Scan barcode
ouireads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
- 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
ljrinaldi's review
4.0
Prepare to have your heart turned out.
They say to make a good story, you have to take your protagonist, stick him in a tree, and throw rocks at him. If that is the case, then Shane, in this story, has a lot of rocks being thrown at him. The book opens with the suicide of his sister, and his world goes downhill from there. Plus, he is trying to get to college, and the band (the tribe) has no money for him to go, because of technicalities, and lack of money. Plus he is in love with his best friend, David, plus his mother is still mourning his sister, six weeks after he death.
With all that going on, he doesn’t know how he could possible come out.
If this sounds as though it is too depressing to read, I have to admit it reminds me of how I almost didn’t finish reading Oliver Twist, back when I first read it. Things had gone so badly for him, I couldn’t imagine how he would ever be saved. Like that book, this one makes it look as though there is no way out, which is often how things are when you don’t stop to think.
Through it all, Shane has such eloquent ways of saying things. I kept marking quote after quote as being so special. Here are some examples:
Or
The story feels very real, and very raw. Suicide is a very real problem amongst First Nations people, and this book does not tread lightly around it.
It is not a light read, but it is a good read, and I think it should be read. It was also, first a movie, by the same author. I will seek it out.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
They say to make a good story, you have to take your protagonist, stick him in a tree, and throw rocks at him. If that is the case, then Shane, in this story, has a lot of rocks being thrown at him. The book opens with the suicide of his sister, and his world goes downhill from there. Plus, he is trying to get to college, and the band (the tribe) has no money for him to go, because of technicalities, and lack of money. Plus he is in love with his best friend, David, plus his mother is still mourning his sister, six weeks after he death.
With all that going on, he doesn’t know how he could possible come out.
If this sounds as though it is too depressing to read, I have to admit it reminds me of how I almost didn’t finish reading Oliver Twist, back when I first read it. Things had gone so badly for him, I couldn’t imagine how he would ever be saved. Like that book, this one makes it look as though there is no way out, which is often how things are when you don’t stop to think.
Through it all, Shane has such eloquent ways of saying things. I kept marking quote after quote as being so special. Here are some examples:
Maybe he saw her as nothing more than a stick of kindling to be burned. But if he had grown up here, he would know that even a stick of firewood is filled with a spirit that can’t be burned away
Or
Some songs are like a heartbeat that fills up the dark, empty places inside you with light, but today this song feels like sex.
The story feels very real, and very raw. Suicide is a very real problem amongst First Nations people, and this book does not tread lightly around it.
It is not a light read, but it is a good read, and I think it should be read. It was also, first a movie, by the same author. I will seek it out.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
readsreaders's review
4.0
This was a powerful novel. I couldn't put it down. No one warned me that their would be triggers for Death, Suicide, Self harm, and many more. That took me a bit to get my emotions through some of those parts. I did have a few issues with the writing and with it was a bit better, but for a Debut novel by an Author who normally writes screenplays, I think he did a good job. This was a book written based on a movie with the same name. I will definitely be checking out the movie and also future works from this Author.
rowan_369's review
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- 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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Grief, Cursing, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Outing, Fatphobia, Drug use, Self harm, Rape, Mental illness, Infidelity, Homophobia, Gun violence, and Death
This beautifully captures a lot of issues but it idauntbreesqreads's review
4.0
This is an own voices novel that taught me a lot about the culture without making me feel like I was being taught.
There was LGBTQ+ rep and mental illness discussion. There were poems from one POV and I have no way to tell you if they're good because I'm terrible at reading poetry.
I absolutely hate love triangles. It makes me hate the person in the center, it's never necessary.
Trigger warnings: Suicide, depression, sexual assault
There was LGBTQ+ rep and mental illness discussion. There were poems from one POV and I have no way to tell you if they're good because I'm terrible at reading poetry.
I absolutely hate love triangles. It makes me hate the person in the center, it's never necessary.
Trigger warnings: Suicide, depression, sexual assault
yaara's review
i just rly hate when women are murdered/raped to provide character development for men. i can’t say i rly liked this book. david seemed really underdeveloped as a character. and debbie/kyle set up as rly unlikeable characters with no development.. also a lot of fat phobia for debbie to just set her up as a villain with no info at all about her except she’s a fat creepy villain. ok this book sucked.
vickycbooks's review against another edition
I was very excited to read some Native American literature by someone who's not a sexual harasser, and I think impact-wise, this definitely did not disappoint.
There's such a strong message behind this piece about community, about acceptance, about family, and I really enjoyed this aspect of the novel. Shane's change, if you look at him in the beginning and end, really shows how he's grown as a character and come to accept himself which I found to be really awesome.
It left the reader with hope despite the generally down mood of the story as Shane takes obstacle after obstacle and almost gives up many times.
I also really loved the representation of the LGBTQ+ community and how it fit into this tribe's own community and their viewpoints. Also, the contrast between Shane and some of him and his friends' nonbelieving when compared with David was also very interesting and enlightening to see.
Mostly what I struggled with was just the execution in general. I felt like it could have been told better.
