Three Day Road

"Windigo" in the Cree language refers to people who have tasted human flesh, perhaps forced to eat a dead comrade to ward off starvation in the wild. But it means more than that. It is seen as a blood lust, a incurable madness that will spread to infect an entire tribe unless the carriers of the sickness are killed. Canadian author Joseph Boyden, who has Indian blood himself, uses this as a compelling metaphor for the sickness that infected entire nations, and led to the senseless slaughter of World War I. "We all fight on two fronts," one of the characters says, "the one facing the enemy, the one facing what we do to the enemy." It is the second that is the greatest strength of the book, the emphasis on what war does to the people who fight it.The year is 1919. Niska, an aging Cree woman, travels many days by canoe to meet her wounded nephew Xavier at the railhead. Returning a hero, but racked by pain and addicted to morphine, Xavier has come home to die. Paddling with the current, the journey home will take three days -- but "three day road" is also the Cree expression for death. As Xavier recalls his experiences at Ypres, Vimy Ridge, and Passchendaele, Niska feeds him with stories of her own childhood and his, bringing him back to his roots. This counterpoint of stories may take place in thought as much as speech; they form an almost delirious texture in which time is dissolved, as the old woman -- herself a shaman and healer -- fights for her nephew's soul.The First World War is one of those subjects (like the Holocaust) whose tragic outcome is all too well known and which it is difficult to approach from a new angle. Like David Malouf in  FLY AWAY PETER , Boyden gives us a protagonist who has a close affinity with nature. Like Sebastian Barry in  A LONG LONG WAY , he gives us a character from a minority population fighting on the side of his erstwhile oppressors. But what he does more than any other novelist I have read is to depict the war as a series of individual glimpses rather than crowd scenes. This is possible because Xavier and his boyhood friend Elijah are outsiders, and not merely as Indians. Before long, their skills at hunting and marksmanship are recognized, and they are given virtual carte blanche to hide in no-mans-land forming a team of highly successful snipers. The friends are equally good marksmen, but the more flamboyant Elijah revels in the challenge and basks in the fame in a way that Xavier does not. Both men are changed by the war, but in opposite directions that will ultimately cause a rift between them.But a book that is told as a series of short takes needs something to hold it together as a whole. I am not sure that the exchange of mostly-unspoken stories during the canoe trip did this for me, and it was a long time before I felt the novel building a thematic momentum. The reader is also deprived of familiar landmarks. Boyden goes out of his way to include a lot of polysyllabic Cree words, not only as chapter headings but in the text; he explains their meaning, certainly, but as I have no idea how to pronounce them or even sound them out, they cause a hiatus in the reading whenever they occur. This is especially strange because Xavier, who is the principal narrator but speaks little English, jumps around between the awkward inflections of a non-native speaker and the fluent descriptions of a master writer. Eventually, though, the distancing effect grows less. We get to know Xavier extremely well, even as Elijah slips gradually away from us. And the strange stories told by Niska, especially of her upbringing as a Windigo-killer, come to seem almost normal as compared to the horror of what war can do to men's minds. [4.5 stars]

This is a magnificent novel taking us from the battle fields in war-torn France in World War I to the forests of northern Canada where the Cree people trapped and lived. It is a tale told by Xavier Bird, a sniper in the Canadian forces in the war. It is also the tale told by his shaman aunt, Nieka, who is a healer and exorcist for the Cree people. It is also the tale of one of the most fascinating characters in contemporary fiction, Elijah Whiskeyjack, Xavier’s best friend and companion in childhood and in wartime. Xavier was reared by his aunt in the backwoods after she takes him from a French Catholic boarding school for native children. He learns the way of the wild natural world but wants a friend. He goes and brings back Elijah from the school and they become closer than brothers as they hunt all day in the northern forests. At age 19 they decide to join the Canadian armed forces and go to Europe to fight the Germans. Boyden does an excellent job of showing the tension between people of two different cultures working and living together under hard conditions. The young men soon display considerable marksmanship and become snipers, sent out into no-man’s-land to kill the unsuspecting German who has let his guard down for a mere second. Boyden does a masterful job of showing Xavier’s growing distaste for killing while showing Elijah’s growing addiction to killing other men. The descriptions of the deep forests of northern Canada are excellent but it is the blow by blow descriptions of warfare that makes this book absolutely exceptional. Boyden’s narrative skills create a world of horror and tension on the front lines of an insane struggle to kill and avoid death. Boyden has also written a book which reaches resolution at the end with all mysteries solved. He does this very well and thee novel is as tightly well constructed as any I have read in years. I recommend the book for several reasons including the careful descriptions of native life in Canada as well as the outstanding war scenes throughout the book. The story is compelling, the characters are vivid and alive, and the theme of damaged souls and healing souls is universal and important.

