This House is Not a Home written by Katłįà is a raw and truthful story that follows the life of Kǫ̀, a Dene man who was growing up on the land until he was taken away to Residential School. It shows what some of the intergenerational effects of colonization of Turtle Island have been and how they affect not just the person directly involved, but also the family members of that person for generations to come.

The struggles that Kǫ̀ faces from losing his home to losing his ability to connect with his family are truly heartbreaking. As the plot progresses, just when you think things can't get worse for Kǫ̀, they do, and because the characters are so well written, the reader is not only invested, but really feels for the characters.

If you don't know about what happened in Canada's colonial past, This House is Not a Home by Katłįà will give you a really clear glimpse of what life was like for the Dene peoples living in so-called Canada's North.

I thank the publisher for allowing me to read and review this advance copy which I did voluntarily. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

To me, this book read like a series of snapshots of a family's life through multiple generations.
Yet even through these small glimpses and time jumps you see such full and rich images of life.
I read this book in one sitting, I just found myself so enraptured. Even though I knew from the premise of the book at the author's introduction that many parts of this story were going to be heart breaking, part of me still flew through the pages hoping that there wouldn't be 'one more thing' added to make this family's life harder.

The author writes such rich and loving bonds of family and the surrounding landscape. It was truly atmospheric. As the reader you can sense the deep respect both the protagonist and the author have for the land.

For me this was a truly humbling experience to read and I hope many more people read this story.

"Being on the land was a different kind of vulnerability, it was the only place he felt alive."

This House is Not a Home is a devastating but charming intergenerational novel (under 200 pages) about Kǫ̀, a Dene man who grew up living on the land. We follow Kǫ̀ as a child as he is kidnapped and taken to a residential school, upon his return home, throughout young adulthood, and as he has his own children and grows old.

It is impossible not to root for Kǫ̀ and his family (both the one who grew up with and the family he creates), and it was heartbreaking to read about the trauma they endured.

After reading this book I am just in awe of the beauty of Dene culture and with the kindness and purity the community treats the land. Some of the descriptions of hunting, fishing, using traditional medicine, etc. really captured my attention and made me gain a deeper appreciation for indigenous communities.

One thing I noticed about this book was that chronology (and just time/dates in general) were not a priority in storytelling. I felt a bit disoriented trying to center myself in the story and figure out when each event was occuring on a timeline, but once I let that expectation go I was able to enjoy the book much more. There is even a passage in the story where Kǫ̀ talks about how he never paid attention to a clock as he felt there was no need for one. I thought it was really neat how the pace and writing of the story actually connected to the cultural norms in this way.

I do think this book addressed a lot of topics (residential schools, colonization, climate change, racism, gambling, suicide, etc.) in a very short number of pages. It wasn't ineffective by any means, but I do think many of those explorations were surface level due to the length. Had the book been a bit meatier, I believe it may have bit off some of these big important topics in a more memorable way.

I am so glad I had the opportunity to read this book, and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone looking for an intergenerational coming of age novel!!

**Thank you to NetGalley and Fernwood Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review**

This is an often upsetting book about the effects of colonisation on indigenous people, in this case the Dene in the Northwest Territories of Canada. So much is taken from them; their language and culture, forced removal of children, their names, traditions and way of life. And then they’re tricked into rental or housing agreements they can’t read, land is taken from them, someone else profits from the resources, lakes and rivers poisoned etc. The family in the book go through all these struggles, Kǫ̀ is a wonderful character, from his childhood with his father learning traditional life, his lonely time at school, then return home to his mother, another great character. Another reminder of the horrible treatment that First Nations people everywhere have suffered.

⭐⭐⭐

I enjoyed this book (for the most part). The setting was beautiful and there were parts that were lyrical in the storytelling. That said, I couldn't help but feel everything was just surface level explored. Racism. Residential schools. Alcohol and drug abuse. Gambling. Suicide. The loss of land and seperation of families. All these topics are mentioned, but never given the depth they deserve. If this book was longer and these topics were fully fleshed out, this could have been an amazing 5-star read.

