My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my free digital ARC of Coexistence! 

I love a short story collection, and Billy-Ray Belcourt’s first collection is a stunner. I’ve only read his memoir-in-essays so far (a History of My Brief Body) but this collection reminded me to get my hands on his 2022 novel and maybe even try his poetry! Coexistence draws somewhat from Belcourt’s own lived experiences (as a queer Native man), but there are other experiences explored here that show off his skills at embodying different characters.

The stories do feel very cohesive, but avoid being repetitive. A lot of them feature creatives of some description (writers, artists) who struggle to form or keep meaningful relationships. A few explore dating as a queer man of colour, and a few explore the lasting damage colonialism wreaked on Indigenous lives.

One favourite was Outside, following Jack who just got out of jail and is faced with continuing to perpetuate cycles of abandonment that plague his family, due to generational trauma passed down, or trying to forge ahead and break those cycles. Another was Summer Research, where a young man housesits for his parents - except the house is haunted by a malevolent ghost left over from a residential school.

Belcourt easily switches between soft and tender, creepy and uneasy, tragic and hopeless, caring and hopeful. This collection runs a whole gamut of emotion, with only (I think) two stories that didn’t really stick with me. A collection teeming with life and perseverance.