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A review by karnaconverse
When Two Feathers Fell from the Sky by Margaret Verble
3.0
Verble packs a wide variety of characters and themes into this 1920s-era story: prohibition, race relations, a WWI veteran, the Scopes Trial, Native American beliefs, and the day-to-day activities of a zoo and the death-defying performances of its horse diver. The base story itself, however, is a bit difficult to define, and I'm not convinced it's as much a mystery as the promo blurb emphasizes. For me, this story is a search-for-self narrative in which horse diver Two Feathers is beginning to wonder who she is and who she wants to be.
Verble is knowledgeable. In addition to being an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, she grew up in the neighborhood where this story is set and vividly remembers digging up the shoulder bone of a large animal when she was a child. She writes with a warmth that drew me in, but I didn't become as invested in this story as I had in the story she told in Cherokee America, one of the New York Times 2019 Notable Books of the Year.
Verble is knowledgeable. In addition to being an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, she grew up in the neighborhood where this story is set and vividly remembers digging up the shoulder bone of a large animal when she was a child. She writes with a warmth that drew me in, but I didn't become as invested in this story as I had in the story she told in Cherokee America, one of the New York Times 2019 Notable Books of the Year.