**ARC Via NetGalley**

This is an enormously powerful and moving story of an indigenous family dispossessed by white settlers in a remote community in the north of Canada, a damning indictment of white policies to wipe out the lives, culture and way of life of the native population. It’s a disturbing book and one which, sadly, has a far wider application than just Canada. The way indigenous peoples have been treated all over the world will shame us for ever. Here we focus on just one family, and that narrow focus works very well in engaging our empathy. The book opens with young Ko and his father on a hunting trip. When they return they find their house has been destroyed and the family are put into government housing. Gradually all that they hold dear is taken away from them as they are forced to assimilate into the wider society. We follow Ko from his early days, through his forced stay at a residential school, right through to adulthood and the forging of his own family. Thus through this one family we are shown just how damaging colonial polices were, and perhaps still are. Although it is fiction, it is firmly based on fact and this one family is emblematic of all the families who were dispossessed. It’s an important book and if it brings to the reader a deeper understanding of what happened in so many communities, then it is to be applauded. However, as a work of fiction, it is perhaps not so successful. The writing is very plain and simple, merely a chronological account of events, with little interiority, so that we rarely get any real insight into what the characters are feeling and experiencing. So from a literary point of view I found the book lacking – but perhaps ultimately this does not matter. What it describes is an essential exploration of indigenous injustice and a worthy read.

Canada’s residential schools, which forcibly stole native children and attempted to erase their culture, have been brought to greater awareness lately. And while the schools feature in Katłıà’s work here, she focuses on an often overlooked injustice toward First Nations, that of housing.

This House is Not a Home tells the story of Kǫ̀, a Dene man who grew up on the land, was torn away from it to a residential school, and came back to reclaim his heritage only to be constantly betrayed by the Canadian government who destroys his family’s home only to give him a “free” (not free), poorly built, white man’s house that his family struggles to live in. Throughout the book we see the various consequences of the white man’s encroachment on native land: Kǫ̀‘s brother who forgot his own name at the school and never truly reconnects with his family; the proliferation of alcohol, drugs, and gambling among the indigenous people; the racism that prevents his son from following his hockey dreams; the mining pollution making the town sick; the white government’s attempts to disconnect people from the land and make them dependent.

This is an incredible indictment of everything white people have done to natives on this continent. It is not preachy, nor does it raise its voice - it doesn’t need to, it simply tells pure facts. The writing is simple, like an elder telling a story passed down, and the characters and world come alive. We see Kǫ̀’s life from a young boy hunting with his father, to a man with children of his own. Aside from some concepts mentioned like mortgages, I think this would be suitable for many younger readers as well as adults (sensitive people might want to be careful of the descriptions of hunting/skinning animals, though it is done very respectfully to the animal).

I was happy that despite the astoundingly terrible things that the family went through, the book ends on a hopeful note reflecting the resilience of the Dene people and determination to hold on to their culture. I would very much recommend this book for an awareness of the history and current situation of native peoples, as sadly I imagine this story mirrors many tribe’s stories throughout North America.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A story of removal of indigenous children from their homes. Disturbing and important.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC, in exchange for an honest review!

This book deserves so much recognition, i need more people to read it, it heavily impacts you in so many ways.
full review incoming...

It's been couple of days after reading this book, it made me want to read so much more native (american) literature, it definitely impacts you throughout the story knowing this eradication is real and still happening.
I looked at my life and saw parallels to what my government is/was doing to Sami people, the eradication of any types of people is always wrong and never right a lot of people are inhumane and the thing is i have never really thought about this so much which i thank this book so much for, so we need to uplift and raise voices that matter at this time specifically it is so important to understand and be human to others.
I would recommend this book for everyone.

This is an amazing book of life on the land, sweeping harmful changes, and endurance through loss. But, it wraps up too prettily at the end and incongruously with character and plot development to that point. The last bit just felt way too rushed that it seemed desperate for a happily ever after that couldn't have happened. After the trauma and pain of the beginning of the story, I can understand the desire, but it breaks the story. It could have been done well with some extra pages and more exploration of the overcoming of the trauma. This is exacerbated by focusing on one character to the neglect of others, such as telling the son's story without mentioning the daughter at all until she was necessary for plot.

