Hunting by Stars: Chapters 1–9

by Cherie Dimaline
After a plague of dreamlessness spreads across North America, seventeen-year-old Frenchie is captured so the Canadian government can harvest his bone marrow as a cure. Frenchie must find a way to escape and reunite with his found family.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–9, Chapters 10–17, Chapters 18–22, Chapters 23–29, Chapter 30–Epilogue/Prologue

Click here to explore our lists for The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. gangly
    tall, thin, and awkward
    In the dream, we were still kids—the same age we were the last time I saw him, gangly and uncoordinated.
  2. haphazard
    dependent upon or characterized by chance
    I saw us in the tree house, and then the tree house in a field, and then the field in the middle of a forest, and then the towns and highways beyond, haphazard like a snapped string of beads over green fabric.
  3. amble
    walk leisurely
    The people on the street were starting to notice us, turning on awkward feet to amble over, fingers flexing open and shut.
  4. cacophony
    loud confusing disagreeable sounds
    I’d watched a pack of dogs once, breaking bones apart in a parking lot and snarling over the marrow, chewing and growling through exposed teeth at the same time, a cacophony of glut.
  5. glut
    overeat or eat immodestly
    I’d watched a pack of dogs once, breaking bones apart in a parking lot and snarling over the marrow, chewing and growling through exposed teeth at the same time, a cacophony of glut.
  6. doting
    extravagantly or foolishly loving and indulgent
    Chi Boy, always the doting partner, shuffled down the log and patted the space beside him for her to sit.
  7. implicate
    bring into intimate and incriminating connection
    “It’s everyone’s fault!” Rose shouted back. “Every one of us.”
    She’d unsheathed her knife in one quick motion and used it to point at the group around the fire—Miigwans, Isaac, Chi Boy, Wab, Bullet, Derrick—pausing at each one so they understood they had been implicated.
  8. headlong
    in a hasty and foolhardy manner
    Maybe rushing headlong into another confrontation with the Recruiters would only mean another one of them—maybe her this time—lying in the road, failing lungs grasping at breath like a fist already clenched.
  9. brocade
    thick expensive material with a raised pattern
    When he’d suggested she lie down, she’d fidgeted with the beaded patch covering her permanently closed eye, then run her finger down the heavy brocade of a keloid scar that split the side of her face.
  10. diminished
    made to seem smaller or less, especially in worth
    It was empowering to have a plan and likeminded people to carry it out. Now she felt diminished. Not quite weak, but less than she should be.
  11. sprig
    a small branch or stem, usually with leaves or flowers
    Miigwans lit a sprig of white sage and placed it to burn on a rock in front of the small fire.
  12. cadence
    the rhythmic rise and fall of the voice
    Her father was from Barbados, and in some moments she borrowed his cadence.
  13. adornment
    a decoration that is added to relieve plainness
    Miigwans was elegant even in mourning, even in dirty pants, even without adornment.
  14. contour
    any spatial attributes, especially as defined by outline
    I reached up and felt the stubbly contours of my shaved head.
  15. beseech
    ask for or request earnestly
    “Hello, is anyone out there? I need to speak to someone.”
    Hearing my voice, small and beseeching, just made me angry.
  16. lethargy
    inactivity; showing an unusual lack of energy
    Lethargy was pouring cement over frustration. I must have been concussed or drugged...maybe both.
  17. decant
    pour out
    Anger decanted into my limbs, thick and powerful.
  18. elusive
    difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze
    Just one moment—alone and caught up in that elusive joy...and then a sound, like a cedar trunk being hit with a bullet, and then nothing.
  19. hack
    cough spasmodically
    The voice sounded dry, so the words were like a coughing hacked up a parched throat.
  20. tentative
    hesitant or lacking confidence; unsettled in mind or opinion
    I reached out, tentative and ready to pull back as soon as the heat jumped against my skin.
  21. filigree
    delicate and intricate ornamentation
    Something round and charred black, almost carved with dark filigree.
  22. buff
    polish and make shiny
    I knew that the hallway was painted a light grey, that ahead, every ten feet or so, there was a bright fluorescent light buzzing on the ceiling, and that the floors were cement buffed to a high polish.
  23. rudimentary
    being or involving basic facts or principles
    I tested out my rudimentary Anishinaabemowin on him.
  24. scaffold
    a temporary arrangement erected around a building
    Rose was exhausted, but her anxiety held her straight like scaffolding.
  25. distend
    swell from or as if from internal pressure
    When her breathing was steady and even, he lay down next to her so that his head was at her distended belly.
  26. epoch
    a period marked by distinctive character
    The first thing anyone needed to make the right moves toward survival was the truth—the lay of the land, the history of the place, the people they could trust and the ones they had to run from. This generation would be the first one born during this new epoch.
  27. sullen
    showing a brooding ill humor
    People called me quiet, or sullen, or stupid.
  28. poised
    marked by balance or equilibrium and readiness for action
    He typed for a moment, waited for another, then glanced up at me, fingers poised over the keys.
  29. bout
    a period of indeterminate length marked by some condition
    It was easier not to talk, but they did anyway, sharing stories of the worst things they ever ate (Rose: grilled acorns; Derrick: a moss sandwich), the craziest nights they ever spent (Rose: sleeping in a tree; Derrick: running through a marsh), and the things they missed the most (Derrick: Spam; Rose: well, that one was obvious and started a long bout of silence while Derrick sulked).
  30. limbo
    a period of prolonged uncertainty
    Jean had just been reunited with French, the only remaining blood family he had, and now he was in limbo again, wondering if his blood was alive or dead.
  31. logistics
    supplying an operation with labor and materials as needed
    And here they were, arguing over the logistics of an attempted rescue?
  32. inertia
    a disposition to remain inactive
    I tried to move into the room, but my feet wouldn’t budge. I struggled against the inertia, but it only shot pins and needles up my calves and made ache and rot out of my knees.
  33. unwieldy
    difficult to use or handle because of size or weight
    She lifted her right boot and stomped out an ash twister that was getting unwieldy.
  34. subdue
    put down by force or intimidation
    Well, you need to know that the Watchmen had to subdue you with some amount of force.
  35. prattle
    speak about unimportant matters rapidly and incessantly
    Mitch prattled on.
  36. extraction
    taking out something
    “And then there are the doctors and nurses, of course. Those who do the extraction work, and the medical researchers who are taking us to the next level.”
  37. spiel
    artful or slick talk used to persuade
    He fidgeted with his damn tie and continued with his spiel on how things worked.
  38. grievous
    causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm
    It would be an honor to resemble her, even though this wound was a thousand times less grievous than her own.
  39. susceptible
    yielding readily to or capable of undergoing a process
    She told us stories about animals in slaughterhouses, how eating their meat was one of the reasons we got weak as a species, more susceptible to illness.
  40. muslin
    plain-woven cotton fabric
    The yellow glare was softened by the frosted glass and cut the dark like rolls of old muslin unraveled onto bodies and machines alike.
Created on Tue Sep 20 16:11:54 EDT 2022 (updated Tue Oct 04 13:37:28 EDT 2022)

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