One of the biggest problems with this was just the whole story taking on a sort of one-tone that was very down in the dumps and it never really got very dynamic tone-wise, so there was no ecstasy in triumph or anger or any strong emotions. It kept a very steady tone and although this is commendable, I'm not sure if it was a good fit in helping the reader relate to Shane.
I think part of this could have been resolved if it was told in something other than third-person present tense, whether it was third-person past or first person because it ended up making the tone flatter.
I found it interesting how Jones added these chapters in between some of Shane's that were first person and it took me a couple of chapters to figure out that it was his girlfriend (who he's kind of cheating on to be with David) whose POV these chapters were in.
I wasn't too much of a fan of the dynamic between Shane and Tara because, to be honest, Shane is a dick to her. Tara says this herself, but it irritates me that in the summary, it says:
This is contrary to what Tara said in the book where she stated Shane was too invested in his own struggles to care about her, and I'm honestly going to have to side with Tara on this. The way the summary angles this to make Tara worse or a person doesn't really appeal to me.
Shane is also just kind of terrible in general to Tara and I think their plot line could have used more closure rather than Shane just ending up with David eventually. Things happen that obviously change their dynamic, but I still wish there was more closure in there.
Similarly, I found that one of the solutions, when Shane was trying to leave the hold of the person who wanted him to drug deal, was a little too easy and ended up being too hunky-dory for me to accept as an ending.
One of the things I wanted more of was Shane's expression of grief about Destiny and I was hoping that there's more passion and intensity and sorrow about this because it sucks to lose a family member and Shane spends a lot of time avoiding thinking about it rather than addressing it.
Overall, this was a very impactful novel about family, grief, and acceptance. If this seems like something that would interest you, I would definitely recommend you check it out!
Also, I'll definitely be looking up the film because Jones originally wrote the screenplay for that and it seems like something that would be interesting! I'm not sure how related the two works are.
There's such a strong message behind this piece about community, about acceptance, about family, and I really enjoyed this aspect of the novel. Shane's change, if you look at him in the beginning and end, really shows how he's grown as a character and come to accept himself which I found to be really awesome.
It left the reader with hope despite the generally down mood of the story as Shane takes obstacle after obstacle and almost gives up many times.
I also really loved the representation of the LGBTQ+ community and how it fit into this tribe's own community and their viewpoints. Also, the contrast between Shane and some of him and his friends' nonbelieving when compared with David was also very interesting and enlightening to see.
Mostly what I struggled with was just the execution in general. I felt like it could have been told better.
One of the biggest problems with this was just the whole story taking on a sort of one-tone that was very down in the dumps and it never really got very dynamic tone-wise, so there was no ecstasy in triumph or anger or any strong emotions. It kept a very steady tone and although this is commendable, I'm not sure if it was a good fit in helping the reader relate to Shane.
I think part of this could have been resolved if it was told in something other than third-person present tense, whether it was third-person past or first person because it ended up making the tone flatter.
I found it interesting how Jones added these chapters in between some of Shane's that were first person and it took me a couple of chapters to figure out that it was his girlfriend (who he's kind of cheating on to be with David) whose POV these chapters were in.
I wasn't too much of a fan of the dynamic between Shane and Tara because, to be honest, Shane is a dick to her. Tara says this herself, but it irritates me that in the summary, it says:
"He tries to share his grief with his girlfriend, Tara, but she's too concerned with her own needs to offer him much comfort."
This is contrary to what Tara said in the book where she stated Shane was too invested in his own struggles to care about her, and I'm honestly going to have to side with Tara on this. The way the summary angles this to make Tara worse or a person doesn't really appeal to me.
Shane is also just kind of terrible in general to Tara and I think their plot line could have used more closure rather than Shane just ending up with David eventually. Things happen that obviously change their dynamic, but I still wish there was more closure in there.
Similarly, I found that one of the solutions, when Shane was trying to leave the hold of the person who wanted him to drug deal, was a little too easy and ended up being too hunky-dory for me to accept as an ending.
One of the things I wanted more of was Shane's expression of grief about Destiny and I was hoping that there's more passion and intensity and sorrow about this because it sucks to lose a family member and Shane spends a lot of time avoiding thinking about it rather than addressing it.
Overall, this was a very impactful novel about family, grief, and acceptance. If this seems like something that would interest you, I would definitely recommend you check it out!
Also, I'll definitely be looking up the film because Jones originally wrote the screenplay for that and it seems like something that would be interesting! I'm not sure how related the two works are.
managedbybooks's review against another edition
4.0
This book was a really good, and from what I can tell, accurate view of certain Native American reservations, while also dealing with LGBTQA+ topics and the idea of two-spirited persons in Native American culture. I definitely recommend this book with the warning to keep in mind that this story does not represent all of the different values and traditions held throughout the various tribes and/or bands.
*Book received through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
*Book received through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
kumabear's review
3.0
i was so excited to read this book but once i opened it i wanted to cry. the way this book is narrated.. is the one style i cannot read. i was so sad . the idea of the story sounded amazing though