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abigailbat 's review for:
Code Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War Two
by Joseph Bruchac
All his life Ned Begay has been told that being Navajo is bad. At the mission school, all the Navajos are told to forget their language, to forget everything about being Navajo. Speaking English and emulating the white man is the only way to get ahead, or so they are told. However, when World War II breaks out, Ned learns that the Marines are actively recruiting Navajos. For the first time, Americans are in need of Navajos and their language. An unbreakable code is being developed using the Navajo language and the Marines are recruiting men fluent in Navajo and English to come and fight the Japanese. Ned Begay is one of these men. Although he is only 16, he enlists in the Marines and starts a journey both wonderful and terrible.
Now, I must confess that I don't like war books. I can see how this novel would be appealing to some. There is a lot of action, many descriptions of battle scenes in the Pacific. I think I might have liked it better if the novel had had a different format. The first person didn't do it for me and I felt like it read more like dry non-fiction than the riveting novel it could have been. Bruchac himself confesses in the author's note that he crammed a lot of facts into the book. I did find it enlightening. But I think it could have been more entertaining.
That said, Bruchac is one of the most reliable authors I know for fiction about Native Americans. He includes a length author's note talking about his research and the real Navajo code talkers. He also includes a fairly extensive bibliography.
It's an important book, for sure, but to me it read more like a book that would be assigned in school rather than one I would ever pick up for pleasure.
Now, I must confess that I don't like war books. I can see how this novel would be appealing to some. There is a lot of action, many descriptions of battle scenes in the Pacific. I think I might have liked it better if the novel had had a different format. The first person didn't do it for me and I felt like it read more like dry non-fiction than the riveting novel it could have been. Bruchac himself confesses in the author's note that he crammed a lot of facts into the book. I did find it enlightening. But I think it could have been more entertaining.
That said, Bruchac is one of the most reliable authors I know for fiction about Native Americans. He includes a length author's note talking about his research and the real Navajo code talkers. He also includes a fairly extensive bibliography.
It's an important book, for sure, but to me it read more like a book that would be assigned in school rather than one I would ever pick up for pleasure.