That said, there are definitely pieces I will be having students read to talk about Indigenous cultures in this area, as well as infliction of trauma through assimilationist policies intertwined with greed. But they will be vignettes. The larger story is so convenient as to be preachy. It also manages to undermine the injustice it depicts by inadvertently victim blaming because of the way the resolution is rushed. These characters overcame much trauma in order to create the situation at the end, and the narrative should have given them appropriate acknowledgement for that difficult work.

This was a really good book. I just had to finish it in one day it was that good. There was certainly some rather shocking events and I thought the author did a brilliant job at dealing with these issues. I loved how this book was based in Canada and about indigenous people. It was terrible and shocking how these people were treated and this book is based on true events. I loved the story line and its medium pace felt very fitting. I loved the characters development and became emotionally involved in them. There were definitely characters you live to hate, I felt my blood boiling at one point. The author created a great sense of atmosphere and tension. 

It is advertised as a general fiction adult and a young adult book. The book is short enough to work as a young adult book and it is a coming of age story for part of it. I just feel that this book would be lost as a young adult book they wouldn't appreciate the shocking story I feel its more suited to adults as they will understand the power this story holds. I certainly recommend reading this book life you like the quicker read books that are shocking and full of culture. 

So much praise goes out to the author and publishers for bringing us this shocking story and bringing these real life true events to life through fiction.

The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog yesterday https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/this-house-is-not-a-home-by-katlia-fernwood-publishing-4-stars either under my name or ladyreading365

This House is Not a Home is at the same time beautiful and absolutely heartbreaking. It quickly became one of my favorite reads of the year. It tells a tale of generational trauma, colonization, forced assimilation, and many many struggles an indigenous family had to go through spanned over three generations. It shows how the colonizers and the settlers wreaked havoc on their resources, their community, and their identity. It shows these characters' pain, suffering, and immense resilience.

The book opens with a hunting scene, a glimpse into the upbringing of Kǫ̀, the character we follow. His family and he live off of the land, and his father is teaching him the ways of his ancestors, the way they all learned. Kǫ̀’s life gets upturned one day, when he is taken to a residential school, a place that creates nothing but misery, where he and the other children were (often by physical force) made to forget their languages, adopt new names, a new religion, and new customs. When he is released, everything he once knew is foreign - his father is gone, his mother and he struggle to communicate as he forgot his native language, and he has a brother he’s never met. It follows his life as he tries to rebuild it, and has his own family all while the settler-colonial society spreads, threatening to poison every aspect of his life.

This House is Not a Home is a generational story, which in part makes it more heartwrenching, as you see that through time the family is struggling more and more and it’s taking them more strength and effort to resume. The generational aspect shows how each generation was impacted differently, but it had the same gutting effect, the bigger and bigger alienation from their culture, and their roots. The dialogue at the beginning is entirely in their native language, and throughout the book, it becomes more and more just English. There are times when it’s combined, there are times when it’s just English. It shows how Kǫ̀ loses that part of himself at the school, and then his struggle and his effort to relearn it. I think this story does a great job of showing that the genocide against many indigenous peoples wasn’t just literal, but how the culture and identity of people were completely erased and how brutal that is to experience, and how many consequences that has. I thought the way the author went about describing and showing everything was amazing, as the writing overall was.

The story we follow is as much of endurance as is of tragedy. Kǫ̀ as the central figure is someone who fights to keep his land, his home, and his culture with all he has. When brought to the school, he was old enough to remember his name and that is the driving force for him. All of the children were given whichever names the nuns thought of, but he knows that in his culture the elders choose the kids’ names with purpose and with meaning. The story shows how everything was affected by the settlers - the people, the environment, the pollution of the water and the illness the mines bring, the vices that many young people fall into (such as gambling, and alcoholism), and how powerless, how defeated the people were in the face of all of those tragedies. The systemic exploitation of indigenous people is rampant. With their houses torn down, for no other reason than cruelty forced to live in poorly made houses they didn’t want but had to pay for, meaning they were forced into awful, low-paying jobs so they could barely make ends meet.

I am not indigenous, so of course, I am not speaking with any authority here, but I think this novel was a great starting point for someone who is maybe interested in knowing more but not knowing where to start. I think it does a great job of showing the horrors of forced assimilation into the colonizer’s culture while also showing the resilience of people in the face of all of the atrocities that were done to them. Therefore, I would highly recommend this book!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review!

