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A review by emptzuu
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Did not finish book. Stopped at 0%.
Given its 4.40-star rating on Goodreads and numerous glowing reviews, I had high expectations for this book. However, it turned out to be based on the Sixties Scoop, an event fraught with pain and suffering. I found the representation of real-world Native children's trauma in "The House in the Cerulean Sea" deeply troubling. This book transforms the unbearable trauma—encompassing both the literal and cultural murder—of these children into a simplistic tale where the fantasy version of such horrific foster homes is portrayed positively.
The author himself acknowledged this in a quote:
“I didn’t want to co-opt, you know, a history that wasn’t mine. I’m a cis white dude, so I can’t ever really go through something like what those children had to go through. So I sat down and I was like, I’m just going to write this as a fantasy.”
Despite being fully aware of the sensitive nature of the history he was touching upon, Klune created a story that trivializes the real and ongoing suffering of Indigenous children and their communities. These children were forcibly separated from their families and subjected to torture, sexual abuse, and murder as part of cultural genocide. Klune profits from a narrative that glosses over the severe and lasting impacts of these atrocities, which continued into the mid-1990s, on Indigenous people who still face systemic oppression today.
Additionally, the book is quite depressing. It follows a lonely man with a miserable life, working in a toxic environment, and disliked by everyone around him—including his cat, boss, coworkers, neighbors, and even the bus driver. He lives in a perpetually rainy city and perpetually forgets his umbrella. This gloomy narrative is masked in overly sweet language, lacking any nuance or real consideration of historical and systemic oppression.
The author himself acknowledged this in a quote:
“I didn’t want to co-opt, you know, a history that wasn’t mine. I’m a cis white dude, so I can’t ever really go through something like what those children had to go through. So I sat down and I was like, I’m just going to write this as a fantasy.”
Despite being fully aware of the sensitive nature of the history he was touching upon, Klune created a story that trivializes the real and ongoing suffering of Indigenous children and their communities. These children were forcibly separated from their families and subjected to torture, sexual abuse, and murder as part of cultural genocide. Klune profits from a narrative that glosses over the severe and lasting impacts of these atrocities, which continued into the mid-1990s, on Indigenous people who still face systemic oppression today.
Additionally, the book is quite depressing. It follows a lonely man with a miserable life, working in a toxic environment, and disliked by everyone around him—including his cat, boss, coworkers, neighbors, and even the bus driver. He lives in a perpetually rainy city and perpetually forgets his umbrella. This gloomy narrative is masked in overly sweet language, lacking any nuance or real consideration of historical and systemic oppression.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Genocide