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Glass Beads
Glass Beads | Dawn Dumont
14 posts | 10 read | 12 to read
Theseshort stories interconnect the friendships of four First Nations people Everett Kaiswatim, Nellie Gordon, Julie Papequash, and Nathan (Taz) Mosquito as the collection evolves over two decades against the cultural, political, and historical backdrop of the 90s and early 2000s. These young people are among the first of their families to live off the reserve for most of their adult lives, and must adapt and evolve. In stories like Stranger Danger, we watch how shy Julie, though supported by her roomies, is filled with apprehension as she goes on her first white-guy date, while years later in Two Years Less A Day we witness her change as her worries and vulnerability are put to the real test when she is unjustly convicted in a violent melee and must serve some jail time. The House and Things That Can Be Taken establishes how the move from the city both excites and intimidate reserve youth respectively, how a young man finds a job or a young woman becomes vulnerable in the bar scene. As well as developing her characters experientially, Dumont carefully contrasts them, as we see in the fragile and uncertain Everett and the culturally strong and independent but reckless Taz. As the four friends experience family catastrophes, broken friendships, travel to Mexico, and the aftermath of the great tragedy of 9/11, readers are intimately connected with each struggle, whether it is with racism, isolation, finding their cultural identity, or repairing the wounds of their upbringing.
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review
Kazzie
Glass Beads | Dawn Dumont
Pickpick

Really good. I loved the authenticity of the characters - no one was all good or bad, but deeply developed

review
llwheeler
Glass Beads | Dawn Dumont
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Pickpick

Bailed on the audio, but read the ebook really fast 🤷‍♀️

I enjoyed it overall. Marketed as interconnected short stories, I actually felt it was close to a novel. Somewhere between the two, since I'm not sure how well any of the stories would stand on its own. Really appreciate that it was chosen for One eRead Canada for Indigenous History month.

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Andrea4
Glass Beads | Dawn Dumont
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Bailedbailed

I RARELY bail on a book but honestly my loan on this is expiring in less than a day and I'm just over half way through and I honestly don't care how the story turns out. I really thought I'd like this book so this is a shame. I don't mind the quilt-like quality of the chapters, I think the characters bother me- I just find them too flat. Maybe it's the structure & the turning point will come but I think I've given this all the attention I can.

blurb
xicanti
Glass Beads | Dawn Dumont
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My big plan to sit on a bench and read got rained out, so I contented myself with an #audiowalk under sublime skies.

This interconnected short story collection is great so far. It‘s probably wrong to say I‘m enjoying it, since it follows your standard CanLit trajectory, but I‘m definitely getting a lot out of it.

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xicanti
Glass Beads | Dawn Dumont
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I don‘t want to jinx it, but I think I‘ve finally solved my ankle cramp problem and cracked Week Four of C25k. I noticed my ankle sorts itself out eventually on my regular old walks, so for the last two workouts, I‘ve added an extra 5-minute warmup walk at a faster pace than my usual walking intervals, then zeroed out my treadmill‘s counter. That‘s let me do the full program without ankle cramps OR shin pain. WHEW. #audiorun

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xicanti
Glass Beads | Dawn Dumont
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From my #audiowalk with Casey and his pal Duffy, who‘s here for a sleepover because his mom‘s got a lot going on tomorrow.

Clwojick ☺️I wish my friends would bring their cats over for a sleepover 😱😱😍😍 5y
BookwormAHN Nice 👏🏻 5y
xicanti @Clwojick I‘ll bet kitty sleepovers would be INTENSE. 5y
Clwojick There would be NO sleeping 😂😂😂 5y
40 likes4 comments
blurb
Andrea4
Glass Beads | Dawn Dumont
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Enjoying my #audiobook and the rare summer like weather on a little secluded courtyard at work 😄

A bit of piece on a day when I'm feeling annoyingly low and anxious is very much welcomed.

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Andrea4
Glass Beads | Dawn Dumont
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...Her hair went from sexy murderer to electrocuted hedgehog.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Oh gurl, I feel ya!!!!

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Lindy
Glass Beads | Dawn Dumont
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Pickpick

Interconnected stories follow a pair of multifaceted Saskatchewan Cree women—and their on-again-off-again romantic partners—from childhood into middle age. Dawn Dumont‘s earlier fiction is swaddled in humour. This time around, she takes her gloves off & gets really real, with issues like foster kids, family violence, police brutality, addictions, suicide, and racism. A good choice for OverDrive‘s One eRead Canada program. #Canadian #Indigenous

Lindy #audiobook performed by Louise Polika. 5y
46 likes3 stack adds1 comment
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Lindy
Glass Beads | Dawn Dumont
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He talked fast, leaping over multiple ideas in a single bound. He had a dozen voices as he acted out characters. He was a one-man conversation band.

35 likes1 stack add
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CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian
Glass Beads | Dawn Dumont
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Pickpick

This book was not at all what I expected. I loved her first two books, both of which are very funny. Glass Beads, however, is not funny at all (except maybe a handful of times)-- it's sad and dark. Beautiful character development of two Cree women from the same reserve in Saskatchewan. Lovely turns of phrase, too. The structure is odd: the cover declares it's a book of stories, but they don't stand alone. It feels more like a disjointed novel.

43 likes1 stack add1 comment
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CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian
Glass Beads | Dawn Dumont
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"How was the date other than that?"
"He's really nice."
"And?"
"I don't know."
"Can you imagine sucking his dick?"
Nellie choked on her coffee and looked around before answering. "Jesus Christ no."
"There's your answer," Julie said.
? #NativeReads #CanLit

HOTPock3tt 🤣 6y
LeahBergen 😂😂 6y
Owlizabeth Hahahahhaha 6y
Bookzombie 😂😂 6y
37 likes1 stack add4 comments
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Jolynne
Glass Beads | Dawn Dumont
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Pickpick

Two Indigenous women struggling with life and love.

6 likes1 stack add
blurb
shawnmooney
Glass Beads | Dawn Dumont
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A book of short stories by an indigenous Saskatchewan writer, on my mom's TBR. Guess who's first in line to borrow it once she's finished? (I blurbed about—and still have yet to read—Dumont's first novel, Nobody Cries At Bingo, a while back.)

45 likes4 stack adds