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A review by gingerbread_void
When We Were Vikings by Andrew David MacDonald
4.0
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I got this book but I figured I would give it a chance. I had no idea that the main character has a form of mental disability and I am not an own voice in that field so please please please take this review with a grain of salt and seek out own voices reviews!
Now it took me a bit to get used to since the whole book is told from her point of view and while she is an adult some of her ideas and her language is very child like. At first I was unsure about it but the further I got into the book I found it to be a very refreshing way to view a story like this. I found the main charter to interesting and her relationship with her bother felt very really. Not only did the way they communicate come across very natural but even some of the situations they find themselves in seemed like something that could and does often happen. Also the way the main character interacted with others outside of her “tribe” seemed very authentic to me especially her relationship to boys both her boyfriend and other boys. The way she was both knowledgeable and innocent is what made her feel real. She was in many ways just like any other twenty-one year old woman wanting freedom and to explore but she also had this child like innocences and ability to trust that at times tended to get her into trouble,
I wanted to speak about some of the other mental handicaps (I am so sorry if that is not the right term please let me know and I will fix it if that is the case) mentioned and seen throughout this book in reference to the main character but as my experience is with conditions either far more severe or far less severe I decided to leave that bit up to a more qualified reviewer.
I also wanted to talk about the character I liked the most in this book, AK47 or Annie. She, for me, was the shinning light of this book. I do realize that she can be construed as a bit of a stereotype but for me I though she was a great if not the best character in the book. She was strong and opinionated but she was also extremely kind. She was probably the only character that really treated the main character like she was the same as everyone else. She treated her like she would one of her others friends and didn’t talk down to her. I think she shows how easy it can be to treat someone with a mental handicap just the same as anyone else because they are.
Lastly I wanted to talk about the men in this book. I’m not sure how many people will read this book and think the fact that almost all of the men of this book either try to or do take advantage of the main character to be an exaggeration and I just wanted to say that it is not. No, this is not me using a book to condemn men. I want to point out the sad fact that a lot of people see people that are handicap or maybe a bit more innocent and they try and take advantage of it. I have seen it time and again with friends of mine and I wanted to mention and thank this book for calling it out because it is a serous problem. I wanted to say that I have seen the exact things mentioned in this book and worse happen to my friends who has a mental handicap because people think they can get away with doing things like that to someone with handicap. I wanted to thank this book for pointing that out because to few people do and even fewer parts of the media do.
All in all I liked this book. I found it to be a good book with solid characters and good story. I found its portrayal of its main character to be accurate at least in my limited experience (again check out own voices reviews) and I was invested in her story. I read this story all in one day and loved just about every minute of it. I would say this book is perfect for someone who is looking for a unique coming of age story. Its a wonderful book and defiantly worth the time to give it shot.
Now it took me a bit to get used to since the whole book is told from her point of view and while she is an adult some of her ideas and her language is very child like. At first I was unsure about it but the further I got into the book I found it to be a very refreshing way to view a story like this. I found the main charter to interesting and her relationship with her bother felt very really. Not only did the way they communicate come across very natural but even some of the situations they find themselves in seemed like something that could and does often happen. Also the way the main character interacted with others outside of her “tribe” seemed very authentic to me especially her relationship to boys both her boyfriend and other boys. The way she was both knowledgeable and innocent is what made her feel real. She was in many ways just like any other twenty-one year old woman wanting freedom and to explore but she also had this child like innocences and ability to trust that at times tended to get her into trouble,
I wanted to speak about some of the other mental handicaps (I am so sorry if that is not the right term please let me know and I will fix it if that is the case) mentioned and seen throughout this book in reference to the main character but as my experience is with conditions either far more severe or far less severe I decided to leave that bit up to a more qualified reviewer.
I also wanted to talk about the character I liked the most in this book, AK47 or Annie. She, for me, was the shinning light of this book. I do realize that she can be construed as a bit of a stereotype but for me I though she was a great if not the best character in the book. She was strong and opinionated but she was also extremely kind. She was probably the only character that really treated the main character like she was the same as everyone else. She treated her like she would one of her others friends and didn’t talk down to her. I think she shows how easy it can be to treat someone with a mental handicap just the same as anyone else because they are.
Lastly I wanted to talk about the men in this book. I’m not sure how many people will read this book and think the fact that almost all of the men of this book either try to or do take advantage of the main character to be an exaggeration and I just wanted to say that it is not. No, this is not me using a book to condemn men. I want to point out the sad fact that a lot of people see people that are handicap or maybe a bit more innocent and they try and take advantage of it. I have seen it time and again with friends of mine and I wanted to mention and thank this book for calling it out because it is a serous problem. I wanted to say that I have seen the exact things mentioned in this book and worse happen to my friends who has a mental handicap because people think they can get away with doing things like that to someone with handicap. I wanted to thank this book for pointing that out because to few people do and even fewer parts of the media do.
All in all I liked this book. I found it to be a good book with solid characters and good story. I found its portrayal of its main character to be accurate at least in my limited experience (again check out own voices reviews) and I was invested in her story. I read this story all in one day and loved just about every minute of it. I would say this book is perfect for someone who is looking for a unique coming of age story. Its a wonderful book and defiantly worth the time to give it shot.