A Season in Chezgh'un is a subversive novel by acclaimed Cree author Darrel J. McLeod, infused with the contradictory triumph and pain of finding conventional success in a world that feels alien.

***** 

The Sleeping Car Porter, by Suzette Mayr

This book really needs no introduction, since it won the Giller Prize last year. The Sleeping Car Porter has so much in common with my first novel, A Season in Chezgh’un: the setting in both time and place is clearly defined and narrow; it has a flawed protagonist, who, similar to my protagonist, James, suffers from discrimination in so many ways—systemic and individual—related to race and gender role. Like James, Baxer, a railway porter on a problematic trip from Montreal to Vancouver, is an optimist who is determined to rise about the limitations of his race, class and gender role at the time. Baxter’s personal struggles against what one would have called internal demons, in the time period of the book, are parallel to those of James—their unveiling almost ruins his career and his profound dream of becoming a dentist.  James already has a career as a teacher and newly minted school principal in a remote First Nation community, but lives in constant fear of losing it all.

To my great surprise, the unusual plot line of Mayr’s book, in many ways, mirrors that of my book too, including the ending, which, of course, is very different, but a similar technique is employed (lovely validation from a new idol of mine).

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The Trickster Trilogy, by Eden Robinson

The Trickster series inspired me tremendously to try my hand at Indigenous fiction (which I believe, under Eden’s lead, is quickly becoming its own genre). Eden is simply a genius who uses magic realism in ways I sincerely hope to one day. Her characters are unforgettable, and predominantly indigenous. The settings are phenomenally convincing. Like my protagonist, James, her Jarod lives between two worlds, and this is increasingly the case as the plot of the series progresses. While I don’t to aspire write a trilogy, Jarod lives with a similar upbringing (but much, much worse) than that set out in the backstory of James’s fractured childhood and youth. Devastating family trauma is only referenced and implied in A Season in Chezgh’un. Jarod’s villains (real and sometimes conjured) in the entire trilogy are horrific, and pose horrifying challenges to Jarod’s very existence (James gets off easy in comparison, but still faces enough challenges for the plot line to be compelling and maintain tension throughout.) 

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Under the Visible Life, by Kim Echlin

Music, racial dynamics, and writing that flies off the page (my simple criteria for excellent writing) are elements that Kim’s Under the Visible Life, and my first novel have in common. Echlin’s protagonist, Katherine, like James, from A Season in Chezgh’un, was born fatherless, into a hostile world of discrimination based on social standing, race, gender, and, in James’s case, gender roles. Both of Echlin’s protagonists, like James, find solace and relief through their friendship and the music in their lives. All three protagonists connect with a significant other, which sustains them through tremendous life challenges. Katherine and Mahsa stayed with me long after I finished reading Under the Visible Life, and somehow end up in my next book—The Days After and the Days Before (I’ll have to ask Kim’ permission for this, of course). I love that both books are rich stories of unique lives lived by people of color in a country with a shifting reality and approach to tolerance, and their acceptance and advancement in Canadian society. 

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Beautiful, Beautiful, by Brandon Reid

Beautiful, Beautiful is a fitting title for Brandon Reid´s novel, for it describes the work itself—it is simply beautiful. Reid manages to capture hypnotic traditional storytelling in written form—by stretching, manipulating, and breaking traditional rules and conventions of the English language. Reid draws us into the tormentous but stunning world of a boy who, while young in years, is an ancient soul. Through brilliant description, the mind-blowing shifting of perspective and a brilliant use of the boy´s internal voice, we join the daily toils of a Heiltsuk family as it struggles to live off the capricious bounty of the Pacific Ocean. Like Omar El Akkad’s A Strange Paradise, Beautiful, Beautiful stakes out new ground in the literary scene.

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Learn more about A Season in Chezgh’un: 

James, a talented and conflicted Cree man from a tiny settlement in Northern Alberta, has settled into a comfortable middle-class life in Kitsilano, a trendy neighbourhood of Vancouver. He is living the life he had once dreamed of—travel, a charming circle of sophisticated friends, a promising career and a loving relationship with a caring man—but he chafes at being assimilated into mainstream society, removed from his people and culture.

The untimely death of James’s mother, his only link to his extended family and community, propels him into a quest to reconnect with his roots. He secures a job as a principal in a remote northern Dakelh community but quickly learns that life there isn’t the fix he’d hoped it would be: His encounters with poverty, cultural disruption and abuse conjure ghosts from his past that drive him toward self-destruction. During the single year he spends in northern BC, James takes solace in the richness of the Dakelh culture—the indomitable spirit of the people, and the splendour of nature—all the while fighting to keep his dark side from destroying his life.