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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
I liked the dual POV’s, the flawed characters, and the commentary on prejudice/discrimination of Native Americans but the writing style was super dense and confusing. I don’t think there was a “plot” and it was a very anti-climatic book (thought this might be the point?).
Give Me Some Truth (300 pages +) was an interesting sequel, but you can totally just read this one without the first if it interests you more, to If I Ever Get Out Of Here. Gansworth writes it in not only 17-year-old Carson Mastick's perspective, but alternates the POV with 15-year-old Maggi Bokoni. Taking place 4 years after If I Ever Get Out Of Here, Carson and Lewis are still 'friends', and Carson wants more than anything to start his own band and end up in New York City at the Battle of the Bands championship. While Maggi's sister Marie begins spending more and more time with a much older secret boyfriend, Maggi becomes friends with Carson and Lewis, where she meets her own potential secret boyfriend at Lewis's work. This is not only a story that redefines friendship and trust, but is also coming-of-age story for every main character in it. Gansworth does a great job on focusing on and addressing the problems of every character he creates in his stories. I was a little skeptical about reading GMST because Carson is kind of a jerk in the first book, but with Lewis (the main character in IIEGOOH) being in the first couple chapters almost immediately in this one, it really helped me dive into the book faster. While Carson and Maggi are the main POVs, Lewis and Marie are still extremely prevalent in the story, which was a nice addition. I think Carson and Maggi are such strong personalities that Lewis's passiveness and Marie's 'older sister' role really evens out the playing field for a solid inclusive book. Every chapter ends with a page turner, and it's relatively long, so it makes for a great read. I'd say that GMST is geared more towards high school students just because of the relationship-involvement throughout the story, but IIEGOOH is definitely good for all ages. While I never really wanted the book to end, the ending itself was pretty satisfying, and I'm hopeful for a third in the series!
I was generally lost a lot when reading this book, and I don't know if I was lost because it took me so long to finish, or it took me a long time to finish because I was so often lost. Who is saying what? What was with that sentence structure? What are they trying to say here? Huh? Who are they referring to? Who's that character again??
It's nice to have a teen author besides the disgraced Sherman Alexie writing on behalf of Native American teens, but I don't know how many teens will be able to relate with this setting of a reservation in Niagara County, New York in 1980. Heck, how many of them even KNOW who John Lennon is??? I feel this book was written more for adults than teens, and even then, it caters to a very small audience.
Spoiler
Then at the very end, did anyone else feel like Carson came out of nowhere being all like, "What? Maggi is seeing another man? But I'm totally in love with her!" Uh, since when? Y'all shared a nice time talking on a school roof and she helped you swap a turkey, but NOWHERE during this book (unless it was lost on me in my constant confusion) did you express anything more than friendship towards her. Instead Carson spent the book just being a manipulative little shit towards all his friends and hardly interacted with Maggi at all. That really got on my nerves when I finally FINALLY was close to finishing this book.It's nice to have a teen author besides the disgraced Sherman Alexie writing on behalf of Native American teens, but I don't know how many teens will be able to relate with this setting of a reservation in Niagara County, New York in 1980. Heck, how many of them even KNOW who John Lennon is??? I feel this book was written more for adults than teens, and even then, it caters to a very small audience.
2.5 stars.
I wanted to like this book, but the only thing I liked about it was how well-researched the native rep and reservation life appeared to be.
This takes place in 1980, but I spent the first 100 pages thinking it was modern day. There was no indication of the time period save John Lennon still being alive and East Germany still being a thing.
There also appeared to be very little actual plot, and no moral to the story that I could discern.
Most of the story revolved around a 15-year-old’s creepy romantic relationship with a 30-31-year-Old. It’s not portrayed romantically and it’s obvious from the first that she’s not going to end up with him, but it takes up SO MUCH of the story, and was slightly painful to read about, and doesn’t serve the rest of the story at all.
I wanted to like this book, but the only thing I liked about it was how well-researched the native rep and reservation life appeared to be.
This takes place in 1980, but I spent the first 100 pages thinking it was modern day. There was no indication of the time period save John Lennon still being alive and East Germany still being a thing.
There also appeared to be very little actual plot, and no moral to the story that I could discern.
Most of the story revolved around a 15-year-old’s creepy romantic relationship with a 30-31-year-Old. It’s not portrayed romantically and it’s obvious from the first that she’s not going to end up with him, but it takes up SO MUCH of the story, and was slightly painful to read about, and doesn’t serve the rest of the story at all.
Read Harder 2023 #13: Read an author local to you and #17 Read a YA book by an Indigenous author.
