Welcome to my latest book review, my friend! The father-daughter relationship is one of my favorite relationships to read about. Continuing to quench my thirst for such books, my latest read is The Theory of Crows by David A. Robertson. David is a member of the Norway House Cree Nation. The characters of this book are also from there.
The Theory of Crows
By David Alexander Robertson | Goodreads
When a troubled father and his estranged teenage daughter head out onto the land in search of the family trapline, they find their way back to themselves, and to each other
Deep in the night, Matthew paces the house, unable to rest. Though his sixteen-year-old daughter, Holly, lies sleeping on the other side of the bedroom door, she is light years away from him. How can he bridge the gap between them when he can’t shake the emptiness he feels inside? Holly knows her father is drifting further from her; what she doesn’t understand is why. Could it be her fault that he seems intent on throwing everything away, including their relationship?
Following a devastating tragedy, Matthew and Holly head out onto the land in search of a long-lost cabin on the family trapline, miles from the Cree community they once called home. But each of them is searching for something more than a place. Matthew hopes to reconnect with the father he has just lost; Holly goes with him because she knows the father she is afraid of losing won’t be able to walk away.
When things go wrong during the journey, they find they have only each other to turn to for support. What happens to father and daughter on the land will test them, and eventually heal them, in ways they never thought possible.
Content notes include mental illness, panic attacks/disorders, self harm, death, drug abuse, suicidal thoughts, grief, alcoholism, infidelity.
Thoughts on The Theory of Crows
I find myself gravitating towards indigenous reads in the winter. It seems like an odd trend but I am still happy to notice it because it means I like reading books about the culture of the place I call home. The Theory of Crows is a beautiful and heart-breaking story with two characters at its centre: Matthew, the father, and his teenage daughter, Holly. Matthew and Holly have a tough relationship. Matthew has gotten more and more withdrawn from his family over the years and they are all at a breaking point. Something has to change because their family is getting destroyed in the suffocating silence. Matthew realizes that but he seems stuck and unable to believe that anything in life matters. In the first half of the novel, I read about their family. I met Claire, the mom, and how the family dynamics had deteriorated. Matthew is having panic attacks and Holly has turned to stealing his anti-anxiety meds.
Matthew is Cree and the one pillar of reality for him is his father, an Elder in the community. Though they don’t live at the reserve they still have roots in their culture and Matthew turns to his father in his time of desperation. His father reminds him that his healing will be found in the land but before they can journey together and discover Moshom’s lost cabin in the woods, the trapline where he spent many years, grief strikes the family. Taking Moshom’s advice, Matthew decides to find the cabin and experience his father’s memories and stories to heal him. Holly offers to accompany him and together they reconnect and find peace in their presents.
I loved everything about this book! It was raw and emotional and I felt for all the characters. I could see how Matthew lost hope and how much the trauma of losing their language and culture through residential schools still affected the family decades later. Beautifully depicting the struggles of not being able to share an ancestral language, the change in lifestyle that didn’t allow for sharing ways of living of their people, The Theory of Crows is a humanly magical journey to find strength in oneself through our family and roots. I was rooting for Holly and Matthew the whole time and Moshom had a warmth and comfort like no other.
Cree teachings, stories and traditions were woven seamlessly into the narrative. I loved how both Holly and Matthew remembered and used their roots to get support, Holly from the school Elder counsellor, and Matthew from his father. The Indigenous connection to land is heartwarming to me. Having grown up in a culture focusing on gods, I like the physical attributes of the indigenous cultural roots and love how grounding it is. It makes me appreciate this land that I moved to and find strength in it.
Even though Matthew and Holly were drifting apart, they still knew they had things in common – their love for music and Moshom – and they had to find a way using their commonalities to bridge the growing gap between them. Claire was immensely important in all of this and I loved her for her strength and compassion. I had read a What makes Love Last by John Gottman and I was reminded of many strategies he had shared for couples who were having problems. There is so much to be learned from this book about surviving a family and putting our children first. The pain of losing a parent and watching a parent lose their parents brought tears to my eyes. I have felt that pain, and inevitably, I will feel that pain again. When Matthew shared stories about his upbringing with Holly, when he worried about the memories that he was making with his daughter and how he wanted to leave her with good ones, the heart ache of wanting to be better was hard to miss.
The Theory of Crows is a beautiful story and as I followed the characters and cried and laughed with them, I saw my own life in a way. Of me and my family when I was a teenager, this time as an adult when I am married and don’t have kids yet, what the years ahead may bring and the joy of sharing culture, language, stories and home with our loved ones.
If you are intrigued by the book, you can check it out on Goodreads.
Other books I have read where the father-daughter relationship is key are The Bear by Andrew Krivak and Legends of the North Cascades by Jonathan Evison.
About the Author
DAVID A. ROBERTSON (he, him, his) was the 2021 recipient of the Writers’ Union of Canada Freedom to Read Award as well as the Globe and Mail Children’s Storyteller of the Year. He is the author of numerous books for young readers including When We Were Alone, which won the 2017 Governor General’s Literary Award and the McNally Robinson Best Book for Young People Award. The Barren Grounds, Book 1 of the middle-grade The Misewa Saga series, received a starred review from Kirkus, was a Kirkus and Quill & Quire best middle-grade book of 2020, was a USBBY and Texas Lone Star selection, was shortlisted for the Ontario Library Association’s Silver Birch Award, and was a finalist for the 2020 Governor General’s Literary Award. His memoir, Black Water: Family, Legacy, and Blood Memory, was a Globe and Mail and Quill & Quire book of the year in 2020, and won the Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction as well as the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award at the 2020 Manitoba Book Awards. On The Trapline, illustrated by Julie Flett, won David’s second Governor General’s Literary Award, won the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award, and was named one of the best picture books of 2021 by the CCBC, The Horn Book, New York Public Library, Quill & Quire, and American Indians in Children’s Literature. Dave is the writer and host of the podcast Kíwew (Key-Way-Oh), winner of the 2021 RTDNA Praire Region Award for Best Podcast. His first adult fiction novel, The Theory of Crows, was published in 2022. He is a member of Norway House Cree Nation and currently lives in Winnipeg.
You can connect with David on Twitter and learn more about his latest books on his website. You can also follow his Goodreads pages for updates.
Many thanks to the publisher for providing me a review copy of this book for an honest review.
Cover Photo on Unsplash
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