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Indian Horse: A Novel Paperback – April 10, 2018

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 3,733 ratings

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Named a "Best Novel of the Decade" by Literary Hub

Saul Indian Horse is a child when his family retreats into the woods. Among the lakes and the cedars, they attempt to reconnect with half-forgotten traditions and hide from the authorities who have been kidnapping Ojibway youth. But when winter approaches, Saul loses everything: his brother, his parents, his beloved grandmother—and then his home itself.

Alone in the world and placed in a horrific boarding school, Saul is surrounded by violence and cruelty. At the urging of a priest, he finds a tentative salvation in hockey. Rising at dawn to practice alone, Saul proves determined and undeniably gifted. His intuition and vision are unmatched. His speed is remarkable. Together they open doors for him: away from the school, into an all-Ojibway amateur circuit, and finally within grasp of a professional career. Yet as Saul’s victories mount, so do the indignities and the taunts, the racism and the hatred—the harshness of a world that will never welcome him, tied inexorably to the sport he loves.

Spare and compact yet undeniably rich, Indian Horse is at once a heartbreaking account of a dark chapter in our history and a moving coming-of-age story.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Richard Wagamese is a born storyteller.”―Louise Erdrich

"Many indigenous authors have portrayed the horrific conditions endured by Native children in boarding schools in both the US and Canada throughout much of the twentieth century. But perhaps no author has written a novel with such raw, visceral emotion about the lifelong damage resulting from this institutionalization as Wagamese . . . Wagamese's heart-wrenching tale was made into an award-winning movie, and it tells a story that will long haunt all readers."
Booklist (starred review)

“This flawless novel is an epic tragedy graced with tendrils of hope. . . . We are indebted to [Wagamese] for all he wrote, and especially for this book, a powerful fictional illumination of a Native North American life that echoes so many real ones.”
Minneapolis Star Tribune

"A wonderful coming-of-age novel . . . When the story's protagonist, Saul Indian Horse, lands in a treatment center after an alcoholic overdose, he's encouraged to draft his life story―and it's an incredible tale."
Outside Magazine

“While Wagamese’s fictionalized account is unflinching in its grim history of institutional cruelty, it also witnesses moments of human joy . . . With
Indian Horse, Wagamese has sneakily written one of the great works of sport literature, filled with the kind of poetry that can redeem individual lives despite the systems that would see them destroyed.”―Literary Hub

“Haunting and masterful . . . In spare, poetic language, Wagamese wrestles with trauma and its fallout, and charts the long, lonely walk to survival.”
Publishers Weekly

"[A] chillingly beautiful book . . . Wagamese’s novel depicts the tragedies of residential schools (although they were more like child labor camps than schools) in the 1960s to ‘70s through the life of Saul Indian Horse, a young First Nations boy who escapes the horrors of the school through his passion for hockey."
Electric Literature

“From the novel’s outset,
Indian Horse announces itself as the story of a generation, not merely of a single individual’s life. . . . It is the intimacy of Wagamese’s telling that transforms the story from an abstract experience to one that lives and breathes.”Fiction Writers Review

Canadian Praise for Indian Horse:

“Indian Horse distills much of what Wagamese has been writing about for his whole career into a clearer and sharper liquor, both more bitter and more moving than he has managed in the past. He is such a master of empathy―of delineating the experience of time passing, of lessons being learned, of tragedies being endured―that what Saul discovers becomes something the reader learns, as well, shocking and alien, valuable and true.”―Jane Smiley

“An unforgettable work of art . . .
Indian Horse finds the granite solidity of Wagamese’s prose polished to a lustrous sheen; brisk, brief, sharp chapters propel the reader forward. He seamlessly braids together his two traditions: English literary and aboriginal oral. So audible is Saul's voice, that I heard him stop speaking whenever I closed the book.”National Post

“One of the rarest sorts of books: a novel which is both important and a heart-in-throat pleasure.”
Edmonton Journal

“It is as a story of reconciliation that this novel reveals Wagamese’s masterful subtlety. . . . In a single image, Wagamese complicates in blinding ways the entire narrative; in a single page,
Indian Horse deepens from an enjoyable read to a gripping critique of Canada.”The Walrus

“This book is so many things; it is a mystical tale; it is an ode to the good old hockey game and its power to lift players above their situations; it is a story of a system that fails and fails its children in horrifying ways; it is a story of healing. . . . A hopeful and beautiful book.”
Guelph Mercury

Praise for Medicine Walk:

