I liked it, but found it confusing at times. Wanted more of a connection to the story, the characters or both. This is a first novel and this author can definitely write. Hopefully I will find a better connection with her next book. King's men', 'Queen's rebels' and 'last outposts': Ulster and Rhodesia in an age of imperial retreat - Donal Lowry In a series of shifting narratives, people who are connected, both directly and indirectly, with the victim — police, family, and friends — tell their personal stories leading up to that fateful night. Lou, a social worker, grapples with the departure of her live-in boyfriend. Cheryl, an artist, mourns the premature death of her sister Rain. Paulina, a single mother, struggles to trust her new partner. Phoenix, a homeless teenager, is released from a youth detention centre. Officer Scott, a Métis policeman, feels caught between two worlds as he patrols the city. Through their various perspectives a larger, more comprehensive story about lives of the residents in Winnipeg’s North End is exposed. Sie hat es nicht vergessen. Sie weiß noch alles. Sie wird immer alles wissen, jedes Detail, jede Einzelheit, auch wenn sie nichts davon laut aussprechen will. Jedes Mal, wenn sie irgendetwas von all dem laut ausspricht, wird es größer, also behält sie es in ihrem Innern und spricht nur aus, was sie muss." - Katherena Vermette, "Was in jener Nacht geschah" The Break is a place between two rows of houses. In the winter it is bleak and cold. A young woman named Stella lives on the Break with her husband and two young children. There she witnesses something horrible and extremely violent. No one believes her. Not the police or her husband.

The Break by katherena vermette | CBC Books

All of the characters in this novel are bound together in one way or another, by family, friendship, secrets or silence - and their survival depends on the support they glean from those around them. The Break is a harrowing yet lucidly written intergenerational family saga that examines the repercussions of a horrific act of violence. I enjoyed the story. Yes, I admit that there were places where I had to suspend belief BUT this is fiction and overall I was invested.Katherena Vermette’s first book, North End Love Songs, a poetry collection set among Winnipeg’s Métis community, won a 2013 Governor General’s Literary Award. In her debut novel, the author finds herself in familiar and heart-wrenching territory of prejudice and violence.

The Break by Marian Keyes | Waterstones The Break by Marian Keyes | Waterstones

A powerful intergenerational family saga, The Break showcases Vermette's abundant writing talent and positions her as an exciting new voice in Canadian literature." This book is raw look at what happens when a mother goes through a traumatic birth, postpartum depression and anxiety. When this happens, it makes you question everything you do for your child. The look into the life of Rowan, draws you in with a ending you never see coming, there is murder, love loss and the power of what is right in front of you. June, their babysitter, takes some time off after being frightened by something that happened, and Rowan is in therapy for PTSD. Honestly, it often felt like the author was winging the plot and seeing where it took her versus writing with real intention.The story is told in shifting perspectives of connecting characters as they share their past and present stories. This added suspense to the story as I pieced together how the characters were connected to the crime. There is a large cast of characters and at times I needed to use the helpful family tree that is included at the beginning of the book to sort them all out. A city-with-fancy-food sort of a break?’ Maura narrows her eyes. ‘Or a Rihanna sort of a break? Well?’ She presses her case. ‘Is it the city-with-fancy-food break?’ June & Rowan were hardly likable. Both suffering & throughout the book it was curious, who suffered more. Sylvie was awful. Horrible way to represent trauma support from a therapist. Gabe, Harrison & Sean, also long suffering & hard to relate to these characters as well. So I avoid any stating of my age, like, ever, in the hope that if no one says it, no one will know about it and I can stay age- free until the end of time. (My one regret is that I didn’t adopt this attitude when I was twenty-seven, but I knew nothing when I was twenty-seven.)

The Break: British Book Awards Author of the Year 2022 The Break: British Book Awards Author of the Year 2022

Rowan has just given birth to Lila. She and her husband have hired June to babysit part time. Rowan is having a difficult time since the birth. She feels unsettled, and it’s getting worse. She believes June has done some horrible things, and when June turns up missing, Rowan is now the key suspect. Only she knows what really happened, or does she?

Videos

It’s unrelenting and it’s horrific and it was hard to put down. Even the “bad guys” aren’t all bad when you know how they got here. She seems surprised. ‘If your husband is “on a break” from your marriage’ – she does the quotation marks with her fingers – ‘then aren’t you’ – more quotation marks – ‘“on a break” too?’ Katherena Vermette is a Canadian writer, who won the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry in 2013 for her collection North End Love Songs. Vermette is of Metis descent and from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She was a MFA student in creative writing at the University of British Columbia. If you’re an author or publishing industry expert interested in being a guest on the show, please send us a message with the details you’d like to be interviewed on. When Shawn Mooney first came on the Reading Envy Podcast in January 2017, he discussed this book. That episode is even named after a quote from the book.

The Breakdown by B.A. Paris | Goodreads The Breakdown by B.A. Paris | Goodreads

Despite the horror of the assault, and the uncomfortable matters discussed, the book helped me gain a better understanding of the discrimination First Nations people face, and the generational trauma that appears impossible to escape. There is a strong tone of colonialisation that needs to be spoken about, it destroys communities and then shames them for it, much like the community (in this case the generational matriarchs) in this book. How does one critique a book that has either won or been a finalist for every literary award in the land, is dubbed an Indigenous novel, and is the debut offering of a young writer positioned for great things in the literary firmament? Answer: Very Carefully. And yet no writer should be spared the observations that hopefully make for better work in the future. So, with that in mind, and mindful that I may also be the object of hate mail, let me try to do justice to this novel. The Break is the first novel by Canadian poet, film-maker and award-winning author, Katherena Vermette. Late one cold February night, a small-town Canadian Police Department gets a 911 call. Stella McGregor, a young Metis wife and mother, is witnessing an assault on a stretch of land known as The Break, adjacent to her home. While there are still signs of a scuffle in the snow by the time two officers arrive, they are dubious about the witness’s assertion that a woman has been raped: the broken beer bottle and the pool of blood point to a gang fight. The themes of pain, abuse, trauma and the stories & fear that we are forced to carry as women and people of colour were very well explored and the language (despite the constant repetition of the word 'gross' which bugged me slightly) was beautiful, simple and poetic.You were half asleep. And it's okay. It's okay. But with your past, hon, you know you could've just been dreaming. You could've just been confused." The Break is an emotional, powerful and intense literary thriller about the strength and love that connects a family of women and friends together, while dealing with a violent act. The Break refers to a field between two rolls of houses but also refers to broken relationships. I really enjoyed the thriller aspect of the book as well. Giving you a glimpse of these traumas while not completely over whelming you with the use of the fictional thriller part.