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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
A spiritual journey through time and family, seeking to make sense of modern brokenness in the context of inherited tragedy. The characters crescendo slow and stalkingly, though their development seems stunted as the spiritual dimensions of this book interrupt, jarring the reader from following the human parts of progression. More of a dream or trance-like work instead of a rich rubbing of history on the landscape. Worth reading but will be hard to remember.
Consider this 4.5. I do really recommend this book and I also really recommend reading up on the author and the cultural traditions here at the same time. I read this with a book discussion group and it added so much to my reading experience that I otherwise would have missed.
I’m not going to be able to forget this book… It’s beautiful.
The Removed by Brandon Hobson is a story of grief, of family, of love, and of history. Every year on September 6th the Echota family marks both the day their eldest son Ray-Ray died, and the national Cherokee holiday with a bonfire and a meal together. Ray-Ray died 15 years earlier by police shooting, and since that day the family has dealt with their grief in different ways. Maria, the mother, journals and reads stories to children, and tries to keep her family together, while watching her husband deal with the onset of Alzheimers that has caused memory loss and confusion. Sonja, their eldest child, lives in solitude, obsessing over men a lot younger than her who always disappoint her, and Edgar, the youngest son has fallen into a life of drugs in order to separate himself from his grief and guilt.
The characters, as well as another, the spirit Tsala, narrate their own stories in the days leading up to the annual bonfire. Maria welcomes the temporary placement of a foster child named Wyatt in their home, amazed by how he seems to channel the spirit of Ray-Ray, and helps Ernest in ways that no medication has been able to. Sonja talks of her obsession with Vin, and of her solitude, Edgar of his descent into darkness and how he climbs out through it, and Tsala of the brutality of the Trail of Tears.
The narrative is beautiful, weaving reality and dream together, where Cherokee spirits and folklore are intimately entwined with the reality of the present day. There are so many connections within the narratives, and while the family seems to manage their grief in different, separate ways, they are all held together by communal trauma and healing. I don’t actually think my review can do justice to just how special and important this story is.
(Side note: anyone who references Bauhaus is a hero in my world).
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
The Removed by Brandon Hobson is a story of grief, of family, of love, and of history. Every year on September 6th the Echota family marks both the day their eldest son Ray-Ray died, and the national Cherokee holiday with a bonfire and a meal together. Ray-Ray died 15 years earlier by police shooting, and since that day the family has dealt with their grief in different ways. Maria, the mother, journals and reads stories to children, and tries to keep her family together, while watching her husband deal with the onset of Alzheimers that has caused memory loss and confusion. Sonja, their eldest child, lives in solitude, obsessing over men a lot younger than her who always disappoint her, and Edgar, the youngest son has fallen into a life of drugs in order to separate himself from his grief and guilt.
The characters, as well as another, the spirit Tsala, narrate their own stories in the days leading up to the annual bonfire. Maria welcomes the temporary placement of a foster child named Wyatt in their home, amazed by how he seems to channel the spirit of Ray-Ray, and helps Ernest in ways that no medication has been able to. Sonja talks of her obsession with Vin, and of her solitude, Edgar of his descent into darkness and how he climbs out through it, and Tsala of the brutality of the Trail of Tears.
The narrative is beautiful, weaving reality and dream together, where Cherokee spirits and folklore are intimately entwined with the reality of the present day. There are so many connections within the narratives, and while the family seems to manage their grief in different, separate ways, they are all held together by communal trauma and healing. I don’t actually think my review can do justice to just how special and important this story is.
(Side note: anyone who references Bauhaus is a hero in my world).
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed this book's introduction to Cherokee myths, even though the writing style and magical max of fiction and reality were not my particular speed.