“Less written than painstakingly etched into something more permanent than paper . . . Richard Wagamese bides his time, never rushing, calibrating each word so carefully that he never seems to waste a shot. . . . Though death saturates these pages, not a word here is lugubrious. Though revelations abound, there are no cheap surprises. . . . There’s nothing plain about this plain-spoken book.”
New York Times

“A slim, beautiful, heart-wrenching novel . . . Richard Wagamese is a marvelous writer, and this is a treasure of a book.”
Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Wagamese has penned a complex, rugged, and moving father-son novel. His muscular prose and spare tone complement this gem of a narrative.”
Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Richard Wagamese is a keen observer, sketching places or people elegantly, economically, all while gracefully employing literary insight to deftly dissect blood ties lingering in fractured families. . . . A powerful novel of hard men in hard country, reminiscent of Jim Harrison’s
Legends of the Fall.”Kirkus

“A deeply felt and profoundly moving novel, written in the kind of sure, clear prose that brings to mind the work of the great North American masters like Steinbeck. But Wagamese's voice and vision are also completely his own, as is the important and powerful story he has to tell.”
―Jane Urquhart

About the Author

Richard Wagamese (1955–2017) was one of Canada’s foremost writers, and one of the leading indigenous writers in North America. He was the author of several acclaimed memoirs and more than a dozen novels. He won numerous awards and honors for his writing, including the People’s Choice winner of the national Canada Reads competition in 2013, for Indian Horse.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Milkweed Editions; First Paperback Edition (April 10, 2018)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1571311300
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1571311306
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.5 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 3,733 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
3,733 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They describe the story as heartbreaking, emotional, and powerful. Readers appreciate the author's insight and understanding of culturally outcast people. The book is described as encouraging and inspiring.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

87 customers mention "Heartbreaking story"77 positive10 negative

Customers find the story heartbreaking and emotional. They describe it as a powerful story of working through trauma and learning to live again. The characters are complex yet believable, sympathetic yet flawed. Overall, readers find the book inspiring and honoring those who survived.

"...It was no disappointment. The writing soars and the story is one that evolves over time and speaks to generations of Native American and Native..." Read more

"...This book was soooo emotive, you viscerally feel shadows of the fury and the pain and the helplessness and the bitterness of the main charafater...." Read more

"Saul’s life story was amazing, but horrifying; the amount of trauma he endured, while still managing to survive was beyond comprehension...." Read more

"The book was short and a fast read but an excellent story...." Read more

82 customers mention "Readability"82 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They appreciate the detailed descriptions of hockey skills and the story of Native Americans coming home. Readers describe it as a must-read novel that starts beautifully before turning to focus on trauma.

"...I highly recommend this amazing book that is the story of one man but is also representative of a whole generation of Native American children...." Read more

"...events, the storytelling is so impeccably simple that this is brilliant and unpretentious and so eminently readable...." Read more

"...Great book." Read more

"...A fantastic novel well worth the read." Read more

42 customers mention "Writing quality"42 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the writing quality of the book. They find it well-written and engaging, with beautiful prose and detailed descriptions of hockey games. The book is described as an easy read that keeps you wanting to get to the next page. Readers praise the author as a good storyteller and say it's worth the time to read.

"...It was no disappointment. The writing soars and the story is one that evolves over time and speaks to generations of Native American and Native..." Read more

"...this book to everyone, the story is so rich and simple and well-told and important and even as the world moves on, it is important that the victims..." Read more

"...He finds that to progress he must make peace with his past. Beautifully written from the POV of a young Indian...." Read more

"...for much that is happening in young Saul's life, and an opportunity for beautiful prose...." Read more

22 customers mention "Insight"22 positive0 negative

Customers find the book insightful and impactful. They say it opens their eyes to a life and people. The book highlights native beliefs and spirituality, making it informative and well-written.

"...story is one that evolves over time and speaks to generations of Native American and Native Alaskan children who have spent their childhoods in..." Read more

"...Beautifully written from the POV of a young Indian. Highlights native beliefs and inclusive spiritual nature." Read more

"...This was an eye opening and remarkable story that everyone should read" Read more

"...A profoundly impactful book in my experience." Read more

19 customers mention "Spirit"19 positive0 negative

Customers find the book inspiring and encouraging. They appreciate the human spirit's resilience and honoring those who survived. The inclusive spiritual nature and compassion are also praised.

