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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
Interesting fictional take on US government treatment of Native Americans.
I liked this book, but the whole time I was reading, there was something "off" that I couldn't quite identify. It was apparent that the author is a man writing from a woman's POV, but that alone wasn't what kept me from fully engaging in One Thousand White Women.
The descriptions of daily life among the Cheyenne was engrossing, and I appreciated the observation that happiness is a "white man"'s construct.
I wish the secondary characters were a little less one-dimensional, and had more realistic names rather than ones that were caricatures (Helen Flight, Narcissa, Daisy).
After reading some other reviews, I was finally able to pinpoint what I couldn't while reading. I had a hard time believing that May actually existed in 1875. Her word choice seemed... I don't know, mixed? Anachronistic? It didn't quite ring true. Granted, I wasn't alive then, so I don't know how people spoke, but there was something a little too contemporary about May that kept me at arm's length.
Otherwise, from an anthropological and alternative-historical point of view, One Thousand White Women was really interesting.
The descriptions of daily life among the Cheyenne was engrossing, and I appreciated the observation that happiness is a "white man"'s construct.
I wish the secondary characters were a little less one-dimensional, and had more realistic names rather than ones that were caricatures (Helen Flight, Narcissa, Daisy).
After reading some other reviews, I was finally able to pinpoint what I couldn't while reading. I had a hard time believing that May actually existed in 1875. Her word choice seemed... I don't know, mixed? Anachronistic? It didn't quite ring true. Granted, I wasn't alive then, so I don't know how people spoke, but there was something a little too contemporary about May that kept me at arm's length.
Otherwise, from an anthropological and alternative-historical point of view, One Thousand White Women was really interesting.
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I am not one of those who think writers can't write outside their rac (I loved The Help so much I read it twice), but when you make characters of color into stereotypes, I just can't take it. I had to put this book down when, at one point, the author described a former slave as having negroid lips. What is that exactly? Full lips? When describing Angelina Jolie, would you describe her as having negroid lips? I think not. Downgraded.
This is not a book I would have picked out on my own, but I loved it. I fell in love with the main character and was truly sad when it ended. The entire premise is engaging, in my opinion.
Beautifully written about a white woman who agrees to be part of an experiment for the US Government to marry off white women to Native Americans. May Dodd writes in her journal about her entire adventure, which ends sadly. The author does a beautiful job capturing the voice of this woman and what she must have really felt as she faced this strange new world.
Hugely entertaining ethnography lesson on the life on the plains for some Native Americans in the late nineteenth century. I did not know I would be learning so much while being thoroughly engrossed in a story of love, loss, exploration, and independence! I picked up this book because I was interested in the intersection of two cultures. Little did I know how cleverly Fergus would teach me about the Cheyenne way of life on the plains. Never dry, never in a rut, this story is always evolving and inspirational. In the end, it made me consider much regarding our current lifestyle choices in the US, what we could have learned from those who lived here before us if we only asked or observed, and to be reminded that there are other worldviews than the one we live under today. All presenting in a nonjudgmental story of how one brave woman faced her life's most difficult situations.
Lots of problems with this book, who romanticizes the era and setting.
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No