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christiereads23 's review for:
Winter Counts
by David Heska Wanbli Weiden
Virgil Wounded Horse is a bit of an outsider on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. They look down upon his job, until they need his assistance that is. Virgil is a vigilante--the person people go to when the federal police refuse to take rape or abuse cases on the reservation. Virgil makes sure that those people will never harm others again. When an influx of heroin begins to arrive on the res, a member of the community hires Virgil to find who is responsible and stop them, but this case gets much more personal than he could have predicted.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, particularly because the characters were so fleshed out. Our main characters, Virgil, Nathan, and Marie, all had flaws , but you couldn't help but just fall in love and hope for the best for them. They each struggled with their identity as Native Americans and with their duty to their families vs their individual needs. The plot was engaging and fast paced. Weiden placed clues throughout the novel that came together brilliantly at the end in a satisfying way. Finally, this novel was so important because it addressed the lack of federal response to crimes on reservations. In fact 35% of crimes are declined, most of which are crimes against women and children. This was an issue that I was unaware of, and Weiden provides a list of resources that you can read to find more information about this topic
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, particularly because the characters were so fleshed out. Our main characters, Virgil, Nathan, and Marie, all had flaws , but you couldn't help but just fall in love and hope for the best for them. They each struggled with their identity as Native Americans and with their duty to their families vs their individual needs. The plot was engaging and fast paced. Weiden placed clues throughout the novel that came together brilliantly at the end in a satisfying way. Finally, this novel was so important because it addressed the lack of federal response to crimes on reservations. In fact 35% of crimes are declined, most of which are crimes against women and children. This was an issue that I was unaware of, and Weiden provides a list of resources that you can read to find more information about this topic