Book Review Black Water, by David Robertson 3.5/5 Stars

   Continuing with my 2025 theme of Water- I read Black Water- Family, legacy and Blood memory  by David A Robertson.  

This was not a light recollection of the childhood of a Cree man in Canada. It was an award winner and best seller but I did find it a bit difficult to get through, likely a me problem, more than an author problem. 

  I was fascinated by the story to start with. David is the son of a Cree father and a white mother. For unknown reasons, the Cree side of his heritage was never discussed, so much so that when questioned about his ethnicity- he entirely denied being "indian"  and had no real feeling that he was Indigenous, despite having apparently a typical Cree appearance which was noticed (and commented one) by folks around him.  

       Robertson tells essentially a dual memoir, one of his father, a man who grew up on a reservation, and became a pastor and academic leader in Indigenous education, and one of himself, a man who grew up with a largely absent father  and no awareness of his own roots. 

   Robertson does not flinch away from the many truths about his life, and the lives of Indigenous people in Canada. He's able to pull in so much material and relate it to his life, but also the outer world around us. While he mourns not growing up more aware of his Cree heritage, he understands that growing up with more knowledge doesn't mean that his life would have been "easier"  or "better", just different.  Although in the writing, I can see that he does clearly believe that not knowing did cause some unspoken trauma, which may have lead to some mental health concerns. 

   Robertson is given a new chance to really get to know his Dad, when he re-enters their lives more fully, and he takes full advantage of this, as he and his Dad visit Dad's old home, and David records hours of memories, from not only his Dad but other relatives and friends, and becomes familiar with the people and the land his Dad grew up on - David anchors himself a bit to the land, and it's fascinating to read as things come full circle, David has his own family and chooses a very different path for his children who are growing up fully aware of their heritage. 

    I wasn't swept away by this book. I don't believe that was the point of the book, I feel the author wanted to raise awareness and generate discussion. I definitely might put this one forward as a Book Club book!   For me - I felt like the author didn't entirely commit and sort of danced around a few topics - which I felt perhaps he hadn't completely resolved for himself, but of course, he's still living, and aren't we all experiencing, adjusting and changing our minds as we continue on our life journey.  At the same time that I wasn't swept away,  I recognized it as an important piece of writing, that offers thoughts on belonging, identity, generational trauma, family, racism, internalized racism, and more.  I also recognized that the work done on this book, the research etc, likely informed Robertson's The Theory of Crows published 2 years later. 

I did read this via Audiobook  and it is narrator by the author. I will say the author has a bit of a reedy quality to his voice, and POSSIBLY I might have enjoyed this more with different voice, but when a book is narrated by the author, you know you're getting the whole she-bang so to speak, so, maybe if I were doing it again, I'd read the book in print. 

STATS

First Published 2020

Pages: 288

Available as an Audio Book : YES

Trigger Warnings:  Racism, Mental health discussion, 

(this is not a full list, read responsibly)