Reviews

Mean Spirit by Linda Hogan

paintedpolarbear's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

joeybiscuit's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

5.0

shelleyanderson4127's review against another edition

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dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

 
"Uncle Sam was a cold uncle with a mean soul and a cruel spirit. And the world was full of many visions gone awry, which was the reason...he no longer placed stock in any belief except for the laws of nature and wilderness."

I am still under the spell of this beautiful book. By Chickasaw writer Linda Hogan, it is a moving fictionalized account of Killers of the Flower Moon. The time around 1920s Oklahoma when Osage people were being systematically murdered for their oil money.

We follow the lives of the Graycloud family, especially matriarch Belle Graycloud, as they watch relatives and other members of the Osage community disappearing. The fear in the book is almost palpable, as is the determination to survive and pass on an irreplaceable traditional culture.

Read this book if you want a Native perspective, if you like multigenerational stories told with humor and compassion. Highly recommended. 

bookherd's review against another edition

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emotional informative sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This is a Pulitzer Prize nominated novel from 1991 about the killings of Osage people in Oklahoma in the 1920's to take over their land and the oil beneath it. It covers the same events that were covered by David Grann's non-fiction book Killers of the Flower Moon, but it tells the story from the perspective of the extended family of Belle and Moses Greycloud, an aging couple who own valuable land and who repeatedly lose family members in the killing. As a novel, it's a beautiful but wrenching story, with a cast of unique, likeable characters who are caught in a system that is rigged against them. As a reader, you are drawn in to feel a part of the community surrounding Greycloud family so that you can feel the weight of their grief and their helplessness to protect themselves against more loss. It's not an easy read, but the story is so well told that you will want to keep showing up to read it.

grace_machine's review against another edition

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5.0

Frightfully powerful because of its attention to detail. Serious but not stoic. A series of nighttime, natural aches, which fire, blood, and oil interrupt. Everything is still in the earth. Obviously.
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so7phie's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

cinnabuunn's review against another edition

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4.0

honestly a really enjoyable read. held from 5* because i found the sheer amounts of character introductions in the start to be very hard to follow, and it took a while for me to really understand what was happening or if there was much of a plot. once the plot picks up though it gets very good.

stratusfere's review against another edition

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2.0

some real bad and sad stuff happened my dudes. which is true to life. i didn't super love reading it but it was an engaging read anyway it's just very heavy and also i had to read it for class and that makes anything kinda less fun. also Nola Deserved Better She's Only 13
(everyone deserved better)
(except the bad dudes. they can go to hell)

mercyk's review against another edition

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2.0

kind of a good book because it had the whole murder mystery aspect to it

i read this for school and the point was to learn about native american culture, so all the not murder mystery parts contributed to the native culture and traditions, but it was veryyy long a bit of a drag really

ajgreymo's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Based on the Osage Oil Murders of the 1920s. Gives an excellent view of what it was like for the Osage people to come so quickly into money only to be equally quickly surrounded by corruption, greed and murder by white settlers and the American Government. 
Recommend for anyone interested in The Killers Of The Flower Moon movie
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