Comments (35)

What did you think about this title?
1 to 25 of 35 items
Dec 27, 2023margardenlady rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Heartwrenching story of abuse, woven tightly with a story about the communal strength of women and their love for family. This novel is a complex quilt of life in a neighborhood populated primarily by indigenous families. Narrators of each…
Jun 07, 2022lyndasclater rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Donna's choice for Book Club June/22. A good book - but not my favourite....
spudwil
Apr 18, 2022spudwil rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
Well, I will say that this book gave us a look at Métis culture and relationships, especially the strong female ones. However, I feel that there was a lot of “filler” in this book. Lots of chapters that were just about family sitting…
Apr 14, 2022PetraL rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
I think the strength of this book is that we get to see into the hearts and minds of the female characters who support one another through their struggles. But, be forewarned that the language and plot details are graphic and raw. I can't…
Apr 08, 2022STPL_JessH rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
The Break is remarkable! It's also so, so important. The trigger warning on the title page is very necessary so readers need to proceed cautiously. Seriously. It's been a while since I read a novel that contained details that were worse…
Mar 16, 2022liljables rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Although the subject matter of The Break is often brutal, this novel is highly readable - I couldn't put it down. I should have known when I opened the cover to find a family tree that I would LOVE this story; I'm a sucker for a family…
Dec 20, 2021Bookworm1136 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
4 stars. This is the story about a group of Metis women in Winnipeg's tough North End who gather to help when one of their own, a 13 year old girl, and her friend are brutally attacked. These women are mostly living tough lives, although…
Oct 29, 2021ArapahoeJulieH rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Recommended by Tommy Orange, The Break is a haunting and heartbreaking narrative with a strong female presence. Set in Winnipeg, Vermette speaks to the struggles of a family of urban Native women, their collective stare into the face of a…
Sep 10, 2020Jenkskitten rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Very little story, the book is mostly the thoughts of a family of women, their relationships, what their lives were turning out to be, how they handle the stress and aggravation of daily living on low income and in not ideal areas. The…
Aug 09, 2020jade310 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I could not put this down. Vermette is one of my favourites; she's an incredible storyteller and manages to keep things realistic and impactful. Dialogue doesn't feel forced, and narratives aren't overly flowery, which I appreciate. And in…
Aug 01, 2020TEENREVIEWCREW rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
The Break by Katherena Vermette is a suspenseful, engaging, and interesting novel. Katherena shares a read that is told in multiple perspectives within a group of Indigenous Manitoban women. The novel focuses on the violence girls and…
Jan 25, 2020
Recommended by Tommy Orange, The Break is a haunting and heartbreaking narrative with a strong female presence. Set in Winnipeg, Vermette speaks to the struggles of a family of urban Native women, their collective stare into the face of a…
Aug 26, 2019
Tea & Talk Book Club / April 2017
Aug 17, 2019Julieh2020 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Tommy Orange recommended this book in a recent interview. The Break is written in a haunting and heartbreaking narrative with a strong female presence. Set in Winnipeg, Vermette speaks to the struggles of a family of urban Native women,…
Jun 07, 2019CarolynAnn4 rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
This is a difficult book to say "I enjoyed" because there really is no 'enjoyment' involved with the story, in my opinion. However, as mournful, depressing and disturbing as I found the first 3/4 to be, I was engaged in the story from the…
DonnaMeness
Mar 23, 2019
The reverberations of residential school trauma echo down through the internal cruelties within our communities.. intergenerational sexual abuse, a dark legacy connected to almost 120 years of government-sanctioned, church-operated…
Feb 06, 2019horthhill rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
"The Break" by Katherena Vermette is a mess of a novel. A horrific incident doesn't make a plot. One darn thing after another can become a plot. But, in The Break, not much more happens than a loose circling about that opening incident.…
Aug 02, 2018
I've admired the cover of this book for some time, but only recently decided to give it a turn. I thought maybe I'd just read a few pages, but I was almost immediately pulled in by the writing, and the suspenseful intro--a woman reports a…
Jun 30, 2018TEENREVIEWCREW rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
The first scene of this novel had me uneasy, being both heartbreaking and hard to process. With the struggles Stella has to face with taking care of her family and dealing with her upsetting past, the event which takes place outside of her…
Jun 27, 2018VaughanPLDavidB rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
I was reading this book for a book club I lead, otherwise I wouldn't have even considered it. I found myself rather indifferent until the point when the author described the assault that was the seminal event of the novel. At that point I…
Jun 13, 2018smccowell rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
outstanding
Sep 06, 2017bronteside rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Katherena Vermette is a talented story -teller. The Break is an original , subtle tale following the lives of women who struggle On the outside of hope, and how their reaction to one event is shaped by Past choices. No surprise that…
Aug 24, 2017ownedbydoxies rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I would give this book ALL the stars! It's an amazingly strong and wise tale of several Metis women living and working in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It's hard to know where to begin to describe the book without giving away too much information,…
Aug 17, 2017wyenotgo rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
Working my way through this mess was almost a nightmare. While I wouldn't ordinarily write a review is such a manner, I see no way to respond to this book other than in the same language as the book itself. Simply put, this is about people…
Aug 09, 2017LaRoyal rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
I did not expect to love this book but after a choppy start, I could not put it down. A good book teaches and this book certainly qualifies. I was struck by many aspects but was most impressed with the role of Grandmother in the cultural…