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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
fast-paced
I don't read a lot of non-fiction, but this popped up in a curated list from Libby while I was browsing for the book I wanted to read next. It was fascinating, Chester's life, on the Checkerboard, at boarding school, and in the Marines. It was gripping, page-turning, as I wanted to know what would happen next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Colonisation, War
I loved the premise of this book, and the narration was engaging and interesting. But there was some violence and swearing- it's a war book- that made the read-aloud-with-the-family experience less than perfect. If I'd been reading to myself, I might have skimmed some of the battles, and my review probably would have been five stars. This is an amazing story, this man's courage and strength is incredible.
I always feel bad about rating someone's bafflingly interesting life story less than 5 stars, so let me just say this: everyone should read this book for the facts. I mean, holey moley, what a life did Chester Nez lead! From being placed in schools where teachers pretty much tried to beat the Navajo out of him to becoming an incredibly valued asset for the US military during WWII because he spoke Navajo, to returning back home to the country he had risked his life for to find out that he was barely granted citizenship rights and certainly not looked kindly at.
Absolutely fascinating.
The reason I didn't give it 5 stars was because I didn't feel this... hard-to-describe joy of reading, which happens regardless of the topic, when something has been written in a certain narrative style or a way. Like many memoirs or autobiographical accounts that are written with a certain urgency (Chester Nez was getting old!), the memoir falls into the safe tracks of chronology, of the "then we did this, and then we did that, and when that was over, it was time to..." It almost does not give Chester Nez's story the pregnant pause it deserves every now and then to really digest it, although the chapters do end in a common cliffhanger trick from the memoir tool box. (The "...but little did I know that everything would change" turn the page type.)
Absolutely fascinating.
The reason I didn't give it 5 stars was because I didn't feel this... hard-to-describe joy of reading, which happens regardless of the topic, when something has been written in a certain narrative style or a way. Like many memoirs or autobiographical accounts that are written with a certain urgency (Chester Nez was getting old!), the memoir falls into the safe tracks of chronology, of the "then we did this, and then we did that, and when that was over, it was time to..." It almost does not give Chester Nez's story the pregnant pause it deserves every now and then to really digest it, although the chapters do end in a common cliffhanger trick from the memoir tool box. (The "...but little did I know that everything would change" turn the page type.)
Living just a few miles from where Chester Nez grew up, it brings an extra amount of joy and pride of getting to understand the Navajo culture by living here and reading books like this one. Code talkers are truly heroes that carry the pride of the Navajo people.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
This is a great, approachable book if you want to learn more about the Navajo Code Talkers in WWII. It reads a lot like you're sitting across a kitchen table from Chester talking to him about his life. He talks a lot about developing the code (often media presents it as though the military just got some Navajo people and had them talk to each other in their native language, but it was an elaborate, full-blown code) and about using it in the war, but he also discusses his early experiences at home, at boarding school, and living through the Great Livestock Massacre that decimated his family and community's wealth.
This was a very interesting story, but I didn't think the book or writing was especially engaging. I would recommend it to someone who has an interest in WWII and/or Native American culture - I certainly learned a lot while reading it.