David Carpenter

Joseph Auguste Merasty

This memoir offers a courageous and intimate chronicle of life in a residential school

A Residential School Memoir

The Education of Augie Merasty

Patrick Book

The actual portion of this book where Augie Merasty relates his experiences in St. Therese Residential School is so short, barely 65 pages. The language he uses to describe the "utter cruelty" he suffered there is so casual and colloquial it could almost make those awful experiences seem less severe to the reader.

But even brevity cannot mask such horrors, even if Merasty is too decent to reveal the full, grim details of what happened to him and others. David Carpenter's notes help reveal the fallout, the struggle, and the displacement that dogged Merasty and his family as a result of those experiences. While Augie's portion of the text may not overflow with emotion, the combination of both author's works show the full detail of his life and residential schools' role in it. 

It also creates a perfect context to open up the discussion about and move all of us towards the reality of reconciliation. The education of Augie Merasty was a life-changing experience; hopefully "The Education of Augie Merasty" will be as well.

The Education of Augie Merasty A Residential School Memoir

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