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maddiegrace331's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Anyways I cried a few times, especially towards the end.
Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Animal death, and Suicide
Minor: Sexual assault
katieterra's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Sexual assault
spicycronereads's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
The narrative is made up of many different points of view of “urban Indians,” mostly in and around Oakland, CA. With the multiple POVs you see the vast interconnectedness of the characters that leads toward the climactic event but you do lose out on a sense of depth with any given character. Nor do they have time to develop. So it is more like sketches of the various actors who all meet at the powwow event in the climax.
Each of the characters is dealing with their indigenous identity as well as various class-based and family traumas, that are undoubtedly connected to the historic violence against Native Americans. I do wish that with one or two characters we could have focused more on community, or their successes, or joy. The focus was almost entirely anchored in trauma and deficit, exploring the “there there” that is gone. I suspect that contemporary indigenous identity is more multi-dimensional than that.
There are many moments of poetry throughout the book. One of my favorite lines is “To cry is to waste the feeling. He needs to dance with it. Crying is for when there’s nothing left to do.”
The ending is ambiguous and I didn’t mind that though there were a couple of loose ends I would have liked to have seen tied up.
Overall a gorgeous read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Graphic: Gun violence and Racism
Moderate: Violence, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Abandonment
Minor: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Abortion, and Animal death
cheazcakeguy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Highly recommend, though this isn't a light read and it will tear your heart out.
Graphic: Gore, Mass/school shootings, Blood, Violence, Colonisation, Death, Genocide, and Gun violence
Moderate: Mental illness, Car accident, Addiction, Death of parent, Suicide, Cancer, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, and Grief
Minor: Self harm, Animal death, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Child death, Rape, Racism, and Sexual assault
withlivjones's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Racism, Animal death, Blood, Death, and Gun violence
Moderate: Death of parent and Suicide
sarah984's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Gun violence, Alcoholism, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Death, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Minor: Child death, Genocide, Animal death, Ableism, Colonisation, Abortion, Drug use, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, and Rape
thebookgiraffe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Genocide, Colonisation, Racism, and Gun violence
Moderate: Alcoholism and Drug use
Minor: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Animal death, Suicide, Animal cruelty, and Cancer
kimschouwenaar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Secrets lie through omission just like shame lies through secrecy.
This took me so long to actually get into. Started reading this for my world lit class last May, and kind of forgot about it until I saw it again in my currently reading list.
This book is written from multiple perspectives and in first-person, second-person and third-person narrative. I think the main problem I had when I started reading is the amount of characters; each chapter is from the perspective of a different character, and in the final 25 chapters — which are all very short — they all come together at the powwow.
But those final 25 chapters had me crying. Reading the book, you know what's coming, and yet you remain hopeful that there will be some kind of interference so the ending will change. It's absolutely heartbreaking. There There is not only a story about Native American history, but it's also a tale about surviving in a system that is built against you. Would definitely recommend to everyone, you just need to get through the first couple of chapters and familiarise yourself with all the characters. Hard to digest, but definitely worth your time.
We didn't have last names before they came. When they decided they needed to keep track of us, last names were given to us, just like the name Indian itself was given to us.
Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Murder, Animal death, and Gore
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, and Violence
felofhe's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Chronic illness, Classism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Violence, Ableism, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Sexism, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Bullying, Death of parent, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Blood, Gore, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Body shaming, War, Car accident, Child abuse, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
itsjadenbaby's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Colonisation, Racism, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Drug use, and Cancer
Minor: Abandonment, Ableism, Grief, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Fatphobia, and Classism