[BCH]⇒ [PDF] Free Three Day Road Joseph Boyden 9780143056959 Books

Three Day Road Joseph Boyden 9780143056959 Books

Download As PDF : Three Day Road Joseph Boyden 9780143056959 Books

Three Day Road Joseph Boyden 9780143056959 Books

It was a hard book to put down. The characters are so well written that you think about them during the day as if you knew them and wondered about their well being. My husband read it at the same time and we were constantly asking how far each were in the book so we could talk about it. I loved it as a piece of literature and at the same time I learned a bit of history. It's books like these that make it hard to find another when you are done, because my expectations are so high. I hope I haven't raised your expectations too high but please give it a try!


Tags : Three Day Road [Joseph Boyden] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. It is 1919, and Niska, the last Oji-Cree woman to live off the land, has received word that one of the two boys she saw off to the Great War has returned. Xavier Bird,Joseph Boyden,Three Day Road,Penguin Canada,0143056956,G0143056956I3N10,FICTION Literary

Three Day Road Joseph Boyden 9780143056959 Books Reviews

This is a magnificent novel taking us from the battle fields in war-torn France in World War I to the forests of northern Canada where the Cree people trapped and lived. It is a tale told by Xavier Bird, a sniper in the Canadian forces in the war. It is also the tale told by his shaman aunt, Nieka, who is a healer and exorcist for the Cree people. It is also the tale of one of the most fascinating characters in contemporary fiction, Elijah Whiskeyjack, Xavier’s best friend and companion in childhood and in wartime. Xavier was reared by his aunt in the backwoods after she takes him from a French Catholic boarding school for native children. He learns the way of the wild natural world but wants a friend. He goes and brings back Elijah from the school and they become closer than brothers as they hunt all day in the northern forests. At age 19 they decide to join the Canadian armed forces and go to Europe to fight the Germans. Boyden does an excellent job of showing the tension between people of two different cultures working and living together under hard conditions. The young men soon display considerable marksmanship and become snipers, sent out into no-man’s-land to kill the unsuspecting German who has let his guard down for a mere second. Boyden does a masterful job of showing Xavier’s growing distaste for killing while showing Elijah’s growing addiction to killing other men. The descriptions of the deep forests of northern Canada are excellent but it is the blow by blow descriptions of warfare that makes this book absolutely exceptional. Boyden’s narrative skills create a world of horror and tension on the front lines of an insane struggle to kill and avoid death. Boyden has also written a book which reaches resolution at the end with all mysteries solved. He does this very well and thee novel is as tightly well constructed as any I have read in years. I recommend the book for several reasons including the careful descriptions of native life in Canada as well as the outstanding war scenes throughout the book. The story is compelling, the characters are vivid and alive, and the theme of damaged souls and healing souls is universal and important.
“Three Day Road” is Boyden’s first novel, a remarkable tale of two young Cree Indians from Canada who experience the horrors and brutality of trench warfare during WWI. Best friends Xavier Bird and Elijah Whiskeyjack use the craft they learned hunting in the area around Hudson Bay to become sharpshooters. Elijah is flamboyant, while Xavier is reserved. Elijah racks up an astonishing number of kill, but becomes a morphine addict while walking a fine line between heroism and murder. A parallel story line tells of Niska, Xavier's aunt, a Cree medicine woman who chose to live by her wits in the woods rather than enter the reservation. Her story, told as she paddles her wounded nephew back home after the war is over, tells of the sad decline of Cree culture. Boyden vividly portrays the chaos, fear, discomfort and courage of the soldiers who found themselves in the trenches of the Western Front. He proves to be a gifted storyteller.
When I got this book I did not read the description closely and thought this would be about a travel through the Canadian wilderness. However the story was predominantly about WWI, with a bit of the Canadian wilderness.

I do not often read books about war, but this book was phenomenal. The horrific images of a terrible time and place told in an unflinching manner. Eloquent, exceptional and near perfect.

This is not a page turner, rather a slow read that wants the read to absorb every word.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough and feel the mere 5 stars cannot communicate the power of this novel.
I read The Orenda by Joseph Boyden and was so captivated by his writing style that I immediately ordered Three Day Road. In the same way that The Orenda sucked me into the story with it's details of life in a Huron village in the 1600's, Three Day Road let me experience life in the trenches of WWI. It was shocking, frightening and ultimately unforgettable to read what men suffered in this war. From the frequent rain producing deep mud to struggle through, boots that never dried and trench foot to the constant wet, woolen uniforms infested with lice, Boyden's ability to describe the misery and discomfort these soldiers dealt with every day was so powerful. The loss of innocence, the loss of sanity, the loss of life and friendship - all of these are described in vivid details through the eyes of Xavier, a young Cree soldier who has enlisted with his friend Elijah to fight in a Canadian regiment. Xavier and Elijah become snipers based on their excellent marksmanship from years of living in the Canadian bush. The book begins in Northern Ontario as a very damaged Xavier returns from the Front with extreme physical and psychological damage to deal with. The chapters alternate from the perspective of Xavier and his Aunt Niska, A Cree medicine woman who wishes to ease Xavier's mind and heal his body. I cannot give you more details, but I can highly recommend this book. It is a serious and powerful read that reinforces the price young men face in war and the great debt all of society owes them when they return.
It was a hard book to put down. The characters are so well written that you think about them during the day as if you knew them and wondered about their well being. My husband read it at the same time and we were constantly asking how far each were in the book so we could talk about it. I loved it as a piece of literature and at the same time I learned a bit of history. It's books like these that make it hard to find another when you are done, because my expectations are so high. I hope I haven't raised your expectations too high but please give it a try!