"...Highlights native beliefs and inclusive spiritual nature." Read more

"...Wagamese is a magnificent story-teller. Powerful and compassionate...." Read more

"...Great story of survival. Honors those kids who survived." Read more

"...Read this story let it wash over you and cleanse your soul, be kind to people, everyone is fighting a unseen battle...." Read more

8 customers mention "Author's personality"8 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the author's storytelling style. They find the book a testament to the author's memory, as he weaves true-life situations into a wonderful story about Saul Indian. The author paints a heart-wrenching story about the residential school system without making it overly emotional. Readers appreciate the author's connection to his Ojibway heritage and how the story is beautifully told.

"...school, the places he lived as a youth, and his renewed connection to his Ojibway heritage. To say any more would be to provide spoilers...." Read more

"...The author paints a heart-wrenching story about the residential school system, without making it overly sentimental...." Read more

"...but is was not his story, just the story he told so beautifully and memorably. I cannot recommend this book enough!" Read more

"...It is a testament to the memory of the author." Read more

8 customers mention "Character development"8 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the well-developed characters. They appreciate the protagonist's passion and excitement. The story also explores empathy, family, natural ability, and talent that gets wasted by systems.

"...I will read another novel soon of his work and insightful characters." Read more

"...It's about empathy, family, natural ability and talent that gets wasted by "systems" put in place to make you like everyone else...." Read more

"...are excellent. The characters are complex, yet believable, sympathetic yet flawed. An excellent book." Read more

"This story was amazing. I enjoyed it very much. The characters were fictitious, but the story was true I'm sure...." Read more

7 customers mention "Hockey aspect"7 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the hockey aspect of the book. They find it an ode to the game and its skills. It's suitable for readers interested in history, sports, or just a great story about physical activity and its importance in young people's development.

"...Painful, but beautiful. An ode to hockey and a reveal of the pain we inflicted on Native Americans who were, after all, here first!" Read more

"...'s background is in journalism, but the descriptions, especially of hockey! are excellent...." Read more

"...Stunning in its description of the game and skills of hockey, but soon that gave way to the residential school hell for so many children...." Read more

"...Some unsettling events Interesting hockey aspect" Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2016
    I recently read 'Medicine Walk' by Wagamese and it was so good that I rushed to read 'Indian Horse', another book of his. It was no disappointment. The writing soars and the story is one that evolves over time and speaks to generations of Native American and Native Alaskan children who have spent their childhoods in boarding schools.

    As the novel opens, Saul Indian Horse is in a rehabilitation center for treatment of his alcoholism. He has hit bottom and his sponsor has asked him to tell his story. Saul is reluctant to share but, with time, and with a visit to his roots, the reader gradually learns his history.

    Saul's great passion was ice hockey and he was so good at it that he made the NHL. He loved the game, the way it let him escape the poison in his mind, and he loved the camaraderie of the team. Soon, after joining the major league, he finds that he is feeling more rage and anger than enjoyment. He decides to leave the team just as his teammates and coach have decided to kick him out. Saul wanders from bar to bar, drink to drink, until he is so down and out that his life is without meaning. What happened to this man with the passion for the game, the lust to play hockey and soar with the sport?

    The answer to Saul's descent lies in the narrative he tells to his sponsor once he returns to rehab after visiting his now crumbled boarding school, the places he lived as a youth, and his renewed connection to his Ojibway heritage. To say any more would be to provide spoilers. I highly recommend this amazing book that is the story of one man but is also representative of a whole generation of Native American children. It is an amazing book with insight and understanding of those who are culturally outcast by mainstream society. Saul's story is one that will lift your heart and wet your eyes. It is a book to cherish and remember long after the last page is read.
    8 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2019
    This is such a good book!!! It’s unrelentingly sad to pretty much grief porn levels but even though it’s such a sad and heavy story based on historical events, the storytelling is so impeccably simple that this is brilliant and unpretentious and so eminently readable. In addition to that, it’s such an important story.

    The premise is that Saul Indian Horse is born into an Ojibwe family that has already been ravaged by the devastatingly evil policy of forced assimilation of the indigenous people of Canada. His family tries their hardest to protect him from a similar fate of being forcibly separated and sent to a residential “school” where he could face a myriad of abuses and violations. In the face of fear, trauma and abuse, will his talent for hockey emerge as his salvation?

    This is my first book by this author and he’s a fantastic storyteller. This book was soooo emotive, you viscerally feel shadows of the fury and the pain and the helplessness and the bitterness of the main charafater. This book exemplifies everything I love about reading- to learn and to be able to walk in other histories however briefly so you can begin to understand the emotions of others.

