My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
From the cover:
"Taken from their families when they are very small and sent to a remote, church-run residential school, Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie and Maisie are barely out of childhood when they are finally released after years of detention.
Alone and without any skills, support or families, the teens find their way to the seedy and foreign world of Downtown Eastside Vancouver, where they cling together, striving to find a place of safety and belonging in a world that doesn't want them. The paths of the five friends cross and crisscross over the decades as they struggle to overcome, or at least forget, the trauma they endured during their years at the Mission.
Fueled by rage and furious with God, Clara finds her way into the dangerous, highly charged world of the American Indian Movement. Maisie internalizes her pain and continually places herself in dangerous situations. Famous for his daring escapes from the school, Kenny can't stop running and moves restlessly from job to job - through fishing grounds, orchards, and logging camps - trying to outrun his memories and his addiction. Lucy finds peace in motherhood and nurtures a secret compulsive disorder as she waits for Kenny to return to the life they once hoped to share together. After almost beating one of his tormentors to death, Howie serves time in prison, then tries once again to re-enter society and begin life anew.
With compassion and insight, Five Little Indians chronicles the desperate quest of these residential school survivors to come to terms with their past and, ultimately, find a way forward."
Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie, and Maisie, although different ages, all overlapped in their time at the residential school each of them was stolen from their families and forced to attend. After helping Howie escape, Kenny manages to get away himself. Howie goes to the United States with his mom to avoid being caught and sent back, and Kenny goes back to his mom's house for a bit before heading out on his own to try to make a living. Clara and Maisie are released before Lucy, so when she finally gets out after turning sixteen, she joins them in Vancouver, where the three work off the books at a seedy hotel for less than minimum wage. Despite the differences in the paths each of them has taken, they are all united in their attempts to process the trauma they experienced while imprisoned at the Mission.
This book pulls you in from the first page. There is no easing the reader into the story - immediately, we find ourselves in the world of these kids, who are being abused in the false name of education (a.k.a. assimilating to colonizer culture) at the hands of religious figures. And while the characters are referred to as men and women after they are released back into the world, don't forget that they are kids. The youngest woman at the start of the story is only sixteen, the other four are not much older, and after being forced to attend residential school and missing out on a real education, they are on their own, trying to process a decade of trauma, and learning how to survive in an unfamiliar world.
As I'm sure you can piece together, this is not a light or an easy read, but it is an important one. It bravely shines a light on something that white history has tried to pretend never happened and spotlights the resiliency and courage of the families and children who were torn apart by their government - resiliency and courage they should never have had to develop. I strongly recommend that you read this book, particularly if you are unfamiliar with the history of residential schools in the United States and Canada.
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