Today, I’m posting a YA book review to support
the A More Diverse Universe Tour to raise awareness and celebrate People of
Colour Speculative Fiction Authors. You can read more about this tour on the blog BookLust - Aarti’s site and see a list of all participants.
When my friend, Dale Lee Kwong, asked me if I
planned to participate in the blog tour I thought, ok, here’s an opportunity to
expand on my reading habits. So, because I’m Canadian, I decided to seek out a
Canadian writer who might qualify. The YA list was small but when I saw that
Canadian-Ojibway writer Drew Hayden Taylor wrote a teen book about a 350 year-old
aboriginal vampire, I was in!
The book is called The Night Wanderer. It has a spirited and wry sixteen-year-old
character named Tiffany and a weary, soul-seeking vampire named Pierre L’Errant who returns from Europe to his birthplace on what is
now a First Nations reserve in Ontario. Three hundred and fifty years ago he was a curious, adventurous teen who left his land and family
to cross the Atlantic with French fur traders. In France, he contracts an illness that
should have killed him but by a twist of fate he’s bitten on the neck and he
becomes a bloodthirsty vampire. But now he’s back – to save his soul, and in a
strange way, to save Tiffany too.
Tiffany lives with her father, Keith, and Anishinabe grandmother, Granny
Ruth, on the reserve. Her mother has abandoned the family and lives with a
white man in another part of Canada. Tiffany has a white boyfriend, Tony, but when
they’re out shopping he takes advantage of her tax-free status card. In a
nutshell, Tiffany’s life is about as happy as a whole lot of other teenagers’ lives
in North America: she lives in a town where nothing happens; her mother has abandoned her; her father is angry all the time; she fights
with her boyfriend; she’s bullied; and she is failing History. But what Tiffany
has that most teens don’t have is a father who rents out her room to a stranger
who sleeps all day and wanders the land at night.
“Tiffany was close
enough to smell the mustiness coming off the vertical green carpet. The first
thing she noticed was that there was no light coming from the room. Only
darkness. This in itself was not all that unusual, considering it was a windowless
part of the basement. Still, it was an odd darkness, like the difference
between Coke and diet Coke. It was … unusual. There was still no sound so she
decided to chance it and take that peak. Why, she didn’t know. Her hand brushed
the border of the carpeted door as she began to push it aside.” page 98, The Night Wanderer
The Night Wanderer
is expertly written in a third person voice that tells the tale with a tense yet
comic touch. Tiffany’s self-deprecating humor is a highlight that makes this
character unforgettable. The vampire is formidable and admirable in his
struggle to fight his hunger while he contemplates longingly the land of
his birth. The gothic vampire myth is served well here by the Northern Canadian
landscape. The land is dark and shadowy. There are noises in the forest.
Animals scurrying. Twigs and branches breaking. Long roads and a deep lake. The
reserve is a mysterious but not menacing place as it is home for both Tiffany
and Pierre – two native Canadians who are struggling for clarity and expression
of their true selves.
Taylor explores many themes in his 200 page novel: coming-of-age, prejudice,
bullying, family, education, history, aboriginal language, and suicide. This
isn’t a book for readers who expect a more traditional vampire tale with
sexual overtones. Instead Hayden writes a smart tale about a smart teenage
girl, an aging vampire, and what happens when they meet in the middle of a dark Canadian forest.
Drew Hayden Taylor is a well-known Canadian-Ojibway playwright, author, journalist, filmmaker, and stand-up comedian from the Curve Lake
First Nations in Ontario. He is a writer who’s committed to educating the world
about issues that impact the lives of Canada’s First Nations. The Night Wanderer, Taylor’s first teen
novel, was published by Annick Press in 2007. Read more here.
A little more ... here's an image of Edvard Munch's The Night Wanderer:
