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book_concierge's review against another edition
4.0
I have heard this book compared to To Kill a Mockingbird; I think that comparison holds up pretty well.
Michelle LeBeau has a white father and a Japanese mother, but lives with her grandparents in Deerhorn, Wisconsin, where she is the only “colored” person in town. Her grandfather, Charlie LeBeau, is one of the town’s most respected men. A bigot who strongly disapproves of his son’s interracial marriage, he nevertheless dotes on his only grandchild. Everything changes in the summer of 1974 when the local clinic expands, resulting in the arrival of Mr and Mrs Garrett – a young black couple from Chicago. Charlie and his friends are incensed and voice their prejudice at every opportunity. Mikey is uniquely able to understand the isolation the Garretts feel, and is drawn to them.
The beauty of this novel is that while it deals with tragedy, Revoyr also is writing about a young child who feels loved and protected by her grandparents, a child who enjoys the outdoors and the freedom to explore the sights, sounds and smells of the country. Michelle has a front-row seat to the happenings in town, and observes the people she knows and loves as their darkest faults come to light. She also begins to recognize what true courage looks like, and the reader can only hope that she will chose carefully which traits to emulate.
Revoyr mines her own childhood for this exploration of family values as much as it is of racism in America. Clearly the isolation her character feels is what Revoyr herself felt in the few years she spent in central Wisconsin as a child (See this story – http://scottkennethnoble.blogspot.com/2011/07/foreigner-in-marshfieldwingshooters-by.html)
Michelle LeBeau has a white father and a Japanese mother, but lives with her grandparents in Deerhorn, Wisconsin, where she is the only “colored” person in town. Her grandfather, Charlie LeBeau, is one of the town’s most respected men. A bigot who strongly disapproves of his son’s interracial marriage, he nevertheless dotes on his only grandchild. Everything changes in the summer of 1974 when the local clinic expands, resulting in the arrival of Mr and Mrs Garrett – a young black couple from Chicago. Charlie and his friends are incensed and voice their prejudice at every opportunity. Mikey is uniquely able to understand the isolation the Garretts feel, and is drawn to them.
The beauty of this novel is that while it deals with tragedy, Revoyr also is writing about a young child who feels loved and protected by her grandparents, a child who enjoys the outdoors and the freedom to explore the sights, sounds and smells of the country. Michelle has a front-row seat to the happenings in town, and observes the people she knows and loves as their darkest faults come to light. She also begins to recognize what true courage looks like, and the reader can only hope that she will chose carefully which traits to emulate.
Revoyr mines her own childhood for this exploration of family values as much as it is of racism in America. Clearly the isolation her character feels is what Revoyr herself felt in the few years she spent in central Wisconsin as a child (See this story – http://scottkennethnoble.blogspot.com/2011/07/foreigner-in-marshfieldwingshooters-by.html)
munlight's review against another edition
4.0
I actually had the chance to meet the author, and she signed my book a quarter or two after I took the class that assigned this book. I did not have a chance to really ask her anything, but it was great to hear her explain certain parts of the book that people liked and disliked.
I found this to be an interesting book to read. The ending left me conflicted though. It was a smack to the readers almost in a way. I felt that part of it was unneeded, because it ended with tragedy for one character, and then something else was thrown onto the pile.
I found this to be an interesting book to read. The ending left me conflicted though. It was a smack to the readers almost in a way. I felt that part of it was unneeded, because it ended with tragedy for one character, and then something else was thrown onto the pile.
liberrydude's review against another edition
5.0
Poignant and engrossing this is a superb story of survival. It just amazes me how Nina Revoyr can write the story of a nine year old Amerasian girl growing up with her white grandparents in rural Wisconsin in the 1970's and make it so appealing and page turning. The imagery of time and place and memory is beautiful and had me reflecting on my personal moments with my grandparents. This is a beautiful story with a tragic ending that is really not an ending. You know there is a darkness ahead but the intimacy of the narrative describing what it's like to see Canadian geese, what it's like to hit a baseball on a clear crisp autumn day lulls you into an idyllic reverie until the real world of prejudice and child abuse intrudes and there's no going back. This book should replace To Kill a Mockingbird in the schools. It's that good and that thought provoking.
alyscriv17's review against another edition
5.0
The writing was beautiful. The narration was an interesting perspective. The description of the setting and people was so good. This book was hard to read sure to the nature of the story, but I think necessary. The relationship between granddaughter and grandfather was beautiful and tragic. The reality of racism was poignant, especially what complacency does.
megatsunami's review against another edition
3.0
I was compelled by the story of a half-white, half-Japanese young girl being raised by her old-school, racist grandfather in a small Midwest town, and her experience when an African American couple moves into the town. Yet something was a little too polished and perfect about the narrator's adult-like insight and her clear, detailed descriptions of everything that happened. Although I liked that this book included complex characters (for example, people who acted on racist views yet had positive qualities too; people who disagreed with racism but failed to stand up to it), I felt that in the end, evil was personified in one character . Admittedly this is 1974, but still, terrible acts based in old-style racism were most often committed by/ in groups. Think lynching photos with a whole crowd of smiling people who brought out their children for the occasion. In the grand scheme of things, that's a lot more terrifying than a single psychopath.