There's a lot going on in this story.
I didn't latch on to any of it.
This is a tale of some pretty unpleasant people.
There's Carson, an overly self-involved 17-year-old who likes to tell himself stories to explain why he manipulates everyone around him.
There's Maggi who is about as nuanced as a Kristin Stewart character and is entering her sexual awakening with about as much gusto as...well, a Kristin Stewart character.
Maggi has a sister, Marie, who is dating an older man. Their mother has a mental illness the girls call Dark Deanna. Their dad, who is about as present as Carson's mom, lives on the reservation in a shack, which is where family moves back to at the beginning of the story, leaving the city behind. Maggi is an artist who wants to get away from traditional beading to work in her own style. Oh! Maggi also has a twin brother named Marvin who also does art and it seems that would be pretty important and it does come into play, especially much later in the book, but every time Marvin was mentioned, I thought to myself, "Wait, who's Marvin?" Marvin watches a lot of 60's TV shows in syndication, such as "Land of the Lost" and "Lost in Space" and "The Monkees" and these are referenced constantly for...reasons. Maggi is also becoming aware of the opposite sex, mainly in the form of a hirsute manager at her place of employment, a 30-year-old man who gets a hard on for Maggi on the reg and is blatantly abusive toward her new friend, Louis. Also, Maggi plays the water drum and knows a lot of traditional songs and can make good use of vocables because, unlike Carson who has always lived on the reservation, Maggi was taught about her heritage while she was a city-dweller.
But, really, this whole book is about The Beatles with specific emphasis on John Lennon and Yoko Ono and how they shaped the young adulthoods of Carson, Maggi, and Louis over the second half of 1980.
I really didn't like this. It went on for far too long, there were so many themes that none felt important. Carson was an uncomfortable character for the entirety, Maggi was featureless, and Louis is the only one who had an arc but by the time he got to where he needed to be, I didn't care at all. The majority of the men were at the least unpleasant but mostly awful, from abusers to predators. The women were, for the most part, mean, sometimes because of mental illness, sometimes because of jealousy.
14 hours of violent men, mean women, and flat teenagers were just too much.
Recommended for mixed-media artists and superfans of the Beatles and for those who still have not gotten over John Lennon's death.
I didn't latch on to any of it.
This is a tale of some pretty unpleasant people.
There's Carson, an overly self-involved 17-year-old who likes to tell himself stories to explain why he manipulates everyone around him.
There's Maggi who is about as nuanced as a Kristin Stewart character and is entering her sexual awakening with about as much gusto as...well, a Kristin Stewart character.
Spoiler
Carson has a brother, Derek, who starts the book by getting shot in the ass. That's a background story that becomes important but then fizzles out and changes to a supporting theme. He's also got a friend, whom he views more as a minion, named Louis (Lewis?). Carson wants Louis to join his band but never actually asks. Instead, he jumps through these ridiculous hoops to make Louis want to join the band of his own accord. ??? Carson has grand Battle of the Bands plans but, apparently, Louis can't know about that until he's on board. Louis has an uncle named Albert/Juniper, a Vietnam War vet with whom he shares a room and all his thoughts and secrets. Carson's father is abusive and his mother is there but rarely mentioned. Carson is a fine seamstress which probably should have been important but was just a thing the reader knows about him until it's time to think about college. Carson has decided Maggi is hot and is his.Maggi has a sister, Marie, who is dating an older man. Their mother has a mental illness the girls call Dark Deanna. Their dad, who is about as present as Carson's mom, lives on the reservation in a shack, which is where family moves back to at the beginning of the story, leaving the city behind. Maggi is an artist who wants to get away from traditional beading to work in her own style. Oh! Maggi also has a twin brother named Marvin who also does art and it seems that would be pretty important and it does come into play, especially much later in the book, but every time Marvin was mentioned, I thought to myself, "Wait, who's Marvin?" Marvin watches a lot of 60's TV shows in syndication, such as "Land of the Lost" and "Lost in Space" and "The Monkees" and these are referenced constantly for...reasons. Maggi is also becoming aware of the opposite sex, mainly in the form of a hirsute manager at her place of employment, a 30-year-old man who gets a hard on for Maggi on the reg and is blatantly abusive toward her new friend, Louis. Also, Maggi plays the water drum and knows a lot of traditional songs and can make good use of vocables because, unlike Carson who has always lived on the reservation, Maggi was taught about her heritage while she was a city-dweller.
But, really, this whole book is about The Beatles with specific emphasis on John Lennon and Yoko Ono and how they shaped the young adulthoods of Carson, Maggi, and Louis over the second half of 1980.
