Title: The Break

Author: Katherena Vermette

Type: Fiction

Pages: 288

Published: 2016

By opening this book, the reader should be prepared to be plunged into the deep winter darkness of Winnipeg. Snowy city streets and bone-chilling dampness fill the pages as slow and steady as a snowstorm in January.

When Margaret Atwood describes a book as ‘very tough and real’ you know you’re in for a hard few hundred pages. Reading the multi award-winning novel. The break by Katherena Vermette was like being wounded in a thousand small ways, through the story itself.

It is the story of an unfortunate event which affects a young Indigenous girl. Her life will change, but it will not be the only one to experience major shifts as a result. From the voices of a choir of characters, the reader will piece together, bit by bit, a perfectly harmonious storyline.

A 13-year-old girl is assaulted in a small, largely First Nation, community in the depths of a harsh Canadian winter. And yet, the story is not really about the assault itself, although it’s certainly the anchor for the other stories which unfold around it.

It’s a heart-breaking story that is so real and so timely. This is art reflecting life back to us without offering a solution. The book reflects the need to recognise the staggering reach of a problem before we can take real steps toward solving it

The characters are connected in some way, but the reader will have to make it to the end to understand what links them all. Stella is one of them who saw an incident take place near her house but is limited by the fact that she is tending to her new-born baby. Lou and Paulina are sisters, and we get to know them through their relationship with their mother Cheryl. Phoenix is a teenage girl who just got out of a detention centre.

Tommy is a police officer with Indigenous roots and struggles to find the balance between serving as an officer and understanding that his role may cause pain for his community. It’s a wide range of characters and Vermette’s ability to give them voice and depth is what brings strength to the novel

The Break is nothing short of a masterpiece and could do well as mandatory reading for everyone. Vermette is an author that I will continue to follow and read, as I’m sure there will be more from her in the future.

The novel’s strength is to show the human side of a story that is often only experienced through news headlines, especially considering the explicit racism faced by Canada’s First Nations in all provinces. The novel will challenge preconceived ideas and stereotypes and give voice to characters who inspire hope.