On Tuesday September 28th, 2021, sixteen avid readers joined in a circle to discuss “Five Little Indians” by author Michelle Good. The Truth and Reconciliation Community – Bobcaygeon has gathered as a group on several occasions to talk about the books and reports such as Ibram X Kendi’s “How to be an Anti-Racist” and “Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls” as well as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report.
We thought that this particular novel would be a great vehicle to open the circle to others in the community who wanted to explore more on the path to truth and reconciliation. It turns out that Michelle Good’s novel is the perfect door opener facilitating difficult but necessary conversations.
We all agreed that it is a challenging read due to the content but that the hope for a better future at the end of the book was what made all the difference. Michelle Good has drawn such relatable characters that their stories deepened our understanding of the impacts of Indian Residential Schools in a way that no amount of data ever could.
Since we all bring our own imagination and experiences to reading fiction, we each had a personal relationship to the book and to the characters. Resistance and resilience in the face of devastating circumstances were themes that stood out. In this book we see the internalized impact that trauma wreaks on individuals which then ripples out to the whole community in external manifestations.
Each one of us thought that this was the one book to recommend to someone starting their learning journey about Indian Residential Schools. We came away with a deeper understanding and a deeper commitment to speaking the truth and engaging in difficult conversations.
Let us know if you have other books that you recommend and if you would like to join in our next discussion.