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carlysgrowingtbr 's review for:
The Removed
by Brandon Hobson
The Removed was a interesting book that I overall enjoyed reading, but was definitely lost at times.
This story follows a Family of Cherokee heritage from Oklahoma. A few years prior the family loses their oldest son Ray Ray to unprovoked police violence that never reaches justice. This tragedy fractures the family in ways that even the family cannot comprehend. The mother is extremely depressed, the father starts struggling with the early stages of Alzheimer's, the daughter becomes sexually reckless, and the youngest son devolves into a life of drugs. In order to keep the family together, the mother starts hosting yearly bonfires on the anniversary of Ray Ray's death. She's hoping to get the family together this year for one last bonfire, but all the family members are currently in the mist of dealing with some very spiritual turmoil and it's not clear if everyone will make it.
I really appreciate Hobsons attempt to involve so much Cherokee mythology and tradition. However, since I am not well-versed in Cherokee mythology in particular, I feel like a lot of text was lost to me and I know that I missed key points in the story. I don't feel like the mythology was well set up for someone who is not familiar, and therefore not easily accessible to a lame and reader like myself. however, I will say that this book absolutely intrigued me to learn more about Cherokee mythology so in that aspect, it definitely hit a good mark. I did find myself looking up several different things online and finding several different stories associated with the things I was looking up. So I need to find some text that more accurately will describe what I was reading. But if you're looking, just read a book and enjoy a story and are not familiar with Cherokee mythology this one might be a miss for you without more research.
This story follows a Family of Cherokee heritage from Oklahoma. A few years prior the family loses their oldest son Ray Ray to unprovoked police violence that never reaches justice. This tragedy fractures the family in ways that even the family cannot comprehend. The mother is extremely depressed, the father starts struggling with the early stages of Alzheimer's, the daughter becomes sexually reckless, and the youngest son devolves into a life of drugs. In order to keep the family together, the mother starts hosting yearly bonfires on the anniversary of Ray Ray's death. She's hoping to get the family together this year for one last bonfire, but all the family members are currently in the mist of dealing with some very spiritual turmoil and it's not clear if everyone will make it.
I really appreciate Hobsons attempt to involve so much Cherokee mythology and tradition. However, since I am not well-versed in Cherokee mythology in particular, I feel like a lot of text was lost to me and I know that I missed key points in the story. I don't feel like the mythology was well set up for someone who is not familiar, and therefore not easily accessible to a lame and reader like myself. however, I will say that this book absolutely intrigued me to learn more about Cherokee mythology so in that aspect, it definitely hit a good mark. I did find myself looking up several different things online and finding several different stories associated with the things I was looking up. So I need to find some text that more accurately will describe what I was reading. But if you're looking, just read a book and enjoy a story and are not familiar with Cherokee mythology this one might be a miss for you without more research.