North Spirit: Sojourns Among the Cree and Ojibway

In addition to the other comments made by earlier reviewers, with which I agree, this book provides an essential and extremely thoughtful look at the varied roles played by language and communication media in culture. During the brief narrative Jiles engages with film, theater, radio, television, newspapers, and several modern (English, French) and native (Cree, Ojibway) languages. She also transitions between "native" and... Read Full Review

Paulette Jiles cast a wonderful spell over me with North Spirit, and when I awoke, I wanted to return to the world of the Cree and Ojibway: a world of simplicity, honesty, humour, community, connectedness, blessed silence. A world that perhaps never was in the white person's world. North Spirit comes at a time when I am shedding as much material wealth as possible. A time when I seek spirit within. A time when I would... Read Full Review

In North Spirit, Paulette Jiles has this amazing non-patronizing voice, which at the same time is conscious that she is a white person writing about Indian people who are letting her-this often goofy white person-see herself as a white person watching Indian people and being watched by them. You get the picture. The book is never sentimental or dismissive; the book never stumbles. I love the fact that she can poke fun... Read Full Review

This book deserves to be far better known than it is. Though it is specifically about the First Nations peoples of Canada, in the end, it becomes clear that their struggles are everyone's struggles. Most dramatic of all is the story of the Elder who must continue to live in the same house with his unfaithful wife and illegitimate son. The Elder has killed the father of the son, while in a drunken rage. As the years have... Read Full Review