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A review by desiree930
Raven Stole the Moon by Garth Stein
1.0
DNF at 50%
I have so many issues with this book. I went as long as I could but I got to the point where I wasn’t even having any fun hate-reading it anymore.
As someone who grew up in Southeast Alaska (on the same island this resort is supposedly located) I find it difficult to believe that this author had even been to Alaska at the time this book was written. He has absolutely no sense of the space and distance of these towns he’s referring to. He says that the resort is near Klawock. Btw, I grew up in a town 7 miles from Klawock, Alaska. Then he also says, over and over again, that the resort is close to Wrangell, AK. This makes no sense. Prince of Wales Island is the third largest island in the United States. Klawock is on the western coast of the island. Wrangell Island, where Wrangell is located, is to the east of prince of Wales island. It just can’t be close to both. Especially when you consider that when this book was written, most of the roads around Prince of Wales were logging roads, especially in the Northern part of the island, which would be the closest to Wrangell Island. It would take a fair chunk of time to get there from Klawock. It may seem very nitpicky to some, but as someone who literally grew up there, it seemed very obvious that he didn’t have a lot of first-hand knowledge of the geography.
Also, there were several instances of stereotyping in this book with reference to the Tlingit people. It’s really a shame, especially since the author himself touts his ‘verified blood quantum’, seemingly as an excuse to make stuff up. First, there is a character who is a shaman, and is brought in to cleanse the resort of spirits. I’ve never once met a Tlingit shaman in my life.
In doing a little research, I learned that while shamanism was a prevalent part of Tlingit religious history, it is just that: history. When Christian missionaries converted the Tlingit to Christianity in the late nineteenth century, shamanism dwindled until it pretty much disappeared by the 1930s. I got my information from a Duke University article titled: Shamanism and Christianity: modern-day Tlingit elders look to the past.
Now I’m not saying that an author isn’t allowed to take a little bit of artistic license, but in this case I feel like people reading this who know nothing of the Tlingit culture may end up with an inaccurate impression of it.
Some other stereotypes include:
-Every native character described in this book (as far as I read) was described as having waist-length, straight black hair.
-Most natives are described as having leathery faces.
-Everyone is obsessed with the Kushtaka. I, along with most of the Southeast AK population, know the story of the Kushtaka. I had friends whose parents used it in almost the same way the boogeyman is used for the rest of us- as a cautionary tale to get children to behave. But it wasn’t something that was talked about ad nauseum. I get that this is supposed to be kind of a horror book with the Kushtaka as its villain, but the number of conversations revolving around this creature became boring and repetitive.
Now that I’ve got my technical gripes out of the way, the story itself just isn’t good. Jenna is the worst. This is not a real woman. This is the author’s fantasy of a woman. When we first meet her she’s dancing around her husband naked trying to seduce him while they are supposed to be getting ready for a party. Later, after she runs off with her husband’s vehicle and is pulled over for speeding, she gets turned on by the cop...who pulled a freaking gun on her when she tried to step out of the vehicle instead of rolling the window down and staying put like any normal person. She actually tries to flirt with him while thinking that all women love a man in uniform and ‘good porn movies start out this way.’
...HE HAD A GUN PULLED ON HER AND ALL SHE CAN THINK ABOUT IS HOW FUN IT WOULD BE TO HAVE SEX WITH A COP.
Later she gets all twitterpated for Eddie after knowing him for about five minutes. Seriously, less than half a day and she’s talking about how she knows they both want it and blah, blah, blah. Then she tries to make her husband feel bad to justify her cheating behavior. I hated this main character. So, so much. I was rooting for the Kushtaka.
Even though I could go on and on about the things I hated about this book, I’m just going to talk about one more thing, and that is how this book was marketed. Now, I don’t know about the original version. I’m only talking about the reprint that was done a few years back. From the cover and the synopsis, this is presented as a literary fiction/ chick lit type of book. I was very surprised to learn that it is turned into basically a fantasy-horror novel. I didn’t like that. Now that has more to do with the publishers than the author, but still. It added to my dislike.
If you want to read a great book about Alaska, pick up The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. Also The Smell of Other People’s Houses by Bonnie Sue Hitchcock. And if you’re truly interested in Tlingit culture and storytelling, I suggest you pick up a mythology book or a non-fiction title. They will be a hell of a lot more accurate than this mess.
