The Redemption of Oscar Wolf - Hardcover

Bartleman, James

3.44

45 ratings by Goodreads

9781459709829: The Redemption of Oscar Wolf

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1459709829 ISBN 13: 9781459709829

Publisher: A J. Patrick Boyer Book, 2013

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A young First Nations man sets out from his Muskoka home in a quest for redemption after a terrible fire.

In the early 1930s, Oscar Wolf, a 13-year-old Native from the Chippewas of Rama Indian Reserve, sets fire to the business section of his village north of Toronto in a fit of misguided rage against white society, inadvertently killing his grandfather and a young maid. Tortured by guilt and fearful of divine retribution, Oscar sets out on a lifetime quest for redemption.

His journey takes him to California where he works as a fruit picker and prizefighter during the Great Depression, to the Second World War where he becomes a decorated soldier, to university where he excels as a student and athlete, and to the diplomatic service in the postwar era where he causes a stir at the United Nations in New York and in Colombia and Australia.

Beset by an all-too-human knack for making doubtful choices, Oscar discovers that peace of mind is indeed hard to find in this saga of mid-20th-century aboriginal life in Canada and abroad that will appeal to readers of all backgrounds and ages.

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About the Author:

James Bartleman is the bestselling author of the novel As Long as the Rivers Flow and the memoir Raisin Wine: A Boyhood in a Different Muskoka. A member of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation, he was lieutenant governor of Ontario from 2002 to 2007. He lives in Perth, Ontario.

Review:

At the core of Bartleman’s story...is Oscar Wolf’s preoccupation with guilt, with the fear, not just of legal guilt, but of divine retribution. (London Free Press)

Bartleman’s play to stereotype, a deliberate device, is balanced both by empathy and by his own experience as a member of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation (London Free Press)

Bartleman’s realistic novel, with its edgy verisimilitude, deserves a broad readership. (Library Journal)

Dark humour runs throughout the text. Bartleman especially has fun satirizing self-important diplomats and politicians (Ottawa Citizen)

Bartleman acknowledged a dark shadow in Canada's history and brings it to life through the genuine character of Oscar Wolf, a man for whom the reader cheers throughout the story (Waterloo Record)

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