THE BEOTHUK SAGA

Assiniwi traces the rise and fall of the tribe that settled Newfoundland during the time of the Vikings in this ambitious and wide-ranging historical debut. The first protagonist is a young initiate of the Addaboutik tribe named Anin, who survives the attacks of several enemy tribes during his travels and then begins the task of starting his own clan, which consists of a runaway slave and several women whom he takes for wives. After he returns home to his people to integrate his charges into the tribal way of life, the narrative jumps forward in time almost 500 years to the arrival of John Cabot, focusing on a familiar story as the now-powerful Beothuk tribe is quickly betrayed by the English, who use their political trading savvy to fracture the tribe's hold on its territory. The final section of the novel, entitled "Genocide," chronicles the butchering of the Beothuk by their callous conquerors and explores the plight of the dying tribe. A member of the Cree nation, Assiniwi calls on a wealth of excellent historical material, and he is a serviceable narrator, although his account of the infant tribe's developing morality seems tainted by modern-day political correctness. Structurally, the novel has noticeable problems, mostly due to the author's decision to focus on Anin's story for the first half of the book and then to jump from hero to hero and story to story as the conquest unfolds. The lack of narrative focus and appropriate framework reduces the overall effectiveness, but readers who are curious about the anthropological influences that shaped Newfoundland will find abundant food for thought as well as some solid entertainment here. (Jan. 18)