Half-Bads in White Regalia by Cody Caetano
CBC Books | Posted: June 3, 2022 1:04 PM | Last Updated: January 13, 2023
A memoir about a tumultuous childhood and breaking the cycle of intergenerational trauma
The Caetanos move into a doomed house in the highway village of Happyland before an inevitable divorce pulls Cody's parents in separate directions. His mom, Mindimooye, having discovered her Anishinaabe birth family and Sixties Scoop origin story, embarks on a series of fraught relationships and fresh starts. His dad, O Touro, a Portuguese immigrant and drifter, falls back into "big do, little think" behaviour, despite his best intentions.
Left alone at the house in Happyland, Cody and his siblings must fend for themselves, even as the pipes burst and the lights go out. His protective big sister, Kris, finds inventive ways to put food on the table, and his stoic big brother, Julian, facilitates his regular escapes into the world of video games. As life yanks them from one temporary solution to the next, they steal moments of joy and resist buckling under "baddie" temptations aplenty.
Left alone at the house in Happyland, Cody and his siblings must fend for themselves, even as the pipes burst and the lights go out. His protective big sister, Kris, finds inventive ways to put food on the table, and his stoic big brother, Julian, facilitates his regular escapes into the world of video games. As life yanks them from one temporary solution to the next, they steal moments of joy and resist buckling under "baddie" temptations aplenty.
Capturing the chaos and wonder of a precarious childhood, Cody Caetano delivers a fever dream coming-of-age garnished with a slang all his own. Half-Bads in White Regalia is an unforgettable debut that unspools a tangled family history with warmth, humour, and deep generosity. (From Hamish Hamilton)
Half-Bads in White Regalia is on the Canada Reads 2023 longlist. The final five books and the panellists who chose them will be revealed on Jan. 25, 2023.
LISTEN | Cody Caetano reacts to being on the Canada Reads longlist:
Half-Bads in White Regalia was written as part of Caetano's Masters in creative writing at the University of Toronto, under the mentorship of the acclaimed late Indigenous writer and academic Lee Maracle. Excerpts from Half-Bads in White Regalia won the 2020 Indigenous Voices Award for Unpublished Prose. CBC Books named Half-Bads in White Regalia one of the best works of Canadian nonfiction in 2022.
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Cody Caetano is a writer of Anishinaabe and Portuguese descent and an off-reserve member of Pinaymootang First Nation. Caetano has also published a short collection of poetry, Pleasure Dome Poems and his work has appeared in publications such as Prism International and the Hart House Review.
Why Cody Caetano wrote Half-Bads in White Regalia
"I think it's important to learn about my family and where we come from, because it allows me to be a human being in a good way. It allows me to have a sense of belonging.
It's important to learn about my family and where we come from, because it allows me to be a human being in a good way. - Cody Caetano on learning his family's history
"It is an ongoing, lifelong thing. It's a commitment that you can't lose sight of. A part of me feels how important it is to know who my family is, as someone who's both Azorean and Anishinaabe. It keeps me in check."