not a polyglot

All the Quiet Places is a debut novel by Brian Thomas Isaac. It was on a list of recommendations for Indigenous fiction and literature on Libby so I had saved it and the audiobook became available after a month or so. It was narrated by Lincoln McGowan who, upon a quick search, has narrated other books on Indigenous topics. The total run time is 7 hours and 28 minutes, which fit into my morning and afternoon walk to and from work. I listened to it at 1.5x and 1.75x because 2x speed was too fast for McGowan' narration style. The tags listed under the book on Google are: coming-of-age, Bildungsroman, and domestic fiction. I never knew Bildungsroman as a word existed, but the concept: following the "psychological and moral growth" of a protagonist child that's not new (Wikipedia). I think anyone who's watched Disney, anime, or even just Ghibli movies will know this exact concept, and we usually label it under coming-of-age. So, that was a nice tidbit to learn.

The books follows an Indigenous Syilx boy named Eddie Toma who lives with his mom Grace and his brother, Lewis. (We find out his biological dad is alive partway through the book, but he's rotten as we'd expect.) They are met with all sorts of obstacles and we see Eddie, well, be a kid. We see how he handles being Othered by the white community he's surrounded by, he's bullied by a boy named Rodney and has a crush on a girl named Eva. We see him try to do right by his mom, grandma, and uncle Alfonse (spelling?). He gets in trouble, we don't like the adults, but we can empathize with their struggle to make the best choices in the circumstances. The book does have tragedy that marks Eddie's life, one early on and one just as the book is ending. It leaves an impression when it ends in a scenic way where Eddie is simply in nature. For a title about quiet places I felt the book was loud in it's quietness, like the ocean waves on a clear, summers day. Things look good and then something falls away, over and over like ocean waves lapping on the shore.

The book overall kept me listening (when I wasn't distracted), and I was able to get the major scenes of Eddie's transformation from child to teen hood. There's times I find rooting for him and other times where I can't believe he does something when knowing better. I think that means Isaac brings out the humanity of his characters because they're not perfect and they're learning from the mistakes and environment. I felt that it didn't make it about being Indigenous in a caricature way. You can tell it was written with great care to show how Eddie will grow and how not everything pans out for him. It's not exactly a hopeful book, but it feels like a reminder that lives are deeply affected by the prejudices and racist policies and histories of both Canada and the USA. There's no Disney Cinderella moment where everything works itself out after an apology or the decision to do the right thing. Some people may not enjoy that out of a book because they read to get away from reality, but for me it was a perfect look into a culture I've only heard things about and had me interested in seeing how the protagonist will move forward. That's good writing, and I rate it a 4/5. I think it's a great audiobook that doesn't involve your entire focus, but it will make you want to focus on it.