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Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman's Search for Justice in Indian Country by Sierra Crane Murdoch
twowheelsaway's review
5.0
Wow, this book took me a while to get through, on and off. I initially heard about it on an episode of This American Life , well worth a listen itself.
The book is something entirely different, though. It's a window onto the Fort Berthold reservation, where the things the US did (and continues to do) to indigenous people echo in the people and the land. It's a look at the effects of nearly unfettered capitalism- some good, mostly bad. It's a well-written true crime story.
Mostly, though, it's a portrait of Lissa Yellow Bird, a woman Crane describes as the most iconoclastic person she knows. It flips between Lissa's past and the hunt she's on for a missing oil worker, KC Clarke. Anyone just looking for a true crime story might be disappointed by how much time the book spends away from the hunt, but ultimately Lissa's story is the more interesting part anyways. What possesses her to spend months of her life, taking time off of work, to hunt unpaid for someone she never met? I can say for sure that I would do no such thing, or honestly that it wouldn't occur to me.
Sometimes reading an adventure novel I get caught up thinking, "I don't get it. Why the hell has this character left behind everything they loved to do this thing that seems futile and so much bigger than them?" I wondered this in Yellow Bird as well, but I can't deny that Lissa actually did it. So, now, I find myself actually considering the question-- and Yellow Bird lays out enough of Lissa's imperfect life that I might begin to have some kind of idea.
The book is something entirely different, though. It's a window onto the Fort Berthold reservation, where the things the US did (and continues to do) to indigenous people echo in the people and the land. It's a look at the effects of nearly unfettered capitalism- some good, mostly bad. It's a well-written true crime story.
Mostly, though, it's a portrait of Lissa Yellow Bird, a woman Crane describes as the most iconoclastic person she knows. It flips between Lissa's past and the hunt she's on for a missing oil worker, KC Clarke. Anyone just looking for a true crime story might be disappointed by how much time the book spends away from the hunt, but ultimately Lissa's story is the more interesting part anyways. What possesses her to spend months of her life, taking time off of work, to hunt unpaid for someone she never met? I can say for sure that I would do no such thing, or honestly that it wouldn't occur to me.
Sometimes reading an adventure novel I get caught up thinking, "I don't get it. Why the hell has this character left behind everything they loved to do this thing that seems futile and so much bigger than them?" I wondered this in Yellow Bird as well, but I can't deny that Lissa actually did it. So, now, I find myself actually considering the question-- and Yellow Bird lays out enough of Lissa's imperfect life that I might begin to have some kind of idea.
katieem's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
4.5
trixirina's review
5.0
This is NOT a true crime story, even though the central character becomes immersed/obsessed with solving a murder.(Some readers seem disappointed in this so I'm just throwing it out there for those who are looking for that sort of thing.)
What it is is so much more than that. It takes the complicated and tragic story of how white colonizers, aided and abetted by the federal government continue to dishonor the terms of their treaty agreements to this very day. How an oil boom on tribal land somehow leaves the tribe even worse off when it's over, but enriches a few savvy tribal members along with the corporations who destroy the land, as well as the lives of many of the workers who follow the boom.
Lissa Yellow Bird is an astonishing character, maybe Murdoch gets too close to her subject at times, but her sensitive drawing Yellow Bird is as unflinching as it it tender.
Beautiful book.
What it is is so much more than that. It takes the complicated and tragic story of how white colonizers, aided and abetted by the federal government continue to dishonor the terms of their treaty agreements to this very day. How an oil boom on tribal land somehow leaves the tribe even worse off when it's over, but enriches a few savvy tribal members along with the corporations who destroy the land, as well as the lives of many of the workers who follow the boom.
Lissa Yellow Bird is an astonishing character, maybe Murdoch gets too close to her subject at times, but her sensitive drawing Yellow Bird is as unflinching as it it tender.
Beautiful book.
megs_k's review
4.0
You had to trust you were more than the damage done to you. ~ Sierra Crane Murdoch
jsaw22's review
5.0
Much more than a true crime account, Yellow Bird is an award-nominated deep dive into the intersection of business, culture, intergenerational trauma, social justice, familial love, politics, spirituality, and, yes, crime. The author's crisp, authentic prose illuminates the true story of a murder on the Fort Berthold Indian reservation in North Dakota and of Lissa Yellow Bird's complex and heroic efforts to solve it. This is a fascinating account of the American frontier in the 21st century: Murdoch's close involvement with the events of this book over a period of eight years brings the reader into intimate moments and details while casting them against overarching themes grand in scale. Simply put, it is a haunting yet somewhat-fulfilling account of an unforgettable person searching for difficult truths.
brittpetersonmarx's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
elsnosrap's review
2.0
This sounded like an interesting book, but I didn't really enjoy it much. I mean, it took me over 3 weeks to read!! There were so many people I couldn't keep track of everyone. Some of the story was interesting, but meh. At least I finished it.