Spoiler
(the controlling, child-abusing, violent, quasi-psychopathic racist)mary412's review
2.0
When I started reading Wingshooters I thought it was supposed to be from the point of view of an nine year old and it was driving me crazy. I now realize that it's supposed to be from Michelle's point of view as an adult woman looking back on her experiences as a young child, but I just couldn't suspend my disbelief. It's so convenient that Michelle just happens to be behind the door or in the next room while adults are talking and that their prejudices are so clearly stated. No need to read between the lines here! Many in my book group said they had grown up in small towns and they thought the attitudes were realistically depicted.
I did enjoy the parts about the grandfather's love of baseball, fishing and hunting. Michelle's relationship with her dog was done quite well.
I did enjoy the parts about the grandfather's love of baseball, fishing and hunting. Michelle's relationship with her dog was done quite well.
kpommerening's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
lisa_mc's review against another edition
3.0
1970s Wisconsin is not the setting most people would think of for a book exploring the effects of prejudice, but it’s precisely that unexpectedness that gives “Wingshooters” such a powerful punch.
The story is narrated by 11-year-old Michelle, a half-American, half-Japanese girl left for her grandparents to raise in the small Wisconsin town of Deerhorn, a place where men work and hunt and drink, and women, for the most part, keep house and keep quiet.
Michelle is taunted and bullied at school because of her mixed heritage, but because of her grandfather’s standing in the town, prejudice from anyone else is muted.
But that’s not the case when the Garretts move to town. An educated, professional couple — she’s a nurse, he’s a teacher — the Garretts are the first black people to live in the area. From the moment they arrive, the buzz starts. Bigotry spills out into the open, and ugly talk becomes uglier plans taking shape. Parents pull their kids out of Mr. Garrett’s class, and the white residents try to avoid receiving treatment from Mrs. Garrett at the clinic, all with the aim of driving the couple from town.
When one of Michelle’s grandfather’s hunting buddies faces accusations of abuse, he immediately blames the Garretts and rallies his friends behind him.
Readers know from the first pages that something awful is coming — we just don’t know what or how bad. Revoyr plants hints without smacking readers with foreshadowing, and as that story suspensefully unfolds, she tells a beautiful, heartbreaking story of a girl dealing with abandonment by her parents, ostracism by her peers, and disappointment in the actions of the one person she should be able to count on: her grandfather.
Michelle is confused and rootless: “I couldn’t go home, and I couldn’t go out to the country; I could not figure out where to be.”
But she does know what’s right and what’s not, and as events spin out of control, we’re left breathless, waiting to see whether her faith in her grandfather is misplaced, knowing that the people of Deerhorn will be irrevocably damaged no matter what happens.
Revoyr has written a searing portrait of the all-too-recent past, of a place where change comes slowly and painfully, and of a girl just trying to find her own space in the world.
The story is narrated by 11-year-old Michelle, a half-American, half-Japanese girl left for her grandparents to raise in the small Wisconsin town of Deerhorn, a place where men work and hunt and drink, and women, for the most part, keep house and keep quiet.
Michelle is taunted and bullied at school because of her mixed heritage, but because of her grandfather’s standing in the town, prejudice from anyone else is muted.
But that’s not the case when the Garretts move to town. An educated, professional couple — she’s a nurse, he’s a teacher — the Garretts are the first black people to live in the area. From the moment they arrive, the buzz starts. Bigotry spills out into the open, and ugly talk becomes uglier plans taking shape. Parents pull their kids out of Mr. Garrett’s class, and the white residents try to avoid receiving treatment from Mrs. Garrett at the clinic, all with the aim of driving the couple from town.
When one of Michelle’s grandfather’s hunting buddies faces accusations of abuse, he immediately blames the Garretts and rallies his friends behind him.
Readers know from the first pages that something awful is coming — we just don’t know what or how bad. Revoyr plants hints without smacking readers with foreshadowing, and as that story suspensefully unfolds, she tells a beautiful, heartbreaking story of a girl dealing with abandonment by her parents, ostracism by her peers, and disappointment in the actions of the one person she should be able to count on: her grandfather.
Michelle is confused and rootless: “I couldn’t go home, and I couldn’t go out to the country; I could not figure out where to be.”
But she does know what’s right and what’s not, and as events spin out of control, we’re left breathless, waiting to see whether her faith in her grandfather is misplaced, knowing that the people of Deerhorn will be irrevocably damaged no matter what happens.
Revoyr has written a searing portrait of the all-too-recent past, of a place where change comes slowly and painfully, and of a girl just trying to find her own space in the world.
wordnerdy's review against another edition
2.0
http://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2011/08/2011-book-205.html