By Larissa Page
Trigger warnings: Child death, drug use and abuse, mentions of sexual assault
In 2016, Vermette gave us an incredible family drama full of strong Métis women called The Break where we are introduced to Phoenix Stranger, a troubled youth who has an exceptionally large and negative impact on the family.
The Strangers picks up only months after The Break ends. Following three generations of the Stranger family over the span of five years, we are introduced again to Phoenix, as well as her sister Cedar-Sage, mother Elsie, and grandmother, Margaret. Set up with approximately a chapter for each character per year (year one, year two, etc.), we are given insight into their lives, their background, their growth, their traumas, their successes, and their love.
The Strangers is full of intergenerational trauma, but what makes this novel, like its predecessor The Break, so unique and incredible is how clearly the lines of that intergenerational trauma are drawn and how obvious its effects are. It is so easy to be sympathetic to Elsie when we know the story of Margaret, and it is so easy to be sympathetic to Phoenix when we know the story of Elsie. By putting these stories together, layer on layer, we can more easily see the way by which trauma can be channelled from one generation down to the next, and how that can have an impact on the choices and actions made by someone. Books like this are so important because they can help grow empathy toward different people in different circumstances than our own.
I will say I felt less connected to the characters in The Strangers than I did to the characters in The Break. I found this interesting because the cast of characters in The Break was much larger, but I personally think it was simply a different dynamic. The Break followed several characters, all focusing around a single event. The Strangers follows four characters over the span of five years, which gives us a different type of novel, a different pace with different outcomes. This has its benefits, and I think readers will really like it; I was simply expecting something a little different and had to adjust my expectations.
With incredible writing like Vermette’s, it’s no surprise The Strangers is on the Scotiabank Giller Prize long list. Even with the heart-wrenching events that take place within this novel, Vermette manages to portray hope and growth. By the time the novel ends, you can see the trajectory of healing for some, if not all, of the characters, which is surprising considering earlier on in the novel that didn’t come through as much.
Anyone who loved The Break will want to pick up The Strangers. It can absolutely be read as a stand-alone as I didn’t get the sense it was an intended sequel, but The Strangers does draw from a bit of the information given in The Break, and they are absolutely still connected.
Thank you, Penguin Random House Canada, for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.