    I’m by no means a fan of ice hockey nor do I know much about it but the author was able to make the reader understand exactly what Saul loved about it. It feels like freedom and you can feel the ice and the cold and the speed and the rush in the author’s writing. This book is primarily historical (recent) fiction but it still felt very contemporary. I loved Saul’s commentary about racist media narratives around athletes of colour. Even when it’s praise, it’s always using stereotypes that are animalistic or “savage” in a way that wouldn’t be used for a white athlete and as a sports fan, I totally see that all the time with the way commentators and journalists talk about certain non-white players.

    I recommend this book to everyone, the story is so rich and simple and well-told and important and even as the world moves on, it is important that the victims of devastating cultural and actual genocide policies are never forgotten so that we never allow such things in the world again. I will say you should be in a good place emotionally before you embark on this. Secondly, please note trigger warnings for alcoholism (although there are several visceral descriptions from the perspective of an alcoholic that are unique and beautiful and apt for anyone who’s ever wondered “why can’t this person just stop drinking.” Also trigger warnings for severe child abuse, rape, traumatic parent-child separations, and depression. If you can gird your loins for the emotional punch that this amazing book packs, I highly recommend it!
    14 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2024
    Saul’s life story was amazing, but horrifying; the amount of trauma he endured, while still managing to survive was beyond comprehension. A story of a young Indian boy in Canada’s loss of family, loss of self while at school, his loss of purpose while playing hockey, and his loss of respect with the fighting and drinking and then how he begins to heal. Wagamese is descriptive without making Saul’s life a spectacle, while keeping the reader glued to Saul’s outcome. Great book.
  • Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2024
    You learn with the MC what they went through and by the time the reveal hits your left stunned because you thought they were one of the lucky ones.

    A fantastic novel well worth the read.
  • Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2024
    This book took me into another world. I like learning about the lives of others from different cultures.
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2024
    The book was short and a fast read but an excellent story. Takes place during an earlier time when Indian children were forcibly removed from their homes to be raised in a Catholic school where essentially everything Indian is stripped away. The conditions they lived in were absolutely horrendous and many children did not survive. Saul is a young boy encouraged to play hockey by one of the priests in the home. He has some unusual mental abilities inherited from his shaman grandfather which allow him to become a truly gifted hockey player. He is eventually recruited for a professional team but is held back by his anger at his life while he lived in the Catholic school. He finds that to progress he must make peace with his past. Beautifully written from the POV of a young Indian. Highlights native beliefs and inclusive spiritual nature.
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
  • Maite H.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Sehr lesenswert!
    Reviewed in Germany on June 16, 2020
    Super ergreifende, spannende Geschichte!
  • B. Gerrard
    5.0 out of 5 stars A1
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 7, 2018
    Brilliant writer
  • Mys M
    5.0 out of 5 stars How the Chaos of Hockey Gave the Calm to Survive
    Reviewed in Canada on August 14, 2015
    Richard Wagamese tells an authentic story through the narrative voice of Saul Indian Horse who is in a rehab centre called The New Dawn Centre, north of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Part of the program requires that the participants tell their stories, share, so that "hard core drunks like [Saul] can set [themselves] free from the bottle and the life that took [them] there. . . they put [them] in the sharing circle." Saul can't tell his story so they say it's all right if he writes it down. This book is his story.

    Saul wrote about his childhood and all about the native traditions he learned from his grandmother — about the rituals, the ceremonies, the stories of family history, how he came by the name Indian Horse, and the inevitability of change coming — that is "the spirit teaching of the Horse". For Saul, the change came the winter he turned eight. He grew up with a fear of "the school". Whenever a strange boat or plane are spotted, the children go and hide in the dense wood. One day, when Saul was four, his older brother Benjamin didn't make it to the woods and was taken from them. His mother was inconsolable; his parents left the bush to follow the white man's whiskey through sawmill camps. Eventually, Benjamin returned to them, having run from the school in Kenora, sick with TB. Grandmother Naomi led the family to God's Lake, a place she remembered from long ago. It is here that Saul learns he has the gift of vision. It is here that Benjamin dies and the family abandons Saul and Naomi.

    Winter came, and Naomi tried to take Saul to find the family but despite her amazing skills and "gumption", just short of their goal, Naomi dies with her arms wrapped around Saul keeping him warm on the train platform outside of town. He was discovered and taken to St. Jerome's Residential School. He was eight years old.

