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toebean5 's review for:
The Removed
by Brandon Hobson
This was one of those books that I wasn't super into, but discussing it with others made me appreciate it more. I was so excited at one point, because the usual complaint 'this was too depressing' was countered by someone other than me! And they made a great point- they said that this was a good, loving family, doing all of the 'right' things; but disaster came from outside, regardless. And then the parallels to the Trail of Tears came in.
It kind of made me upset that several of them were recommending Tony Hillerman for 'a good Native American read'. I'm trying really hard to center the voices of Native American authors, so I felt like that really went over their heads. The group did not really like it- I think that they found the stories and the symbols to be confusing and difficult to make sense of. I think that's why I liked it- I appreciated how open to interpretation it frequently was. For example, I am confident that one of the characters dies, but everyone in the group was 'relieved' that the character doesn't. Weird. Oh well- glad they read it all of the way through.
It kind of made me upset that several of them were recommending Tony Hillerman for 'a good Native American read'. I'm trying really hard to center the voices of Native American authors, so I felt like that really went over their heads. The group did not really like it- I think that they found the stories and the symbols to be confusing and difficult to make sense of. I think that's why I liked it- I appreciated how open to interpretation it frequently was. For example, I am confident that one of the characters dies, but everyone in the group was 'relieved' that the character doesn't. Weird. Oh well- glad they read it all of the way through.