts of navigating different cultures!
I’d love to see what you think about the other books, but I bet you won’t get to them now. It’s hard to make time for finishing a series when there are always so many new books tempting us! (But, each one in the series does read faster than the one before, so there’s that!)
Sadly I think you are right-I probably won’t get to the rest of the trickster series now 🙁 I’m more likely to read her next book, whenever that is coming!
[…] already sorry about not commenting, not to Lisa’s daily posts, nor to BIP’s prolific #ReadIndigenous series. I’m going to have a lot of catching up to do. Yes, I know we all do what we can, but […]
Life Among the Qallunaat sounds brilliant and at least only one of Ali and me need to get it and we can pass it between us! Shipping on the indie publisher link is $30 (more than the book) so that’s not an option. The ebook comes out at about £12. I’m sure we will work something out.
You two could expand your Women’s Lives theme just a little to include Freeman. Similar time-frame but very different lives. (Freeman’s views on marriage–she does marry–would be great to consider with Angelou’s.) Because one reading project always leads to another, right? Heheh That seems like a reasonable price for the e-book, especially if you can share it as you’d share the paperback. (That’s quite the shipping fee. But I’m glad shipping fees are beginning to resemble the resources required; I think our culture has gotten complacent about shipping, though perhaps it’s unfair to experience the reality of it over a book, when Peloton machines are so much bulkier. LOL)
Life among the Qallunaat sounds absolutely amazing, a unique memoir I would imagine. I love reading about people adjusting and experiencing other cultures and places. Sadly I just looked to see if it was available here, and the ebook from Amazon is more than £18 which seems rather high.
I love the way she moves around in time (and, of course, it’s all further in the past now), between her memories of growing up, her adjustments and her life in the “southern” places. Is it possible for you to order direct from the indie publisher here, I wonder? Cost-wise, it seems a better option at first glance?