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heartleafmads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
4.0
novellyness's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.0
foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition
So good, I loved this historical fiction read that was almost like reading nonfiction. All the connections to culture and ways of being made for a beautiful read. Unfortunately, I got caught up trying to read ARCs and this one fell by the wayside. I’m definitely planning to pick this one up though once I’m caught up on my reads.
pomoevareads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Thank you to @highwaterpress and @zgstories / @zgreads for a copy of Last Standing Woman.
LaDuke has written an epic fictional story based on very real events. The story centres on the White Earth People of Minnesota. Much like the causes dear to the author’s heart, Last Standing Woman shares a disgraceful history of land and water theft, excessive hunting causing dwindling buffalo populations, residential schools, disruption to graves and artifacts and the prohibition of Indigenous languages and practices among other important topics.
This book took me several days to read. It is very dense and full of characters and important points in time. I took notes in order to digest the information. There is also a character map and cast of characters list at the back of the book. It reads like narrative nonfiction or perhaps meta fiction.
I found the reading experience to be interesting and fell deep into the story. The cyclical story telling pattern that mirrors Indigenous life was clear and educational in the sense that it made me think of life and generations differently.
This is the 25th anniversary edition with updated naming language and the addition of more Anishinaabeg words. I would highly recommend Last Standing Woman to everyone and feel thankful that I have been provided a copy for my shelves.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault
emmysreading's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- 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
4.75
taykah's review
5.0
This book follows generations of Chippewa, or Anishinaabe, people from their first meeting with white people to the present. It really illuminates how people are still people no matter when or what kind. It was fairly heart breaking as it covered many tragic stories and instances, but also made me feel very close to the characters at the same time as the spirits who truly encountered what she wrote about.
One really interesting theme was when she writes about the tornado saying "both the making and the unmaking were essential parts of life and necessary to keep the balance," more specifically, "A calling of God might have brought them to the reservation, but only an act of God could make them leave". (p. 287)
So many people forget how terrible the INdians were treated. I like how the characters in the book had little regard for "No Trespassing" signs and the other "Laws". I was devastating that people who made their whole lives on the land could be tricked and kicked off so others could purchase it just for speculation and investment. What would EVER make that feel right? It is such a mess. And what OF laws and officers anyways. I have a hard time seeing how white people coming had any positive benefits at all. I'm sure there was(?), but it is so easy to romanticize the land before the whites.
One really interesting theme was when she writes about the tornado saying "both the making and the unmaking were essential parts of life and necessary to keep the balance," more specifically, "A calling of God might have brought them to the reservation, but only an act of God could make them leave". (p. 287)
So many people forget how terrible the INdians were treated. I like how the characters in the book had little regard for "No Trespassing" signs and the other "Laws". I was devastating that people who made their whole lives on the land could be tricked and kicked off so others could purchase it just for speculation and investment. What would EVER make that feel right? It is such a mess. And what OF laws and officers anyways. I have a hard time seeing how white people coming had any positive benefits at all. I'm sure there was(?), but it is so easy to romanticize the land before the whites.
ryner's review against another edition
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- 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
In this beautifully-written saga of a Minnesota Ojibwe family, author and activist Winona LaDuke chronicles their lives on the White Earth Reservation over the course of generations, from early conflicts with white encroachment and theft of land, resources and culture, to exuberant celebrations of identity, to contemporary challenges and victories.
Although fiction, the trials and injustices contained within this book are almost certainly based on actual events, and to be honest it likely wouldn't be difficult to convince me every word was true. There were times I was fervently hoping some parts were untrue, while simultaneously wishing others were. I'm inspired to learn more about how best to support land recovery projects currently underway in my state, and I agree with other readers that this would be a good candidate for required high school reading, especially in Minnesota. As a Minnesotan, I felt this was an important book for me to have read. I was left feeling heartbreak, shame and sadness for all that has been lost, but also a little bit hopeful that — maybe — some wrongs can perhaps be righted.
Although fiction, the trials and injustices contained within this book are almost certainly based on actual events, and to be honest it likely wouldn't be difficult to convince me every word was true. There were times I was fervently hoping some parts were untrue, while simultaneously wishing others were. I'm inspired to learn more about how best to support land recovery projects currently underway in my state, and I agree with other readers that this would be a good candidate for required high school reading, especially in Minnesota. As a Minnesotan, I felt this was an important book for me to have read. I was left feeling heartbreak, shame and sadness for all that has been lost, but also a little bit hopeful that — maybe — some wrongs can perhaps be righted.
janaandbooks's review
5.0
“Wazhaskoons eyes still looked past the priest; it was disrespectful to look directly at an individual.
The priest froze. Why would Wazhaskoons not look at him; was he being contentious or rebellious?”
Last Standing Woman, Winona LaDuke, p. 52
Last Standing Woman, by Winona LaDuke, spans seven generations of the Anishinaabeg - from 1862 to 2018. It spans generations of Anishinaabeg trying to live their lives, and white people getting in their way. From treaties, to conflicts with settlers and raiding parties, missionaries and boarding schools, to loan sharks who steal land, and finally the generation who works for justice, to take back their traditional lands, homes, and the artifacts and ancestors that were taken to museums. It is one thing to read in history books about the effect of colonization on Native Americans, and it is quite another to watch in unfurl before your eyes, and to watch the effect colonization has on families and communities. To watch, for example, two young girls in a sanitarium, the older sister falling asleep and waking up to find her younger sister has died in her arms overnight. It is much easier to read in history books.
