Synopsis
One of Canada's hottest young playwrights, Drew Hayden Taylor triumphs in his first excursion into fiction. Fearless Warriors is a full frontal assault on stereotypes, and an edifying affirmation of humanity the likes of which has no parallel in North American prose. These dramatic, chilling, tragic, shocking, tender and affirmative stories of Native people caught between two cultures each take on a cliché of the "common sense understandings" between contemporary Native and non-native peoples, yet Taylor's deconstructions are suffused with his incomparable sardonic wit, his tremendous gifts as a storyteller, and his gentle and generous humour. No quarter is given, nor is it taken Native stereotypes of white culture are as fair a species of game for this writer as any other. More than anything else, these stories shine with a wisdom of understanding of the human condition which is rare among writers of Taylor's age. Ultimately, they become bridges of understanding between cultures, giving access to the inexplicable actions of characters at the distant edges of our imaginations even just one of the stories, "The Boy in the Ditch," does more to illuminate the horrors of the pre-teen gasoline sniffing culture of Davis Inlet than any number of Royal Commissions will ever do. This is thirst-quenching, unforgettable reading.