    Saul could read and write English and so he withdrew into his own world and stayed out of trouble:

    "I saw kids die of tuberculosis, influenza, pneumonia and broken hears at St. Jerome's . . . saw young boys and girls die standing on their own two feet. I saw runaways carried back, frozen solid as boards. I saw bodies hung from rafters on thin ropes. I saw wrists slashed and the cascade of blood on the bathroom floor and, one time, a young boy impaled on the tines of a pitchfork that he'd shoved through himself. . . So I retreated. That's how I survived. Alone. . . What I let them see was a quiet withdrawn boy, void of feeling."

    The same year Saul arrived, a young priest named Father Gaston Leboutilier arrived. He had "a kindness and sense of adventure that drew the boys to him. He led hikes . . . took [them] camping . . . and when winter came he brought [them] hockey". Saul was hooked! He read all the books. Too young to play yet, he watched the older boys playing and found he could visualize the game, the moves, the "rhythm under all [the] mayhem". He began watching Hockey Night in Canada with a few other boys in Father Leboutilier's quarters. He became the ice sweeper, going out early in the morning to ready the ice, then practice with a hockey stick he has hidden in the snow and a "handful of the frozen horse turds" from the barn. He was a natural.

    At nine, he stashed skates that were too big for him along with the stick. He used newspaper to make them fit. He set his own practice drills and worked hard. He loved everything about the game.

    "The labour made me wiry and tough. It gave my lungs a workout and cleared my mind of everything but the ice. . . I floated out onto a snow-white stage in a soliloquy of grace and motion. I loved it. Every time I skated I felt as though I had created the act. It was pure and new and startling."

    Finally, when Father Gaston's team was preparing for their first game against a town team from White River, Saul got his chance. A player, Wapoose, fell and broke his ankle. Saul volunteered to take his place. After that, it was town games. Then an offer to go play for a town team; but he was too good and the other parents wanted to see their own kids playing the game. The white man thought hockey was his game. Then came the chance to leave the school and play for The Moose in Manitouwadge. Fred Kelly and his wife would take him in. He'd go to school and play hockey against other reserve teams across the territory, and Saul had his freedom.

    With the Moose, Saul's spirit soared. For awhile. They had huge success, were challenged to play the Senior A league champions from Kapuskasing. That led to other games against white teams. It led to a new height of racism. Saul was scouted and went to Toronto to play for the Marlboros, a Major Junior A team. That led to even greater racism — he was always the Indian, on the rampage, taking scalps — even in the papers. He was finally forced to fight and it ruined the game for him. He gave up hockey and everything was downhill after that, until he landed in the New Dawn Centre.

    This was an incredible story. The descriptions of the game were beautiful — fast-paced, vivid, so real that you don't have to be a hockey fan to follow the play and get what an amazing player Saul was. From his first time in a game:

    "I stayed at the edge of the scrimmage, the play rolling its pattern out in front of me. Then, suddenly, I saw it clearly. I saw the direction of the ame before it happened and I moved to that spot. Now I bent to my skating, spreading my feet a little wider and keeping the full length of my stick blade on the ice. . .
    I pushed hard, evenly, and I was at full speed in three strides. I scooped the puck onto my stick and cradled it as I pumped with my other arm. The goalie yelped and backed slowly toward the mouth of the net. I whisked across the blue line and there was only me, the puck and the net. I was flying, skating as fast as I could go, and then time slowed to a crawl. I could hear my breath, the yells of the other boys behind me, feel the pump of blood in my chest, see the eyes of the goalie squinting in concentration."

    When the story came full circle, it took me totally by surprise. Maybe it shouldn't have. When I thought back, the clues were all there, but I think, maybe, I just didn't want to believe it. The parts of the story from St. Jerome's were horrific. Some of the racist acts, equally so. The spirit in Saul that enabled him to play the game so well, let you float with him in its freedom. And, despite the downside of the story, the brutal truths about the residential schools and the running of them (in this story a Catholic school but it could equally have been any denomination of protestant school as well, and certainly, the Canadian government has recognized its own culpability in this policy), and racism that still is a problem today, there is redemption for Saul and a new life when the story ends. I couldn't put the book down!
  • Tony
    5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking book. Very sad.
    Reviewed in Canada on April 9, 2024
    It explores themes of nature vs artificial, cultural genocide, and family. Author writes in a imaginative style. Full of imagery and symbolism. Great book.
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    Tony
    5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking book. Very sad.
    Reviewed in Canada on April 9, 2024
    It explores themes of nature vs artificial, cultural genocide, and family. Author writes in a imaginative style. Full of imagery and symbolism. Great book.
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    Customer image
    Customer image
  • Bregnard Michel
    5.0 out of 5 stars RAS
    Reviewed in France on April 14, 2019
    Cadeau à un lecteur anglophone