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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
Beautiful on audio - a full cast production! A powerful story of one Cherokee family's pain, grief and trauma in the aftermath of their son and brother Ray Ray's death. Told in alternating perspectives from Maria Echota (the mom) and her two grown children, Sonja and Edgar. Each of them feels the loss of Ray Ray in different ways. CW: drug addiction, depression and domestic abuse.
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This books felt more like 4 interconnected short stories. And the reason for the lower rating is that I only liked 2 of the 4 stories and the other 2 I almost wanted to skip. Maria's story was optimistic and I was sympathetic with her and just wanted to make sure she was one. And Edgar's was spooky and felt like a nightmare, his was probably favorite because of this in between plane he was in and the awakening he got from it, especially because I know he needed it as his family wanted him safe. But Sonja's is the other and it felt flat and the final one was of a spirit which felt confusing as I didn't understand the references stated by it, which is on me, and felt weird to have at times as it's was a jarring interruptions. I feel if I knew more about Cherokee culture and folklore I would have liked it more but I know a lot of references and litery tools used went over my head. I did finish it and felt the ending although not concrete was positive and after the progress of the story you could tell that the family was starting to heal from the horrific death of Ray Ray.
If you knew of the culture I would recommend it as I said two of the stories were so good but be aware that not all are the same degree of entertaining.
If you knew of the culture I would recommend it as I said two of the stories were so good but be aware that not all are the same degree of entertaining.
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wanted to love this book and kept giving it another chance. The story never comes together and was disappointing overall
This story was just really well written, I just had no connection with one of the characters. That is okay because everything that happened to them is so different from my life but they were in my opinion written out really well. And the whole story itself was just very interesting. I loved the Cherokee stories, considering I don't know much about their stories or culture, it was nice to listen to them. (I listened to the audiobook and Ernest his voice was really soothing).
I also kind of liked the open ending, so you can imagine yourself who is the person walking there. It was just a little of everything. I don't know exactly how to word it without putting too many "spoilers" in it, I am not even sure if it's possible to spoiler much. It's just an interesting story to listen to and interesting characters. Well done.
I also kind of liked the open ending, so you can imagine yourself who is the person walking there. It was just a little of everything. I don't know exactly how to word it without putting too many "spoilers" in it, I am not even sure if it's possible to spoiler much. It's just an interesting story to listen to and interesting characters. Well done.
More of a 3.7 star rating. This was a very interesting read revolving greif, family issues mixed with Cherokee folklore. It's an unique book and I don't think I've read anything similar too it and it was a good listen.
Mixed feelings on this. I actually really liked following each character's perspectives and seeing their different responses to their family trauma, including their generational trauma. I wasn't entirely satisfied by the ending although I though everything wrapped up quite nicely. I think the best thing about this read was realizing that while the characters are dealing with generational trauma they find comfort and healing from their culture and the folklore of their ancestors. I enjoyed how the author was able to seamlessly weave in the Cherokee folklore to the story.