I read The Orenda by Joseph Boyden and was so captivated by his writing style that I immediately ordered Three Day Road. In the same way that The Orenda sucked me into the story with it's details of life in a Huron village in the 1600's, Three Day Road let me experience life in the trenches of WWI. It was shocking, frightening and ultimately unforgettable to read what men suffered in this war. From the frequent rain producing deep mud to struggle through, boots that never dried and trench foot to the constant wet, woolen uniforms infested with lice, Boyden's ability to describe the misery and discomfort these soldiers dealt with every day was so powerful. The loss of innocence, the loss of sanity, the loss of life and friendship - all of these are described in vivid details through the eyes of Xavier, a young Cree soldier who has enlisted with his friend Elijah to fight in a Canadian regiment. Xavier and Elijah become snipers based on their excellent marksmanship from years of living in the Canadian bush. The book begins in Northern Ontario as a very damaged Xavier returns from the Front with extreme physical and psychological damage to deal with. The chapters alternate from the perspective of Xavier and his Aunt Niska, A Cree medicine woman who wishes to ease Xavier's mind and heal his body. I cannot give you more details, but I can highly recommend this book. It is a serious and powerful read that reinforces the price young men face in war and the great debt all of society owes them when they return.

The exploits of two young Cree Indians in Canada and in the army during WWI is mesmerizing. The skills they acquired in the wilderness of Canada is put to good use during their service in the military. Though fiction, the story is told very true to life. One of my favorite reads.

I have not read a book like this since Lief Engers 'Peace like a river'. Joseph boyden captures both beautifully & deliciously the haunting landscapes of the Canadian North and the spirit & magic of the peoples that inhabit them. A tale told from two points of view (the Great Cree Aunt and her war ravaged Nephew) allows the story to move effortlessly backwards and forth between the great native lands of Canada and the first world war that rages on the European continent.For anyone put off by a novel on the first world war, dont be as I first was. The words are written in such an elevated way that they are able to portray the realities of war and the traumas encountered whilst allowing the healing energy and the shamanic practices of the native american traditions to infuse the story with compassion, courage and connection & to make whole again.All healing is a journey to wholeness and this is captured wonderfully in the 'three day road'. Through story telling the great Cree Aunt draws on the rich symbology of her lineage to apply as a salve for the wounded psyche of her nephew.On witnessing the Grouse Dance - " You saw for the first time the circle. Even though you could not yet express it in words, you understood the seasons, the teepee, the shaking tent, and the fire circle. You saw all of life is in the circle, and realised that you always come back, in one way or another to where you have been before".I feel truly enriched having read this novel and well lets just say if youre sitting on the fence.........Read it!

Any review I could write about this book would never do it justice. Others before me have done it so well. "Be stirred and impassioned by simple words" (sic). "I have visited and roamed around Vimy Ridge and this book brings home only too well what can at best be imagined as one stands on the hallowed grounds of this nowadays magnificent piece of France that belongs to Canada...Another review: "a devastatingly truthful work of fiction, and a masterful account of hell and healing. This is a grave, grand, and passionate book" says it all, and one also senses therein the agonising pain, fear, personal intent, bravery, camaraderie, loss of soldiers in battle - all very descriptively present in this book."The title Three Day Road has a truly layered meaning in the story" (sic).The author has most certainly achieved his goal of honouring the Native soldiers who fought in the Great War and beautifully interwoven their folklore into his story-telling.Once read this book is certain to linger in one's mind and not be forgotten easily. (less)

I enjoyed this read. It is a fascinating story, based on fact, of Indians taking part in the Great War and becoming excellent and invaluable snipers. The whole story with the Aunt telling her own story and her nephew recounting his war time experiences with his great friend - which actually in a bizarre way link together- is very well done. The only reason I'm not giving it 5* is because I felt the incessant description of the killings was a bit too long and somewhat over the top as it began to irk me. I just think the editor could have asked the author to shorten that aspect of the story a bit.

This is a masterpiece, one that I am truly privileged to have discovered. As a journal of the traumas of the war in France, it is a reminder of just how awful those years were. And a reminder of just how easy life is now. Even in late 2020.Interwoven with the magical insights into Cree culture it weaves a spellbinding tale that is sad, moving and totally absorbing. Put aside a couple of days and immerse yourself. You will never regret it.

This is in my top ten ever reads. A searching look at the role of non-European origin participants in WW1, it follows two Cree Indians from Canada to the front and the different ways the two ‘brothers’ cope with the hardship and terror. Beautifully written it is a fantastic novel.