I really didn't like this. It went on for far too long, there were so many themes that none felt important. Carson was an uncomfortable character for the entirety, Maggi was featureless, and Louis is the only one who had an arc but by the time he got to where he needed to be, I didn't care at all. The majority of the men were at the least unpleasant but mostly awful, from abusers to predators. The women were, for the most part, mean, sometimes because of mental illness, sometimes because of jealousy.
14 hours of violent men, mean women, and flat teenagers were just too much.
Recommended for mixed-media artists and superfans of the Beatles and for those who still have not gotten over John Lennon's death.
Review copy via library
In this time where we seem to be inundated with half-truths and outright lies, Give Me Some Truth speaks truth. There are hard truths shared within this compelling story of teens taking a long look at themselves and their community.
If I Ever Get Out of Here, the first novel in this set, followed a young man named Lewis who is also in this book. It would definitely make this story easier to understand if one has read the first story so I strongly recommend reading them in order, but it isn’t absolutely necessary. Both books have a heavy emphasis on the music of The Beatles. Gansworth uses Beatles references throughout the book and since there is an emphasis on John Lennon, he also included quite a bit about Yoko Ono. This worked really well since Maggi shared some similar artistic leanings with Ono. Maggi is a musician and an artist. I really appreciated her need to blend traditional Native art and music with her modern art leanings. She loves and respects the traditional music and art, but wants to be able to speak her personal truths with her own voice and this means stepping out from what her community would expect. Gansworth shares visions of this artwork at the beginning of the book and in between some of the chapters. It’s an awesome addition to the story.
The story has so much happening. Maggi has spent a lot of time as an urban Native and her family returns to the reservation. Carson notes that she is from the reservation, but she is not of it. Maggi doesn’t feel quite like she belongs and has become used to moving around in White spaces. Her family sells crafts among Native people so it’s not like she isn’t around other Indians, but the spaces are distinct. Carson notices this when he steps into several spaces with a majority of White people. He sees Maggi navigating such spaces and sees that they don’t have the same experiences and references. Maggi slowly becomes more and more a part of the reservation and readers come to know this place too. There is a strong sense of place within the story.
There is also a tremendous amount of racism to discover within the pages of this book. It’s often quite overt like the ‘No Indians’ sign in a local spot called Custard’s Last Stand (a restaurant with all kinds of problematic issues). There is a also a lot of covert racism and ignorance happening too. Many people are completely clueless about treaties, sovereignty, and simply what it means to be Indian. One White farmer questions Carson about what kind of Indian he is, “He grabbed my arm, and held ours side by side. ‘My arms are tanner than yours.’ ” As if skin color is the primary marker of what it means to be Indian.
Gansworth is an enrolled member of the Onondaga Nation. He is writing from his own truth. Through Carson, Maggi, Lewis, and the many other characters, readers hear voices from the reservation. These are teens figuring out who they are in the world. They are working out how they will express themselves and what they want to say when they do share with the world. These characters ultimately find their own unique ways to express their truths.
Recommendation: Get it now especially if you enjoyed If I Ever Get Out of Here. Gansworth created a multi-layered story with characters who feel amazingly real.
In this time where we seem to be inundated with half-truths and outright lies, Give Me Some Truth speaks truth. There are hard truths shared within this compelling story of teens taking a long look at themselves and their community.
If I Ever Get Out of Here, the first novel in this set, followed a young man named Lewis who is also in this book. It would definitely make this story easier to understand if one has read the first story so I strongly recommend reading them in order, but it isn’t absolutely necessary. Both books have a heavy emphasis on the music of The Beatles. Gansworth uses Beatles references throughout the book and since there is an emphasis on John Lennon, he also included quite a bit about Yoko Ono. This worked really well since Maggi shared some similar artistic leanings with Ono. Maggi is a musician and an artist. I really appreciated her need to blend traditional Native art and music with her modern art leanings. She loves and respects the traditional music and art, but wants to be able to speak her personal truths with her own voice and this means stepping out from what her community would expect. Gansworth shares visions of this artwork at the beginning of the book and in between some of the chapters. It’s an awesome addition to the story.
The story has so much happening. Maggi has spent a lot of time as an urban Native and her family returns to the reservation. Carson notes that she is from the reservation, but she is not of it. Maggi doesn’t feel quite like she belongs and has become used to moving around in White spaces. Her family sells crafts among Native people so it’s not like she isn’t around other Indians, but the spaces are distinct. Carson notices this when he steps into several spaces with a majority of White people. He sees Maggi navigating such spaces and sees that they don’t have the same experiences and references. Maggi slowly becomes more and more a part of the reservation and readers come to know this place too. There is a strong sense of place within the story.
