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A review by tjlcody
The Ransom of Mercy Carter by Caroline B. Cooney
3.0
This was definitely an interesting read.
Years ago I read the Dear America book that covered this topic (Standing in the Light), and so I already knew the general topic and direction the book was going in- namely, that the captive children would be assimilated into the tribe's culture and society and would not come home.
I will say, though, that if you have read that book and are coming to this one- this book is a much more mature take on the subject of captive children being assimilated into Native culture during the 18th century. With the Dear America counterpart, it was much more obvious as to why Catherine (the main character) is enjoying life with the Native Americans, and why their lifestyle and culture would have appealed towards Quaker/Puritan children (Catherine was Quaker, Mercy is Puritan).
This book goes a lot more deeply into the moral ambiguity and gray area surrounding the children's assimilation: and I don't know if that was the author's intention, or if it was just a byproduct of the fact that she based this off of actual historical events.
People are killed in this book. Parents, children, babies. At one point. In many ways, this book does a really good job of making you question why the children would make the decision to stay with people who literally murdered members of their families and communities, whilst still understanding why Mercy is finding herself at home with the Native family she comes to live with. While it's easy to understand why Mercy is adapting the way she is, the situation still has a sort of Stockholm Syndrome-y feel about it.
The thing I think I have to give the author kudos for is that she wrote a book that paints a much more nuanced, realistic, and (frankly) darker picture of a subject that, in my experience between reading on the subject and having learned about it in school, tends to get boiled down to "children taken by Native Americans during these raids often didn't want to come home because they liked it better there than back at their stuffy old Puritan homes".
Years ago I read the Dear America book that covered this topic (Standing in the Light), and so I already knew the general topic and direction the book was going in- namely, that the captive children would be assimilated into the tribe's culture and society and would not come home.
I will say, though, that if you have read that book and are coming to this one- this book is a much more mature take on the subject of captive children being assimilated into Native culture during the 18th century. With the Dear America counterpart, it was much more obvious as to why Catherine (the main character) is enjoying life with the Native Americans, and why their lifestyle and culture would have appealed towards Quaker/Puritan children (Catherine was Quaker, Mercy is Puritan).
This book goes a lot more deeply into the moral ambiguity and gray area surrounding the children's assimilation: and I don't know if that was the author's intention, or if it was just a byproduct of the fact that she based this off of actual historical events.
People are killed in this book. Parents, children, babies. At one point
Spoiler
Mercy's little sister is killed by the Native walking with them on the way to Canada because she was crying and fussing too muchThe thing I think I have to give the author kudos for is that she wrote a book that paints a much more nuanced, realistic, and (frankly) darker picture of a subject that, in my experience between reading on the subject and having learned about it in school, tends to get boiled down to "children taken by Native Americans during these raids often didn't want to come home because they liked it better there than back at their stuffy old Puritan homes".