The Lesser Blessed

Richard Van Camp

ISBN 10: 1771621133 / ISBN 13: 9781771621137

Published by Douglas and McIntyre (2013) Ltd., 2016

About this Item

Internationally praised and the subject of a critically acclaimed film, Richard Van Camp's bestselling novel about coming of age in Canada's North has achieved the status of an Indigenous classic and it was included in CBC's list of 100 novels that make you proud to be Canadian. This special 20th anniversary edition features a new introduction from the author, as well as two short stories that follow the lives of the novel's main characters. The Lesser Blessed tracks the exploits of Larry Sole, a Dogrib teenager living in the small Northern town of Fort Simmer. After losing much of his memory in a violent accident, what he loves more than anything is reading, hearing and collecting stories. With no interest in booze or sports, he floats on the edges of high school life, sustained by his love of Iron Maiden and a hopeless passion for school hottie Juliet Hope. When good-looking, trouble-seeking Johnny Beck moves into town, he shakes up Larry's dreamy existence and leads him into a life of sex, drugs and violence, bringing him face to face with memories that he's done his best to lose.

Seller Inventory # 00095977379

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Lesser Blessed
• Publisher: Douglas and McIntyre (2013) Ltd.
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1771621133
• ISBN 13: 9781771621137
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

Larry is a Dogrib Indian growing up in the small northern town of Fort Simmer. His tongue, his hallucinations and his fantasies are hotter than the centre of the sun. At sixteen, he loves Iron Maiden, the North and Juliet Hope, the high school "tramp."

In this powerful and very funny first novel, Richard Van Camp gives us one of the most original teenage characters in Canadian fiction. Skinny as spaghetti, nervy and self-deprecating, Larry is an appealing mixture of bravado and vulnerability. His past holds many terrors: an abusive father, blackouts from sniffing gasoline, an accident that killed several of his cousins, and he's now being hunted and haunted by a pack of blue monkeys. But through his new friendship with Johnny, a Metis who just moved to town, he's now ready to face his memories—and his future.

The Lesser Blessed is an eye-opening depiction of what it is to be a young Dogrib man in the age of AIDS, disillusionment with Catholicism and a growing world consciousness.

About the Author

Richard Van Camp was born in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, and is a member of the Dogrib (Tlicho) Dene Nation. An internationally renowned storyteller and bestselling author, Richard was awarded Storyteller of the Year for both Canada and the US by the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. The Lesser Blessed was adapted into a movie by First Generation Films; it premiered in September 2012 at the Toronto International Film Festival.