Christian Allaire wanted to honour Indigenous voices by championing Michelle Good's novel Five Little Indians
Christian Allaire will champion Five Little Indians by Michelle Good on Canada Reads 2022
Ojibway fashion journalist Christian Allaire knew he wanted to champion a contemporary Indigenous voice on Canada Reads 2022. A writer and author himself, Allaire thinks Michelle Good's Five Little Indians is the book that all Canadians can connect with.
Five Little Indians tells the story of five young friends trying to start adult lives in Vancouver, after being released from residential school without resources. The novel follows the intersecting lives of Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie and Maisie, as they fend for themselves in the city, still haunted by the traumatic memories of their past.
The novel won the 2020 Governor General's Literary Award for fiction and the 2021 Amazon Canada First Novel Award. It was also on the 2020 Writers' Trust Fiction Prize shortlist and the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist.
Allaire will champion Five Little Indians by Michelle Good on Canada Reads from March 28-31. The debates will be hosted by Ali Hassan and will be broadcast on CBC Radio One, CBC TV, CBC Gem and on CBC Books.
Allaire spoke to Alan Neal on CBC Radio's All In A Day in Ottawa about participating in Canada Reads and how he plans to tackle the debates.
You know how Canada Reads works. It all starts out very congenial and kind, and then as it goes on, people start to get a little bit combative, shall we say, as it goes on about the books. And it stems out of that passion that people have for the books they're reading. But is there any part of that that makes you nervous?
I mean, for me, I'm trying to go into this not thinking about myself and getting my feelings hurt. I think of myself as a vessel for Michelle's book. So all I want to do on the show is champion her book, the best I can. Get her message out there in the clearest way. I'm not going to try and let my ego or anything like that get in the way. I don't think it's relevant.
I'm trying to go into this not thinking about myself and getting my feelings hurt. I think of myself as a vessel for Michelle's book.
You're championing a book that so many people love. That's heavy pressure for you. Honestly, no one who's read that book has ever turned to me and said, "Eh, I don't know." This book changes lives. It's one of those ones that people carry with them. It's one that matters to people, right?
Well, it's a very powerful book. In a way, it actually makes my job easier, I will say that. It's a stellar book. Michelle has written an incredible body of work here.
What made you push that one to the front?
Well, I definitely wanted to do a contemporary Indigenous voice. I feel like it's a voice that's not heard enough. And what I loved about Michelle's book, Five Little Indians, is that she's addressing this horrific history of residential schools, but she doesn't dwell on the history of it. She actually dwells on how many Indigenous people are still facing this trauma and still dealing with that. And she does it in such a beautiful way with characters with a lot of depth. She even offers up a little bit of laughs and optimism, and I think she really just nailed this plot.
Are there characters from Five Little Indians that you still feel connected with, that you carry with you?
Yeah. I think the one I maybe identified with most is Lucy, because she's the character who is really trying to pick up her life after this trauma and she's really trying to create a good life for her. She's carrying her bloodline. She has a child. And I just love that sense of resiliency and not succumbing to this experience. I think I see a lot of that in my friends, my family, my grandmother, who also went to residential school. I just love that sense of strength. So I really loved Lucy.
I think the one I maybe identified with most is Lucy, because she's the character who is really trying to pick up her life after this trauma.
You got a chance to meet Michelle Good. What does that change, rereading the book again once you've met the person responsible for all those voices?
Oh, absolutely. You know, I've spoken to Michelle twice now, and I've had millions of questions for her. She's probably annoyed. But each time we talk, she teaches me something new about the book that I hadn't even considered, or a detail that I maybe have missed. And I'm getting so much out of these conversations that I think it's going to help me on the show.
Give me an example.
One thing she said that really stuck with me was, "We can't have truth and reconciliation without truth." And I think that's exactly what her book is. We hear about residential schools in history books, but she really wrote this book to show true accounts of how people have dealt with this.
She also said she turned horror into power, which I think is another great catch phrase for her book. So I don't know. She's taught me many things.
I think this book is the perfect vessel for someone who may not even know about this history, let alone how it's impacted people.
I know that the theme this year is "One Book to Connect Us." I'm sure you're reviewing this in your mind a million times to be able to say why Five Little Indians connect us. But why do you think it does?
A lot of times Canadians know of this history, but they don't want to — it's a very sensitive subject, obviously. And to really understand and empathize with Indigenous people, you have to hear these stories. I think this book is the perfect vessel for someone who may not even know about this history, let alone how it's impacted people.
You're really going to connect with these stories, even if you have nothing in common with these characters. It's about healing and it's about overcoming adversity, and I think we've all done that in some shape or form. I think that connects us.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
