Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The Removed by Brandon Hobson

3 reviews

kimveach's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This is a very different sort of book but I ended up liking it. Parts of it are a straightforward plot about a family is trying to heal from a tragedy. Another part includes an ancestor talking about The Trail of Tears' removal of the Cherokees from their land. And the last part is about the living son's struggles with drug addiction but is told as a visit to a "darkening land".

I didn't understand all of it while I was reading it. I wish I had read this article from NPR first:  
https://www.npr.org/2021/02/02/963361391/author-brandon-hobson-on-his-new-novel-the-removed

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hippiegrrl's review

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dark sad medium-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

3.75


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darcyreadssometimes's review

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dark emotional reflective sad tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was trippy, unsettling, and stunning. The story is told through multiple perspectives, with three from present day characters and one from Tsala, an important person in Cherokee legend. There is not a clear line between the spirit world and our world, and one of the characters struggles with drug addiction, so things are not always as they seem. This felt like literary fiction with splashes of horror. The ending had me feeling a little confused, sad, but also hopeful. I donโ€™t want to say more for fear of spoiling anything, but Iโ€™ll leave this quote:

๐˜ž๐˜บ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ต ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ข ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ท๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ด ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ๐˜ด.
โ€œ๐˜“๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ, ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ.โ€ ๐˜ž๐˜บ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ต ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฅ, โ€œ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ, ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฉ๐˜ต? ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บโ€™๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฉ๐˜ต? ๐˜๐˜ตโ€™๐˜ด ๐˜จ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ.โ€

This was also my first read in my 2021 challenge to myself to read at least 12 books by Indigenous authors. Things I googled (and would recommend googling) to enhance my reading experience: the Trail of Tears, Tsala, and the Darkening.

While I donโ€™t think this book is for everyone, I recommend it, especially to people who enjoy literary fiction, who like weird books, who appreciate morally grey characters, and who like seeking connections across seemingly disparate storylines.

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