Reviews
"An extraordinary work that sets the traditional cowboy and Indian story on its head. One of those rare books that manages to be both a work of art and a page-turner, The Orenda is destined to be a classic." --Philipp Meyer, New York Times bestselling author of The Son "Magnificent. . . . An extraordinary work of art, savage and beautiful." -- The Washington Post "A rare reading experience that stayed with me even when away from the book and long after I finished reading it. . . . Boyden's prose has a gorgeous simplicity in service of this transcendent tale." --David Takami, The Seattle Times "Riveting. . . . Powerful." -- The Economist "Mesmerizing. . . . A noteworthy literary achievement." -- Booklist , Top 10 Historical Fiction Books of the Year "The genuine article: a truly necessary book. The Orenda sheds new light on the dark crime at the heart of all North American history, but more important than that, it renders the ostensible victims of that crime, the Indians, as complex, fully realized human beings." -- The Millions "Thoroughly beautiful, brilliantly imagined. . . . A few paragraphs into The Orenda I was so thoroughly absorbed in Joseph Boyden's re-creation of the moment of first contact between Old World and New that I was digging my nails into my palms." --Jay McInerney "Satisfies both the heart and the intellect. . . . Highly cinematic. . . . [ The Orenda ] recall[s] Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart , another novel about European missionaries disrupting the fabric of a traditional society." -- The Rumpus "Boyden is such a fine writer, evoking his characters' emotions in a touching and understandable way. . . . [His] portrait of the Huron is textured with fascinating details." -- The Toronto Star "A magnificent literary beast. . . . [A] blockbuster." -- Quill & Quire "Epic. . . . Even-handed and morally complex, melodramatic and keenly felt, it is historical fiction at its best." -- The Daily Telegraph (London) "A heart song that spans the continent, and echoes to us across the years. At times devastating and difficult, Joseph Boyden's novel is equally compassionate and inspiring." --Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. "Profoundly researched and told in elegant, muscular prose. . . . A great, heartbreaking novel, full of fierce action and superb characters and an unblinking humanity." -- The Globe and Mail (Toronto) "[A] stunning historical epic. . . . The Orenda is much more than a timely novel. It is a timeless o≠born a classic. . . . Powerful and convincing." -- National Post (Canada) "A sublime, haunting, and harrowing achievement--a work of fiction, of art, of myth-making at its very finest." --Dinaw Mengestu, author of All Our Names and The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears "A stunning, masterful work of staggering depth. . . it is like nothing you have ever read, and read it you must. . . . The Orenda is a feat, an achievement [that] is impossible to read without coming away profoundly shaken, possibly changed." -- The Vancouver Sun "As gripping as anything I have ever read. . . . Years from now, The Orenda will be called a classic, but for now Joseph Boyden will have to settle for visionary, majestic, awe-inspiring." --Benjamin Percy, author of Red Moon, The Wilding, and Refresh, Refresh, "Magnificent. . . . An extraordinary work of art, savage and beautiful." -- The Washington Post "A rare reading experience that stayed with me even when away from the book and long after I finished reading it. . . . Boyden's prose has a gorgeous simplicity in service of this transcendent tale." --David Takami, The Seattle Times "Riveting. . . . Powerful." -- The Economist "The genuine article: a truly necessary book. The Orenda sheds new light on the dark crime at the heart of all North American history, but more important than that, it renders the ostensible victims of that crime, the Indians, as complex, fully realized human beings." -- The Millions "Thoroughly beautiful, brilliantly imagined. . . . A few paragraphs into The Orenda I was so thoroughly absorbed in Joseph Boyden's re-creation of the moment of first contact between Old World and New that I was digging my nails into my palms." --Jay McInerney "Satisfies both the heart and the intellect. . . . Highly cinematic. . . . [ The Orenda ] recall[s] Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart , another novel about European missionaries disrupting the fabric of a traditional society." -- The Rumpus "Boyden is such a fine writer, evoking his characters' emotions in a touching and understandable way. . . . [His] portrait of the Huron is textured with fascinating details." -- The Toronto Star "A magnificent literary beast. . . . [A] blockbuster." -- Quill & Quire "Epic. . . . Even-handed and morally complex, melodramatic and keenly felt, it is historical fiction at its best." -- The Daily Telegraph (London) "A heart song that spans the continent, and echoes to us across the years. At times devastating and difficult, Joseph Boyden's novel is equally compassionate and inspiring." --Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. "Profoundly researched and told in elegant, muscular prose. . . . A great, heartbreaking novel, full of fierce action and superb characters and an unblinking humanity." -- The Globe and Mail (Toronto) "[A] stunning historical epic. . . . The Orenda is much more than a timely novel. It is a timeless o≠born a classic. . . . Powerful and convincing." -- National Post (Canada) "A sublime, haunting, and harrowing achievement--a work of fiction, of art, of myth-making at its very finest." --Dinaw Mengestu, author of All Our Names and The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears "A stunning, masterful work of staggering depth. . . it is like nothing you have ever read, and read it you must. . . . The Orenda is a feat, an achievement [that] is impossible to read without coming away profoundly shaken, possibly changed." -- The Vancouver Sun "As gripping as anything I have ever read. . . . Years from now, The Orenda will be called a classic, but for now Joseph Boyden will have to settle for visionary, majestic, awe-inspiring." --Benjamin Percy, author of Red Moon, The Wilding, and Refresh, Refresh, "An extraordinary work that sets the traditional cowboy and Indian story on its head. One of those rare books that manages to be both a work of art and a page-turner, The Orenda is destined