Fire Keeper's Daughter Review One

"When someone dies, everything about them becomes past tense. Except for the grief. Grief stays in the present." Page 24.

Angeline Boulley's novel is about Daunis, a fitness fanatic preparing to go to college in the fall. She also loves hockey, an inheritance from her father an Ojibwe hockey player. Somewhere in the book, she alludes to the perception that only whites play hockey. Hockey is the novel's foundation because it answers the: who what why where when and how?

Fire Keeper's Daughter explains why Daunis is a fire keeper like her aunt, Teddie Firekeeper, a lawyer. I don't know much about hockey, because i was born in Africa, a soccer continent. Like most Canadians, I'm also clueless about 'native' or 'indigenous' culture.

The author is very kind to readers like me because she explains Ojibwe words in context. That is how i know First Nations of Canada and United States are called Anishinaabe. In the book, Daunis and her friend Lily also call themselves 'Nish' or 'Nishnaab.'

Fire Keeper's Daughter has an impressive support staff like elders. They don't play hockey but have perspectives that are important to the story. The author doesn't point out every fire keeping, but gives enough clues for readers to find them.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.