Black Water: A Memoir of “Family, Legacy, and Blood Memory” [NF Review]

The son of a Cree father and a non-Indigenous mother, David A. Robertson was raised with virtually no knowledge or understanding of his family’s Indigenous roots. His father, Don, spent his early childhood on a  trapline in the bush northeast of Norway House, Manitoba, where his first teach was the land. When his family was moved permanently to a nearby reserve, Don was not permitted to speak Cree at school unless in secret with his friends and lost the knowledge he had been gifted while living on his trapline. His mother, Beverly, grew up in a small Manitoba town with not a single Indigenous family in it. Then Don arrived, the new United Church minister, and they fell in love. 

Structured around a father-son journey to the northern trapline where Robertson and his father will reclaim their connection to the land, Black Water is the story of another journey: a young man seeking to understand his father’s story, to come to terms with his lifelong experience with anxiety, and to finally piece together his own blood memory, the parts of his identity that are woven into the fabric of his DNA.

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Review ✍🏻

I have reviewed many of Robertson’s works on my blog, but this is my first time reviewing a work of non-fiction. From the prologue alone, you get a good sense of the story you’re in for: the documentation of Robertson’s personal journey of bettering his understanding of family and identity, culminating in reconnecting with the land on which his Cree father trapped as young boy and had not returned to since. The subtitle distills the main themes: “family, legacy and blood memory”. Robertson reflects on the way his family has shaped him and what it means for him, as a son of a Cree father and white mother, to be Cree.

Structure and Style

I attended Black Water’s virtual launch at the end of September. I had read about half the book at the time. You can view the event (hosted by McNally Robinson with Robertson in conversation with Jael Richardson) on YouTube. During that event, Robertson made two comments in particular regarding the book’s tone and structure that stood out to me. One relates to the story’s bittersweet ending.

Sadly, his father passed away while he worked on the final draft. Meaning, Robertson had crafted the entire book while his father lived. He described (during the launch) that the book would have required major rewriting to incorporate his father’s passing. I don’t recall if he said it would have become a different story, but I imagine it would have. Black Water is the story of reconnecting with his father, not losing him.

The second comment also pertained to the tone and structure of the story. Robertson noted that he wanted it to read like as engaging as a strong fictional narrative. (I’m paraphrasing from my notes; don’t read that as a direct quote.) This also stood out to me while reading. He embraces a structure less common in the memoir genre, weaving in his and his father’s visit to the trapline with memories and reflections. The tone also stood out to me as exemplary. Robertson writes in a way that feels calming and quiet, even as he slices to the heart of important matters. (A quote further down in this review demonstrates what I’m describing.)

Subject Matter

To wrap up this review, I’d like to dip back to subject matter. While telling the story of his family, Robertson also addresses a variety of subjects, including anxiety, veganism, the legacy of lost language, the impact Family Allowance had on his father’s family, and visiting family in a small Mennonite town. He carefully and thoughtfully acknowledges that his experience is not a monolith and Indigenous folks experiences may vary vastly from his. For example, when addressing religion:

Still, I think it’s important to discuss the pervasive impact religion has had on Indigenous communities. This is well documented. If the indoctrination wssn’t happening at church-run schools, it was taking place in what could be viewed as church-run communities, where structures built to praise a Christian God enveloped people on reserve like baptismal water. I visit Indigenous communities, and in many of them, churches appear on the roadsides with the frequency of rez dogs. And like a rez dog, the church ban be – the church has been – both feral and friendly.

While for Dad Christianity was, and continues to be, a positive experience, the church, in Indigenous communities for Indigenous People, has also been viciously damaging. In Dad’s case, his faith in Jesus Crist did not come at the expense of his identity as a Cree man.

Black Water, pg. 121

The Bottom Line 💭

A masterful memoir, Black Water is one of Robertson’s strongest works. A must read for fans of life writing, father-son relationships, or explorations of family history and Indigenous identity.

Further Reading 📰

🍂 Read an excerpt
🍂 Author Twitter
🍂 Radio interview @ CBC Unreserved
🍂 Reviews: Gallery West, Book Page
🍂 Related: For another Indigenous memoir, see A Two-Spirit Journey by Ma-Nee Chacaby. For more works by Robertson, see The Barren Grounds (MG released just two weeks before Black Water), The Evolution of Alice (adult fiction), and Will I See? (graphic novel).

What’s your go-to memoir recommendation?