Review: Tatsea by Armin Wiebe

Last word first: This is a fantastic adventure! A compelling and engrossing story with strong writing that will have you completely sucked in.

About the book: (from the back cover) Tatsea is an adventure story of love and survival set in Canada's Subarctic in the late 1700s, a time when the Dogrib people were under constant threat of attack by raiders supplied with European weapons. Filled with vivid detail, it re-creates an era of cultural clash and the violent change that accompanies it.

(My summary) Tatsea is a young Dogrib woman. When the hideously disfigured Ikotsali rescues Tatsea and her father from a hunting accident, Tatsea is obligated to marry him. One day when Ikotsali is away from camp, Cree raiders attack and kill everyone but Tatsea, who is captured, and her infant daughter, whom she has hidden. When Ikotsali returns to find the camp destroyed, he sets out to find Tatsea.

My thoughts: When I saw what this book was about, I was a little skeptical that I would like it. I find that stories about what happened to first peoples during the influx of Europeans in North America tend to be too politically charged to be enjoyable. It's like reading propaganda thinly disguised as a novel, and I don't enjoy it. But my mom told me to read Tatsea, and she was right (as moms usually are). This book is different.

Right from the first page, I was pulled in to Tatsea's story. I was saddened by her love for a childhood friend that she must abandon to marry Ikotsali. I was appalled when she is torn away from her child and taken as a slave by the men who slaughtered her family. Each hardship and triumph in her story had me holding my breath to see what would happen. When Tatsea first encounters Europeans, Wiebe does an excellent job of conveying her wonderment and confusion at mysteries like houses, blue eyes, and a housecat.

Let's not forget Ikotsali! At the beginning, I thought he was maybe the bad guy... the ugly man who marries a beautiful young girl even though she doesn't love him. He completely won me over. Throughout their separation, Ikotsali and Tatsea have dreams about each other, seeing where the other one is and even helping each other along. The growing romance between them was really the icing on the cake for me.

Above all else, Tatsea is an epic tale about a struggle for survival. Tatsea and Ikotsali are up against cold, starvation, predators and human enemies. It seems they are facing death at every turn. This book had me up reading WAY too late, but I could not put it down. If you are looking for adventure and intensity, this book delivers!

Tatsea was released in 2003, so I can't believe I've never heard of it before. This is an absolutely riveting story and I highly recommend it!

About the Author: Armin Wiebe was born in Altona, Manitoba and has lived in the Northwest Territories and in Saskatchewan. He holds degrees from University of Winnipeg, University of Manitoba and teaches at Red River College. He lives and writes in Winnipeg, Canada. Website.

Click the book cover image to purchase from Amazon.

Stay tuned for my Q&A with Armin Wiebe tomorrow.