A chilling, close story that follows a small Anishinaabe community during what appears to be the end of the world, but that's not the part that matters. What matters is following the community as they do their best to weather the sudden change and survive winter. Outsiders come in to disrupt their way of life, and the story goes on from there. 

The strength of this story really lies in how close the narrative is to the people at the heart of it. What caused the apocalypse? Don't know. Is it really an apocalypse? Is it world wide? Is anything being done to fix it? Don't know, don't care. This is about the strengths and weaknesses of the families we follow, and it's very quiet in that way. Quiet, and cold. 

I eventually found that the strength of the novel was also a weakness, in a way. It felt very much like a project that was more about a theme - resilience, the survival of an indigenous community, how people help and hurt each other - and less a story that had a start and an end and waypoints in between. The ending felt short and it didn't feel like we got a real climax or resolution. 

But despite that, this was a strong novel in terms of sitting you inside a very specific time and place and with a specific community. I very much recommend this if you want a read that is mostly vibes and feelings.