There is also a tremendous amount of racism to discover within the pages of this book. It’s often quite overt like the ‘No Indians’ sign in a local spot called Custard’s Last Stand (a restaurant with all kinds of problematic issues). There is a also a lot of covert racism and ignorance happening too. Many people are completely clueless about treaties, sovereignty, and simply what it means to be Indian. One White farmer questions Carson about what kind of Indian he is, “He grabbed my arm, and held ours side by side. ‘My arms are tanner than yours.’ ” As if skin color is the primary marker of what it means to be Indian.
Gansworth is an enrolled member of the Onondaga Nation. He is writing from his own truth. Through Carson, Maggi, Lewis, and the many other characters, readers hear voices from the reservation. These are teens figuring out who they are in the world. They are working out how they will express themselves and what they want to say when they do share with the world. These characters ultimately find their own unique ways to express their truths.
Recommendation: Get it now especially if you enjoyed If I Ever Get Out of Here. Gansworth created a multi-layered story with characters who feel amazingly real.
It was so good to find a contemporary book about Native kids growing up between the reservation and town. It was fascinating and necessary.
3.5ish stars -- this ended up being a lot less about the "teens start a band" conceit than I thought it would be, which isn't necessarily a bad thing! It's very slice-of-life, focusing on six months in the year 1980. The world feels fully fleshed out and lived-in, with Gansworth not pulling any punches when it comes to the realities of life both on and off this specific reservation.
I do feel like the pacing of the character arcs was a bit off, and I had a visceral reaction to Maggi's storyline in particular (potential trigger warning for an older man's predatory behavior towards a minor). I'm relieved things didn't turn out as badly for her as I feared they would, but god, did it stress me out in that "I'm an adult reading about a kid who's clearly unaware of the potential dangers of the situation she's in" way. I also don't have any great love for John Lennon, so his presence as an icon/inspiration didn't have emotional heft for me.
However, I did love Maggi's moment of clarity and the steely inner voice she finds by the end, as well as how she calls out Carson on his shit. Additionally, Carson feels exactly like that self-absorbed son with a good heart whom you want to both hug and shake. Love his grassroots organization of the protest against a racist store/store owner, and how he matures over the course of the text -- need him to keep working on seeing other people as autonomous beings with interiority of their own. Glad he gets called out within the text for failures of this, would like him to keep improving. I really wish there were another book of him and Maggi, if only so we could see how they keep building on the foundations of this book.
I do feel like the pacing of the character arcs was a bit off, and I had a visceral reaction to Maggi's storyline in particular (potential trigger warning for an older man's predatory behavior towards a minor). I'm relieved things didn't turn out as badly for her as I feared they would, but god, did it stress me out in that "I'm an adult reading about a kid who's clearly unaware of the potential dangers of the situation she's in" way. I also don't have any great love for John Lennon, so his presence as an icon/inspiration didn't have emotional heft for me.
However, I did love Maggi's moment of clarity and the steely inner voice she finds by the end, as well as how she calls out Carson on his shit. Additionally, Carson feels exactly like that self-absorbed son with a good heart whom you want to both hug and shake. Love his grassroots organization of the protest against a racist store/store owner, and how he matures over the course of the text -- need him to keep working on seeing other people as autonomous beings with interiority of their own. Glad he gets called out within the text for failures of this, would like him to keep improving. I really wish there were another book of him and Maggi, if only so we could see how they keep building on the foundations of this book.
Guys, this book is so good. I love how the character relationships develop, and I love how Carson and Maggi--our two narrators--shouldn't necessarily get what they want, and have to grapple with the reasons for that. I love that some of Maggi's choices being questionable doesn't negate the importance of them being on her own terms, and I love that Carson growing in terms of his community and activism doesn't negate him being an entitled jerk (and vice versa). I'm impressed that both of their POVs being biased and clouded in various ways isn't allowed to obscure the reader's view of things and people in their lives. I love that, though the story is about a band formed to win a competition, it's not so much about the Battle of the Bands as it is about the characters growing into their identities individually. And yet music is the skeleton of the story, and I love that too, though I'm only passingly familiar with the Beatles :) I also think it's fantastic and important to see own-voices stories centering Native characters, and in this case depicting life on a reservation, published. Give Me Some Truth isn't A Book About being Natuve American or reservations per se; those things are just inextricably part of the story and characters.