The book started out a little slow for me. The names were long, and the shifts between characters, as well as the steady march of time, made it hard for me to connect to the story at first. However, the last half of the book took on a more traditional Western narrative structure, following the occupation of White Earth reservation, and sticking to a few main characters that you got to know for more than a few pages at a time. But this is when the beginning of the book also pays off - because you know so much of their history, you understand the characters’ motivations more deeply.
While reading Last Standing Woman, I was also reading White Fragility, and the parallels between what Robin DiAngelo explains and the actions the white characters were taking in Last Standing Woman were both depressing and fascinating.
“There is a peculiar kind of hatred in the northwoods, a hatred born of living with with three generations of complicity in the theft of lives and land. What is worse is that each day, those who hold this position of privilege must come face to face with those whom they have dispossessed. To others who rightfully should share in the complicity and the guilt, Indians are far away and long ago. But in reservation border towns, Indians are ever-present.”
Last Standing Woman, Winona LaDuke. p 125
Honestly, it made me feel like a bit of an idiot that a book written in 1997 could clearly show the racism that a book published in 2018 has to lay out for us self-proclaimed well-meaning whites. It reinforced that so much of the “study” of racism is just white people opening our eyes to the oppression people of color have felt for generations. You don’t need to explain the nuances of racism to everyone.
“The idea of racial inferiority was created to justify unequal treatment; belief in racial inferiority is not what triggered unequal treatment. Nor was fear of difference. As Ta-Nehisi Coates states, “But race is the child of racism, not the father.” He means that first we exploited people for their resources, not according to how they looked. Exploitation came first, and then the ideology of unequal races to justify this exploitation followed.”
White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo
All this rambling is not to say that reading Last Standing Woman was the hard work of allyship or activism in some way. I genuinely enjoyed the experience, and will hold Winona LaDuke’s characters in my heart for a long time.
See more of my reviews at: http://janaslibrary.blogspot.com
The priest froze. Why would Wazhaskoons not look at him; was he being contentious or rebellious?”
Last Standing Woman, Winona LaDuke, p. 52
Last Standing Woman, by Winona LaDuke, spans seven generations of the Anishinaabeg - from 1862 to 2018. It spans generations of Anishinaabeg trying to live their lives, and white people getting in their way. From treaties, to conflicts with settlers and raiding parties, missionaries and boarding schools, to loan sharks who steal land, and finally the generation who works for justice, to take back their traditional lands, homes, and the artifacts and ancestors that were taken to museums. It is one thing to read in history books about the effect of colonization on Native Americans, and it is quite another to watch in unfurl before your eyes, and to watch the effect colonization has on families and communities. To watch, for example, two young girls in a sanitarium, the older sister falling asleep and waking up to find her younger sister has died in her arms overnight. It is much easier to read in history books.
The book started out a little slow for me. The names were long, and the shifts between characters, as well as the steady march of time, made it hard for me to connect to the story at first. However, the last half of the book took on a more traditional Western narrative structure, following the occupation of White Earth reservation, and sticking to a few main characters that you got to know for more than a few pages at a time. But this is when the beginning of the book also pays off - because you know so much of their history, you understand the characters’ motivations more deeply.
While reading Last Standing Woman, I was also reading White Fragility, and the parallels between what Robin DiAngelo explains and the actions the white characters were taking in Last Standing Woman were both depressing and fascinating.
“There is a peculiar kind of hatred in the northwoods, a hatred born of living with with three generations of complicity in the theft of lives and land. What is worse is that each day, those who hold this position of privilege must come face to face with those whom they have dispossessed. To others who rightfully should share in the complicity and the guilt, Indians are far away and long ago. But in reservation border towns, Indians are ever-present.”
Last Standing Woman, Winona LaDuke. p 125
Honestly, it made me feel like a bit of an idiot that a book written in 1997 could clearly show the racism that a book published in 2018 has to lay out for us self-proclaimed well-meaning whites. It reinforced that so much of the “study” of racism is just white people opening our eyes to the oppression people of color have felt for generations. You don’t need to explain the nuances of racism to everyone.
“The idea of racial inferiority was created to justify unequal treatment; belief in racial inferiority is not what triggered unequal treatment. Nor was fear of difference. As Ta-Nehisi Coates states, “But race is the child of racism, not the father.” He means that first we exploited people for their resources, not according to how they looked. Exploitation came first, and then the ideology of unequal races to justify this exploitation followed.”
White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo
All this rambling is not to say that reading Last Standing Woman was the hard work of allyship or activism in some way. I genuinely enjoyed the experience, and will hold Winona LaDuke’s characters in my heart for a long time.
See more of my reviews at: http://janaslibrary.blogspot.com
xtinaaws's review
5.0
Loved this book. Following the trend of much Am. Indian lit, this book spans generations and multiple perspectives. There's much focus on strong Native women, from origin stories to modern activist women.
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