Consumption by Kevin Patterson
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Consumption is the story of an Inuit woman whose marriage to a white man has deteriorated in modern day upper Hudson Bay, Canada. As a nine year old she was diagonosed with TB which was fairly prevalent and quite deadly among the Inuit population. Once a year a boat would come to give X-rays to all the children and any adults who were infected. The children who were infected were sent to a town with a sanatarium near Winnipeg to recuperate. The separation was extremely difficult for both the children and their families.
Victoria eventually recovers but gets lost in the system and is not sent back for approximately seven years. She barely remembers how to speak Inuit and is basically a stranger to her parents and brother. She marries a white man she does not love and has three children. This is the story of a woman who doesn’t feel totally Inuit any longer but who also does not fit into the white world that is encroaching on the land in the region.
Very descriptive story with a lot of information on the old Inuit ways, including the never far from starvation feeling that drives those who live off the land. Well-written accounts of the beauty of those who try to live the old ways and the difficulties. - mingh