This House Is Not a Home is an eye-opening tale that focuses on the devastating effects of colonization on an indigenous (Dene) community/family in northern Canada. The preface provides additional context surrounding the motivation to create codified laws and prejudicial policies (now deemed unconstitutional) to (forcefully) remove both the children from their homes and the remaining families from their ancestral lands. Those familiar with the colonizer’s playbook will recognize the methodical and psychological manipulation that attempted to erase identity, family ties, and obliterate tradition, culture, religion, and language (children were punished (beaten or starved) if caught conversing in their native tongue).

Here’s an example of the forementioned in an excerpt regarding Ko’s confusion when forced into a Christian Boarding school where the abusive nuns haphazardly changed his name to Christian - which was subsequently applied to other male children because of their limited pool of approved names. Fortunately, Ko was old enough to remember his given name - so many others were not so fortunate:

The change of name was especially confusing for Kǫ̀. What he knew of names was that they were chosen thoughtfully, and often well after a baby was born. The Elders would watch a child’s behaviours, learn their character. When a name was given to a child, a feast and naming ceremony would take place. Kǫ̀ vaguely remembered the day he was named. His relatives packed into his family’s tent and sat on the ground sharing a meal. Everyone hugged him, tousled his hair, his aunties squeezed his cheeks. Kǫ̀ knew what his real name meant. It was given to him by his great-grandfather, and he was told that one day he would honour it greatly, but now all he could do was miss the meaning behind it. It was there at the school that they would try to turn him against his own family, ridicule his culture and make him forget everything he knew.

Although largely centered on Ko, who was forcefully removed from his home at a young age, the novel truly spans his entire life and shows the negative impact of these policies not only on his generation but that of his parents, sibling, wife, and children. Everyone and everything is affected. The indigenous descendants, the environment, the animals, and the elements (air, water, earth) are damaged and scarred by the encroachment of white settlers and their introduction of vices (alcoholism, drugs, gambling) which opened the door for addiction, hopelessness, despair (to the point where horrific memories are unhealthily repressed), poor education, under/unemployment – all of which were exacerbated by rampant bullying, systemic exploitation, and intentional exclusionism.

This story had page-turning qualities in that I had hope for Ko and his family and wanted to know how things would play out. Recommended for those who have an interest in the subject, the struggles of the Indigenous People of Canada.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an opportunity to review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Fenway Publishing for an advanced copy of A House is Not a Home by
Katłįà. I requested it on a whim and am so glad I did! The slim novel follows the lives of a Dene family and the multitude of injustices they face across three generations. The writing is simple and straight forward, but still makes an impact. Highly recommend.

"This House is Not a Home" by Katłįà is an intergenerational coming-of-age story about tragedy, loss, trauma, hope, and resilience. This historical fiction novel is an emotional tale that recounts the damage inflicted upon the Indigenous people and the vicious cycle of displacement felt throughout generations as they try to reclaim their culture, beliefs, knowledge, and way of life.

The story follows Kǫ̀ from the time when he was a young kid learning about his culture and way of life, to being forced into a residential school, the alienation of returning home, and later having kids who grow up with a different value system and life than his own. Spread throughout is the cruelty and injustice done to a culture of people who were abused and traumatized and left to grapple with the aftermath on their own. The story of Kǫ̀ and his family isn't just tragic, but an outcry against the genocide of Indigenous culture and the brutality that occurred. It's a lament as much as it is a demand for retribution, recognition, and a reclaiming of rights.

"This House is Not a Home" is a powerful, emotional tale worth reading. Kǫ̀ is a fiercely resilient character who vows never to lose sight of his cultural traditions or the life he was taught and grew up with. While he experiences a lot of heartbreak and devastation, he finds a way to endure it and to try and beat the system that wants nothing more than to wipe him out of existence. Kǫ̀ is an easy character to be enamoured with. His story is one that will enlighten many and help bring understanding and compassion to the intergenerational trauma that continues to be felt in the Indigenous community.

"This House is Not a Home" by Katłįà is a book that must be read at some point in one's lifetime. Do not miss out on an opportunity to pick this book up on its expected publication date of September 1st, 2022.

