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Three Day Road - Joseph Boyden
Three Day Road
by: (author)
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Set in Canada and the battlefields of France and Belgium, Three-Day Road is a mesmerizing novel told through the eyes of Niska—a Canadian Oji-Cree woman living off the land who is the last of a line of healers and diviners—and her nephew Xavier. At the urging of his friend Elijah, a Cree boy... show more
Set in Canada and the battlefields of France and Belgium, Three-Day Road is a mesmerizing novel told through the eyes of Niska—a Canadian Oji-Cree woman living off the land who is the last of a line of healers and diviners—and her nephew Xavier. At the urging of his friend Elijah, a Cree boy raised in reserve schools, Xavier joins the war effort. Shipped off to Europe when they are nineteen, the boys are marginalized from the Canadian soldiers not only by their native appearance but also by the fine marksmanship that years of hunting in the bush has taught them. Both become snipers renowned for their uncanny accuracy. But while Xavier struggles to understand the purpose of the war and to come to terms with his conscience for the many lives he has ended, Elijah becomes obsessed with killing, taking great risks to become the most accomplished sniper in the army. Eventually the harrowing and bloody truth of war takes its toll on the two friends in different, profound ways. Intertwined with this account is the story of Niska, who herself has borne witness to a lifetime of death—the death of her people. In part inspired by the legend of Francis Pegahmagabow, the great Indian sniper of World War I, Three-Day Road is an impeccably researched and beautifully written story that offers a searing reminder about the cost of war.
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Format: hardcover
ISBN: 9780670034314 (0670034312)
Publisher: Viking Adult
Pages no: 354
Edition language: English
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Community Reviews
Rod Raglin
Rod Raglin rated it
5.0 Three Day Road a memorable story that will haunt, inspire and entertain.
Niska is a traditional medicine woman, a mix of Cree and Ojibway. She's been taught divining and traditional medicine by her mother and father, has seizures and sees visions. She's also the destroyer of windago, an evil presence that sometimes takes possession of humans, a role she has inherited thr...
VictoriaNickers
VictoriaNickers rated it
5.0 Three Days Road
This is a phenomenal and haunting book. I really loved the story despite most of it being set in the WWI. Maybe because it not the traditional stories being told of WWI. The characters are deep and complex. So powerfully written that it makes you stop and wonder what hell is going on with society. I...
Mellkoh
Mellkoh rated it
5.0 Three Day Road
I recently picked up Through Black Spruce to read and told a fellow "bookie" friend about my plan to read it. She asked if I'd read Three Day Road; I had not. That is how I got to this book, as she suggested that Through Black Spruce (which I'm starting tonight) would be better read after Three Da...
Eccentric Musings (jakaEM)
Eccentric Musings (jakaEM) rated it
5.0
This is two of my favourite reads: a "futility-of-war" novel by a Native Canadian writer, and with a unique Native Canadian angle.Xavier and Elijah are Ojibwe-Cree from "the North Country" (which in this case means James Bay area) who sign up for WW I, and - because of their hunting prowess - make f...
Chrissie's Books
Chrissie's Books rated it
3.0
This book is loosely based on the famed Native Canadian WW1 sniper Francis Pegahmagabow. It is about WW1 trench warfare; it is about the role Native Canadians played in this warfare and it is about mystical Cree beliefs. I think this book goes a step deeper. It is about warfare in general and also a...
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