Nobody Cries at Bingo

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The narrator, Dawn, in Nobody Cries at Bingo invites the reader to witness first hand Dumont family life on the Okanese First Nation. Beyond the stereotypes and clichés of Rez dogs, drinking, and bingos, the story of a girl who loved to read begins to unfold. It is her hopes, dreams, and indomitable humour that lay bear the beauty and love within her family. It is her unerring eye that reveals the great bond of family expressed in the actions and affections of her sisters, aunties, uncles, brothers, cousins, nieces, nephews, and ultimately her ancestors. Life on the Rez is all here in rich technicolour as Dawn emerges fro home life through school life, and into the promise of a great future. The story embraces cultural differences and does it with the gread traditional medicine of laughter.ReviewEach night, I read a couple of chapters of Dawn Dumont's Nobody Cries at Bingo and I was virtually guaranteed a gut busting fit of laughter every few pages...Dumont tackles life on the Rez with all its richness and vibrancy. Certainly she brings into play the stereotypes of reservation lifedrinking, bingos, poverty, wife abuse and the school caste system. However, the book's universal appeal lies in the small hilarious moments, such as learning to ride a bike, applying makeup for a rock-punk Halloween costume, discovering a lack of athleticism and attending an older sister's wedding. These moments might appear insignificant. But Dumont is a stand-up comedian by trade whose work is highly sought after by CBC...Each chapter is an individual story recounted by a narrator called Dawn, leading you to believe the stories are at least partially autobiographical. But Dumont's strength as a writer is her easy-going street language and the way she sets up a funny situation with a clever turn of phrase for maximum effect. And you never really see the comedic clobbering coming until it hits you. For example, the first two paragraphs really set the book's tone. ""I was born in a small Saskatchewan town called Balcarres. The town had given itself the nickname 'Pride of the Prairie,' which is a pretty bold statement for a community that boasts more boarded-up stores and businesses than regular ones...Shortly after my debut, I was relocated to the Okanese reserve via a ride in our grandparents' car. Okanese is Cree for Rosebud. The reserve doesn't really have a nickname, although many people call it the 'armpit of the universe,' usually after they've lost an election.""And from this point on, the sassy, spirited humour just keeps barrelling along. There is nothing quite like laughter to erase intolerance and embrace cultural differences, and this is one of the best antidotes to racism on bookshelves to date. --St. Albert Gazette About the AuthorDawn Dumont is a Plains Cree comedian and actress born and raised in Saskatchewan, Canada. Dawn has made people laugh at comedy clubs across North America, including New York's Comic Strip and the New York Comdey Club and the Improv. She currently works for CBC radio, the Edmonton Journal and APTN. Her writing has been published in anthologies and her plays produced in Toronto.