I have so many issues with this book. I went as long as I could but I got to the point where I wasn’t even having any fun hate-reading it anymore.
As someone who grew up in Southeast Alaska (on the same island this resort is supposedly located) I find it difficult to believe that this author had even been to Alaska at the time this book was written. He has absolutely no sense of the space and distance of these towns he’s referring to. He says that the resort is near Klawock. Btw, I grew up in a town 7 miles from Klawock, Alaska. Then he also says, over and over again, that the resort is close to Wrangell, AK. This makes no sense. Prince of Wales Island is the third largest island in the United States. Klawock is on the western coast of the island. Wrangell Island, where Wrangell is located, is to the east of prince of Wales island. It just can’t be close to both. Especially when you consider that when this book was written, most of the roads around Prince of Wales were logging roads, especially in the Northern part of the island, which would be the closest to Wrangell Island. It would take a fair chunk of time to get there from Klawock. It may seem very nitpicky to some, but as someone who literally grew up there, it seemed very obvious that he didn’t have a lot of first-hand knowledge of the geography.
Also, there were several instances of stereotyping in this book with reference to the Tlingit people. It’s really a shame, especially since the author himself touts his ‘verified blood quantum’, seemingly as an excuse to make stuff up. First, there is a character who is a shaman, and is brought in to cleanse the resort of spirits. I’ve never once met a Tlingit shaman in my life.
In doing a little research, I learned that while shamanism was a prevalent part of Tlingit religious history, it is just that: history. When Christian missionaries converted the Tlingit to Christianity in the late nineteenth century, shamanism dwindled until it pretty much disappeared by the 1930s. I got my information from a Duke University article titled: Shamanism and Christianity: modern-day Tlingit elders look to the past.
Now I’m not saying that an author isn’t allowed to take a little bit of artistic license, but in this case I feel like people reading this who know nothing of the Tlingit culture may end up with an inaccurate impression of it.
Some other stereotypes include:
-Every native character described in this book (as far as I read) was described as having waist-length, straight black hair.
-Most natives are described as having leathery faces.
-Everyone is obsessed with the Kushtaka. I, along with most of the Southeast AK population, know the story of the Kushtaka. I had friends whose parents used it in almost the same way the boogeyman is used for the rest of us- as a cautionary tale to get children to behave. But it wasn’t something that was talked about ad nauseum. I get that this is supposed to be kind of a horror book with the Kushtaka as its villain, but the number of conversations revolving around this creature became boring and repetitive.
Now that I’ve got my technical gripes out of the way, the story itself just isn’t good. Jenna is the worst. This is not a real woman. This is the author’s fantasy of a woman. When we first meet her she’s dancing around her husband naked trying to seduce him while they are supposed to be getting ready for a party. Later, after she runs off with her husband’s vehicle and is pulled over for speeding, she gets turned on by the cop...who pulled a freaking gun on her when she tried to step out of the vehicle instead of rolling the window down and staying put like any normal person. She actually tries to flirt with him while thinking that all women love a man in uniform and ‘good porn movies start out this way.’
...HE HAD A GUN PULLED ON HER AND ALL SHE CAN THINK ABOUT IS HOW FUN IT WOULD BE TO HAVE SEX WITH A COP.
Later she gets all twitterpated for Eddie after knowing him for about five minutes. Seriously, less than half a day and she’s talking about how she knows they both want it and blah, blah, blah. Then she tries to make her husband feel bad to justify her cheating behavior. I hated this main character. So, so much. I was rooting for the Kushtaka.
Even though I could go on and on about the things I hated about this book, I’m just going to talk about one more thing, and that is how this book was marketed. Now, I don’t know about the original version. I’m only talking about the reprint that was done a few years back. From the cover and the synopsis, this is presented as a literary fiction/ chick lit type of book. I was very surprised to learn that it is turned into basically a fantasy-horror novel. I didn’t like that. Now that has more to do with the publishers than the author, but still. It added to my dislike.
If you want to read a great book about Alaska, pick up The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. Also The Smell of Other People’s Houses by Bonnie Sue Hitchcock. And if you’re truly interested in Tlingit culture and storytelling, I suggest you pick up a mythology book or a non-fiction title. They will be a hell of a lot more accurate than this mess.