A big thank you to NetGalley, Fernwood Publishing, and Roseway Publishing for providing me with a free e-arc of this novel and for the opportunity to share my honest opinion in this review.

I feel like this book started out very strong - I loved reading about the different traditions of the Indigenous People and I felt like I learnt a lot, especially about the importance of the community and the respect shown towards nature. However, it felt like towards the end of the book the author wanted to highlight every single social issue facing the Indigenous communities and the plot felt rushed. Still, it was a thought provoking book and I would recommend this to anyone wanting to learn more about the challenges the Indigenous People have faced and are still facing to this day.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This House is Not a Home is the third book by Katłįà, an indigenous author from the Northwest Territories in Canada. It begins with an almost lyrical tale of a hunting expedition, as Kǫ̀ learns the ways of his ancestors from his father. They return home to find an empty space where their family home once stood. Kǫ̀ is sent off to a residential school, although he eventually returns, while the ongoing toll on his family unfolds. This all too familiar tragic saga of the dispossession of First Nations peoples is based on historical events and captures the struggle and dignity in a touching narrative with heartfelt characters. A literary fiction gem that uses the lens of the housing system to portray the dispossession of Indigenous Peoples that makes for a four star read rating. With thanks to Fernwood Publishing and the author, for an uncorrected advanced reader copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.

This book was very interesting how the natives were treated.. They went through a lot of different hardships especially the boy KOT. He was raised in a traditional family and then the missionaries came and took him to a school. He was very unhappy there because they took away his Is paragage. He meets a girl marathon KUE. It has no memory of her life because she was taken at a very young age To this school. He refused to be apart of all the activities and he caught it withdrawal from everything. What a horrible way to treat a horse to take their way their hard judge and everything. He comes home eventually and tries to adjust to a new way of living. He also found out he had brotherhood Walter. Walter was taken at a very young age too but he had a lot of problems with alcohol of drugs from Cameron. KOT wanted to go back to where things were. Then he meets his friend from school and they decided to get Married. They were trying to release their children like they were raised before they were taken. Their homes destroyed when they were out hunting one day. And this is what all the trouble started and how this man started to like trick him into signing all these stuff. He did not want to go into the government house and he longed for the old days.. His son couldn't appreciate hunting and anything like that. The daughter was very helpful. The mother stayed with them until she was forced to go into a nursing home. You tried to fight everything with government regulations. The worst thing was how the mind came to town did provide jobs but it also caused a environmental problem. You worked there all the time and things were going OK but things start to travel again. This is a very interesting book especially not my house I can understand that because his real home was out in the wilderness and hunting and fishing. The government does not understand how people are forced into things and they're not very happy and families to center right and families disintegrate and dysfunctionalized There's a lot of twisting turns in this book and you're realized how important is to stay true to your heritage.

🐾❄Sad, tragic, enlightening💔

4-4.5🌟 stars
This story delivers important insight into the way indigenous culture in Canada fought an uphill battle (and usually lost) against the encroachments of modernization. The writing style struck me as very rooted in the oral tradition of storytelling.

I found it easy to read, very appropriate for a teen or young adult reader, but also a must read for adults who want to know more about how a culture can be subdued and dismantled in the name of "progress."

The principal protagonist never forgets his father's teachings and yearns to keep his connection with tradition and the natural world. Through onslaughts of forced separation, indoctrination, prejudice, trickery, sickness and repeated setbacks, he tries to keep his family together and dreams of the day when they can return to the land.

There are a few instances of the narrative jumping around in an unexpected, nonchronological order, but they did not detract from the heartbreaking drama of this representative one family battling to survive against a powerful, unsympathetic foe.

Thanks to Roseway Publishing and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

I have always been interested in this subject and felt so sorry for the people who were torn from their parents and homes. This book is a suspenseful tale of a man learning to survive after being taken from his home and taught the English language to then forget his native tongue. It's so hard to believe that people could do this and it be taken for the normal. Horrible bullying takes place in school after he is entered into the system. But this character takes his life and lives it to go on and return to his home, His mother still lives there and a brother he never knew. What happens next is another sad tale that makes you cry for him. This book will have you thinking alot on the subject and it made me want to read even more by this author.