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readingintheether 's review for:
The Removed
by Brandon Hobson
Before you read this, consider how Native American narratives, storytelling styles, and common story themes are different from your mainstream expectations! I think the reason that this book is pretty lowly rated is that people are going into it with assumptions about how this story is going to be told, and feel let down when it doesn't fit the mold.
This is and isn't a book about a fifteen-year-old Native American boy in Oklahoma named Ray-Ray who is shot and killed by a racist police officer at a shopping mall. This is the event that sets the tone for the rest of the novel, but in actuality, we are following multiple perspectives of different members of Ray-Ray's family fifteen years after the event throughout the five days leading up to the anniversary of his death.
I found this book to be compulsively readable. It sings about grief and the things we do to cope, heal, and feel in control of our uncontrollable lives. Themes of Native American families, suffering, and intergenerational trauma are present, and there was even a speculative/surrealist element that I was not expecting but found really bolstered the story. If you want a more comprehensive/accurate review, search out reviews from Native American readers. There are probably a lot of nuances and relevant details that I was incapable of fully comprehending.
4/5
Well-written, exacting, and moving.
This is and isn't a book about a fifteen-year-old Native American boy in Oklahoma named Ray-Ray who is shot and killed by a racist police officer at a shopping mall. This is the event that sets the tone for the rest of the novel, but in actuality, we are following multiple perspectives of different members of Ray-Ray's family fifteen years after the event throughout the five days leading up to the anniversary of his death.
I found this book to be compulsively readable. It sings about grief and the things we do to cope, heal, and feel in control of our uncontrollable lives. Themes of Native American families, suffering, and intergenerational trauma are present, and there was even a speculative/surrealist element that I was not expecting but found really bolstered the story. If you want a more comprehensive/accurate review, search out reviews from Native American readers. There are probably a lot of nuances and relevant details that I was incapable of fully comprehending.
4/5
Well-written, exacting, and moving.