“This is where my lesson was learned: pain is to be expected, courage is to be welcomed. There is no choice but to endure. There is no other way than to renounce self-doubt. It is the time of the Dawning in more ways than one. The sun can rise, and so can I.”

Split Tooth is the prize-winning debut work of Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq. The story is about an Inuit girl who grows up in Nunavut, northern Canada in the 1970s. It is part memoir, part magical realism and mythology and part poetry.

This is a difficult book to review as it is gritty, beautiful, tender, confronting and disturbing all at once. It deals with the harsh realities of life including alcoholism, domestic violence, sexual abuse of girls, rape, solvent and drug use. Through this though you feel like Tagaq is fighting for women and shows an inner strength and resilience. She says, “Forgive them they say. Forgive those that have hurt you. Don’t hang onto the past they say. You will only hurt yourself. The past has birthed the bricks that build my bones…. The past is the house of these breaths. I do not forgive and forget. I protect and prevent. Make them eat shame and repent. I forgive me.”

The book also gives a vivid insight into the natural world, and paints a picture of the rhythms, majesty and wild beauty of arctic life. It does not shy away from the brutality of nature and a life that leaves no room for empathy.

The difficulty for me was that the lyrical poetic feel of the book, and the transitioning from myth to reality, meant the narrative flow was lost and ultimately I had no idea what happened. The main character was sexually molested by a teacher, had sex with the Northern Lights and also a huge dream fox, and possibly was raped by someone else, gave birth to twins, or maybe she didn’t. The story had a fever dream or nightmarish quality to it.

If you do read this book the audio version is essential as there are strains of her unique throat singing between the chapters. Overall for me this was not a book I enjoyed or understood but it felt like a valuable and important read. 3.5 stars for me. ( )

Coming of Age Mythology
Review of the Penguin Canada paperback edition (September 24, 2019) with reference to the Viking audiobook (September 25, 2018) of the original Viking hardcover (September 25, 2018)

There is a siren that sounds in our small town to announce the curfew. At noon and at 10 p.m. Every time the siren sounds all the sled dogs howl, and I imagine that they think there is a large, loud god dog that rules the land howling. I equate this with religion.

The descriptive passage above sets the scene in a remote Inuit community of Nunavut where life is a blend of reality and mythology. Tagaq's tale is part coming of age in a rough and tumble world dealing with both substance and domestic abuse but which also gradually develops into a much wilder mythological world of animistic religion and horrific filicide.
The novel uniquely blends memoir and fiction, prose and poetry, myth and reality.

I started by reading the paperback edition of Split Tooth but was so intrigued by hearing a sample of the author's own reading, I also listened to the audiobook edition. The print edition comes with a limited series of illustrations. The audiobook includes Tagaq's unique solo Inuit throat singing (authentic throat singing is performed by two women*) in brief segments as chapter interludes.

I read the original English language Split Tooth (2018) in parallel with its recently released Estonian language translation Lõhkine hammas (December 2023). I always find it helpful and informative to read translations in my heritage language of Estonian if the English original is near at hand.

Footnote
* You can see a sample of authentic Inuit throat singing in an excerpt from the Tanya Tagaq biographical documentary Ever Deadly (2022) here.

Soundtrack
You can listen to the Tanya Tagaq album Retribution (2016) at YouTube here.

Trivia and Links
Tanya Tagaq does a short sample reading from the book along with some animated illustrations at this YouTube video.
This reading is likely excerpted from the limited edition vinyl LP Split Tooth (2018) which contains readings of poems from the book along with a fox story (i.e. it is not the entire audiobook). I'd better not post the album cover here due to censorship concerns, but you can see it at Discogs😳.

Tanya Tagaq introduces the book, talks about her life and does some readings at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas 2019 which you can watch here. ( )

One of the most unique things I've ever "read". This is a sort of mythopoetic memoir - Inuit myths are interwoven with the tale of a young woman growing up in Nunavut. Tagaq's own poetry is interspersed throughout the novel. The impressionistic short prose pieces wonderfully depict a hardscrabble, sometimes disturbing, but never completely bleak childhood in the Canadian Artic. Discussion of rape, sexual assault, and drugs abounds, so be warned. The audiobook is great, read by the author, however, the structure (or lack thereof) of the novel makes it hard to follow on audio. This is, ultimately, my one complaint: I could have done wiith more structure. Drags in the middle before the "endgame" reveals itself. Very much worth reading for its overall uniqueness and great prose, but you may not feel it all comes together in the end. ( )

Fascinating listen -- audiobook read by the author highly recommended. An emotionally tough listen at times, but a unique and powerful performance by an extremely talented writer/poet/singer. ( )

really gorgoeus style and quality of writing. beautiful story telling. ( )