Hold Your Tongue by Matthew Tétreault is a work of fiction built around the final days of Alfred, a central figure in his family even though he lives apart from them. It is primarily the story of Richard, who tries to make sense of his family, his history, and his life through the stories told by and about his great uncle Alfred.
Hold your tongue – be silent! Hold onto your tongue – do not lose the language, customs, and ways that define you. As the crowd in one story chants “Hold your tongue!” in protest of “linguistic assimilation and cultural apostasy”, they are advocating, ironically, against protest. This is really the central conflict Richard faces: to let his heritage go in silence, or to carry it forward.
Like his father, Richard (“Rich”) does not seem to consider Métis to be his primary definition. He is a laid-off factory worker who sometimes drives his uncle’s septic truck. He is at a crossroads with his girlfriend and still feels betrayed by his sister’s sudden move to the city. He has, over the years, drifted from his great uncle Alfred. When Alfred has a stroke, though, all the stories, both personal and historical, fill Richard’s mind.
Family dynamics are central. Rich muses on the way closeness fosters arguments as he and his parents are packed together in the truck on the drive to Winnipeg. He reflects that the wedge between his sister Monique and her mother caused cracks in the family’s foundation, leading to the tensions that followed. The things that draw them together and drive them apart are explored with honesty.
He realizes that Alfred is the one who has gathered the fragmented pieces of all the past stories and fashioned them into his story. He is one who “seemed to have spent his life capturing others’ moments from behind the camera.” He is the remembered storyteller and the subject of stories, but there is limited interaction with him.
The stories move from one person to another – Alfred is speaking, and suddenly we flit to another time and place and Richard’s father is now telling the story. Sometimes the stories shift into different memories, for memories take their own direction and cannot be locked into a tidy plot diagram. These memories are like threads; the strands weave about each other, sometimes disappearing and then resurfacing, and as we step back and see the entire effect, the pattern is rich and beautiful.
The text is interspersed with French-Michif, French-Canadian, and standard French, but remains highly readable. When passages elude the English reader, they need only wait for a comment or action in English that explains what was meant. Good storytelling is not always sequential, and we do not always catch every word, but after we listen to all the parts, we sit back, satisfied.
We learn early that Alfred has had a stroke, and as Rich tries to find his father to tell him the news, he receives stories of past confrontations and rivalries, or sometimes comments on his car, in response to his inquiries. Memories of Rich’s childhood, memories of Alfred, and memories of Alfred telling the family stories are woven in. Both family and cultural backgrounds are established.
The family all flock to Saint Boniface to see Alfred, but although the hospital visit is about Alfred, very little time in the hospital is spent with Alfred, as family members meet, talk, and disperse. In his wanderings, Rich watches the army on maneuvers, and suddenly he is experiencing a vision of Métis history, with Alfred at his side. It is vivid and alive, and in this way, he is sharing time with Alfred.
Stories and memories continue to rise in the aftermath of the hospital visit, and the treachery of certain family members is revealed. The funeral itself is masterful story telling: the questioning and interjections as the service unfolds, the laughter and nods as the stories are told, and there is no moment in literature as uplifting as the reception, in which memory and vision blend in a moment of pure joy.
And the conclusion moves us to exult as Richard does.
This is the story of Rich and of Alfred, of history and of future. At times poignant, sometimes harsh, it is always honest and alive. In the end, it inspires us to lift up all the stories that shape our lives. This is a fictional narrative, but a very real story, one that draws us to seek the truth about ourselves and our relationship with the world.
Matthew Tétreault is French-Métis from the Ste. Anne area of Manitoba. He is the author of What Happened on the Bloodvein (Pemmican Publications, 2015), a collection of short stories. He recently completed a PhD in Métis literature and literary history in the Department of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta. He lived in Edmonton for 7 years. He currently lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with his wife, daughter, in-laws, and his old cat, Major Tom. Hold Your Tongue is his first novel.
- Publisher : NeWest Press (May 1 2023)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 272 pages
- ISBN-10 : 177439071X
- ISBN-13 : 978-1774390719
I enjoyed this review Anne.
Thank you, Carrie.