Any Known Blood by Lawrence Hill
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I can’t help but say that I was hoping that this book would be the perfect addition to my secondary school library collection because once again Lawrence Hill tackles challenging topics of race and discrimination. In Any Known Blood Hill spends a devoted part of his novel to how being of mixed race makes people ostracized in all camps …not black enough, not white enough. Mixed race faces are the faces of young Canada and I see my students struggle with feeling comfortable in their own skin every day. The lineage of the Langston Cane men that forms the novel is fascinating to see the choices they’ve made through history and I’m a devotee of the multi-generational plot structures (Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China One Hundred Years of Solitude A Fine Balance). However, the amount of sexuality in this book makes me uncomfortable as a public educator in recommending it to my young readers….which is too bad.