to be a classic." --Philipp Meyer, New York Times bestselling author of The Son "Magnificent. . . . An extraordinary work of art, savage and beautiful." -- The Washington Post "A rare reading experience that stayed with me even when away from the book and long after I finished reading it. . . . Boyden's prose has a gorgeous simplicity in service of this transcendent tale." --David Takami, The Seattle Times "Riveting. . . . Powerful." -- The Economist "The genuine article: a truly necessary book. The Orenda sheds new light on the dark crime at the heart of all North American history, but more important than that, it renders the ostensible victims of that crime, the Indians, as complex, fully realized human beings." -- The Millions "Thoroughly beautiful, brilliantly imagined. . . . A few paragraphs into The Orenda I was so thoroughly absorbed in Joseph Boyden's re-creation of the moment of first contact between Old World and New that I was digging my nails into my palms." --Jay McInerney "Satisfies both the heart and the intellect. . . . Highly cinematic. . . . [ The Orenda ] recall[s] Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart , another novel about European missionaries disrupting the fabric of a traditional society." -- The Rumpus "Boyden is such a fine writer, evoking his characters' emotions in a touching and understandable way. . . . [His] portrait of the Huron is textured with fascinating details." -- The Toronto Star "A magnificent literary beast. . . . [A] blockbuster." -- Quill & Quire "Epic. . . . Even-handed and morally complex, melodramatic and keenly felt, it is historical fiction at its best." -- The Daily Telegraph (London) "A heart song that spans the continent, and echoes to us across the years. At times devastating and difficult, Joseph Boyden's novel is equally compassionate and inspiring." --Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. "Profoundly researched and told in elegant, muscular prose. . . . A great, heartbreaking novel, full of fierce action and superb characters and an unblinking humanity." -- The Globe and Mail (Toronto) "[A] stunning historical epic. . . . The Orenda is much more than a timely novel. It is a timeless o≠born a classic. . . . Powerful and convincing." -- National Post (Canada) "A sublime, haunting, and harrowing achievement--a work of fiction, of art, of myth-making at its very finest." --Dinaw Mengestu, author of All Our Names and The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears "A stunning, masterful work of staggering depth. . . it is like nothing you have ever read, and read it you must. . . . The Orenda is a feat, an achievement [that] is impossible to read without coming away profoundly shaken, possibly changed." -- The Vancouver Sun "As gripping as anything I have ever read. . . . Years from now, The Orenda will be called a classic, but for now Joseph Boyden will have to settle for visionary, majestic, awe-inspiring." --Benjamin Percy, author of Red Moon, The Wilding, and Refresh, Refresh, " The Orenda is a heart song that spans the continent, and echoes to us across the years. At times devastating and difficult, Joseph Boyden's novel is equally compassionate and inspiring." --Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. "I tend to approach historical fiction with a certain reluctance to suspend disbelief, yet a few paragraphs into The Orenda I was so thoroughly absorbed in Joseph Boyden's recreation of the moment of first contact between Old World and New that I was digging my nails into my palms. It's a thoroughly beautiful, brilliantly imagined and terrifying novel that seems to tell us something fresh and original about the tragic collision that shaped our continent." --Jay McInerney "Joseph Boyden's The Orenda is a sublime, haunting, and harrowing achievement--a work of fiction, of art, of myth-making at its very finest." --Dinaw Mengestu, author of All Our Names and The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears "Years from now, The Orenda will be called a classic, but for now Joseph Boyden will have to settle for visionary, majestic, awe-inspiring. The prose is incandescent--and the cultural, tribal, spiritual battles are as gripping as anything I have ever read. There is magic in these pages that will convince you there is magic in the world." --Benjamin Percy, author of Red Moon, The Wilding, and Refresh, Refresh "It is Joseph Boyden's characters that stay with a reader. So generously drawn and flawed and honest in their cruelties and compassion and righteousness and sacrifice, in their embrace of family, their reach toward spirit. The Orenda is truly a magical accomplishment, rendered vividly in scenes of water and earth and blood." --Mark Spragg, author of An Unfinished Life and Bone Fire "Spellbinding. . . Epic in scope, exquisite in execution." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) Mesmerizing. . . In this deeply researched work, Boyden captures his characters' disparate beliefs, remaining impartial even as they pass judgment on the customs they find simultaneously fascinating and repellent in the others. The prose conveys a raw beauty in its depictions of trade journeys, daily life within longhouses, and spirituality. . . [ The Orenda ] offers many intense impressions of cross-cultural conflicts and differences, yet it is most affecting when evoking its protagonists' shared humanity and life force--the "orenda"--burning brightly within each of them." --Sarah Johnson, Booklist (starred review) "Dignified and penetrating." -- Library Journal (starred review) "A stunning, masterful work of staggering depth. . . it is like nothing you have ever read, and read it you must. . . . The Orenda is a feat, an achievement [that] is impossible to read without coming away profoundly shaken, possibly changed." - Robert J. Wiersema, The Vancouver Sun "Profoundly researched and told in elegant, muscular prose. . . a great, heartbreaking novel, full of fierce action and superb characters and an unblinking humanity." --Charles Foran, The Globe and Mail "[A] stunning historical epic. . . the entire novel unfolds like one of the Huron's mystical visions. We experience their world in such tremendous detail [and] come away with a sense of intimacy and a respect . . . Boyden's innate respect for his characters--aboriginal and European--translates into a powerful and convincing depiction of both faiths." --Donna Bailey Nurse, The Windsor Star
