Reviews - I heard the owl call my name

174 reviews for:

I heard the owl call my name

Margaret Craven

3.91 AVERAGE

imreally_him's review against another edition

2.25

emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

earthgirl207's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

I think it’s important to tease apart the story itself (the fiction) from the historical context (the fact). The story is beautiful, about the way human beings need each other and about living life fully in order to be prepared for death; about living your authentic life while your culture is fading around you. I also suspect that it was pretty groundbreaking when it was released in the late ‘60s for treating its Native characters as fully rounded people and not caricatures.

That being said, there are important pieces of context missing from the story (perhaps not widely known at the time of publication?). The biggest is the non consensual nature of children being removed from their parents and sent to the residential schools as part of an explicit cultural genocide, and the ways that the church was complicit in that. While the young being away at school and becoming assimilated and losing their culture is a big part of the story, it comes across like the families have a choice in sending them.

sparklethenpop's review against another edition

5.0

I first read this book when I was a senior in high school and it really spoke to me. I re-read it every time I am moving on to something new and leaving something behind.

wrentheblurry's review against another edition

I only got to page 18--too little to adequately rate it, though I clearly didn't like it at all since I gave up on it that early. I picked it up at a used bookstore where I randomly grabbed some titles in the classics section. I won't be doing that again. It just wasn't my thing.