Journal Entry 1 by goatgrrl from New Westminster, British Columbia Canada on Sunday, May 16, 2004

Journal Entry 2 by goatgrrl from New Westminster, British Columbia Canada on Saturday, January 13, 2007

Keeper'n Me tells the story of twenty-something Garnet Raven, an Ojibway kid from the White Dog (aka Wabasseemoong) reserve in northwestern Ontario who was removed from his family by a children's aid worker when he was a little kid (making him part of the "sixties scoop"). As a young man, Garnet does time in an Ontario penitentiary for possession of cocaine. While in prison he receives a letter from his older brother, who is still living at White Dog. The brother, Stanley, invites him to return to the reserve to meet his mother and siblings, and with some encouragement from Toronto friends (a close-knit black family), Garnet makes the trip home.

It takes a little while for Garnet -- sporting a massive permed afro, lime green disco pants and platform shoes -- to feel at home at White Dog, and his cultural confusion is the source of many sympathetic laughs in the early part of the novel. When he starts to settle into life on the reserve the real learning begins, for both Garnet and the reader. I found Keeper an unexpectedly wise, enjoyable, book, the tone of which reminded me of Chris Eyre's 1998 film Smoke Signals (which is based on a novel by Sherman Alexie).

Although these are very different books, Keeper also brought to mind Eden Robinson's Monkey Beach (set on the northwest coast of British Columbia) and Tomson Highway's Kiss of the Fur Queen, both highly recommended to anyone who enjoys this book. 

Journal Entry 3 by goatgrrl at Mangez Mangez coffeeshop in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada on Monday, January 15, 2007

Released 5 yrs ago (1/15/2007 UTC) at Mangez Mangez coffeeshop in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

I'll be leaving this book at Mangez Mangez on my way in to work this morning, around 9 am. Best wishes and happy reading to whomever picks it up.