Reviews / Críticas

Well written insight showcasing the inner turmoil of seeing the need to change along side the tough slog to be a change maker as a small fish in a big ocean where most people believe what they are doing is the right path and a small few are doing absolutely terribly wrong things. Claudette touches on deep intense topics without digging too deep into them to allow the reader to think and ponder and consider their own actions in life. Highly recommend this one.

A great read about a topic all Canadians should know more about. Excellent story and wonderful characters.

Really enjoyed this book beautifully written. Also a very interesting subject and an opportunity to learn. Lovely characters. Helen

Courage and Complicity educates us about an important and shameful part of Canadian history using powerful dialogue and meaningful observations by the book’s main character, Mary Brock. This book can and should be used as an educational tool to help future generations learn how to not make these same mistakes again.

I really liked this book. Ms. Languedoc creates, what seems to me to be, a very realistic experience of how working in a residential school in the late 40s would have been for a young, idealistic woman from Toronto. The beautiful and sensitive writing is at once engaging and insightful. I couldn’t put the book down.

I actually hesitated to read this book because it’s so very hard to read about the residential schools. But Ms. Languedoc dealt with the subject in a very accessible manner, balancing the bad with the good and presenting to the reader the dilemma of what you would do if faced with the same choices of two of the main characters in the book. The book grabbed me from the first page and left me both thoughtful and a little enlightened. An excellent read.

Absolutely brilliant; I finished your book this afternoon while reclining on the sofa at the Coast. Quite honestly I was “blown away” with your literary skill, not that I am any erudite judge of literature. My test is if the book keeps me wanting to read the next page – a relatively simple, but all encompassing test.
What really fascinated me was your understanding and interpretation of a very delicate subject, one that I know little about. My knowledge of residential schools extends to CBC News and news article in a variety of media. Of course I am generally conversant with the dilemma of the indigenous people in our country, but more from an observer’s perspective rather than an activist or subject (the indigenous). Knowing your upbringing and association with your two adopted brothers, I would be privileged one day to have an in depth discussion with you to better understand the issues and solutions. As an “outsider” sometimes I think we collectively spend too much time finding remorse in our past and insufficient time planning solutions for our future; I mean that in the broadest and most constructive sense.

Courage and Complicity offers an easy and absorbing read about a painful and troubling topic. Written from the perspective of an idealistic but somewhat naive white woman, the book explores life at a residential Indian school run by the Catholic church in mid-20th century. It is a look back on a legacy of decades of institutional racism with an eye to a future that promotes truth and reconciliation.