The one thing that I struggled with was the pacing. There are many topics covered in this book that were impactful. While this is a character driven story, the setting also evoked quiet beauty filled with healing power. I love Wagamese’s poignant and heartfelt writing. Medicine Walk was another book to remember. The first book I read by him, Indian Horse, was amazing and so emotional. Medicine Walk is the second book I’ve read by Richard Wagamese. From a poverty-stricken childhood, to the Korean War, and later the derelict houses of mill towns, Eldon relates both the desolate moments of his life and a time of redemption and love and in doing so offers Frank a history he has never known, the father he has never had, and a connection to himself he never expected. What ensues is a journey through the rugged and beautiful backcountry, and a journey into the past, as the two men push forward to Eldon’s end. Eldon asks his son to take him into the mountains, so he may be buried in the traditional Ojibway manner. He finds Eldon decimated after years of drinking, dying of liver failure in a small town flophouse. The rare moments they’ve shared haunt and trouble Frank, but he answers the call, a son’s duty to a father. He’s sixteen years old and has had the most fleeting of relationships with the man. Franklin Starlight is called to visit his father, Eldon.
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