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alertnerd's Reviews (169)
This book was recommended to me by a coworker. I had read Three Day Road in college and loved it, so I was excited to give this one a try. As is typical with Joseph Boyden, the prose is absolutely beautiful, the characters are well developed and the story is engaging. However, the recent allegations about Boyden’s heritage makes some of his writing decisions problematic (at best).
The amount of violence in the novel was the first red flag. Not only were the descriptions extremely graphic, but the use of violence was entirely one sided. Only the First Nations characters were the ones engaging in violence, with incredibly drawn out and graphic scenes of them torturing each other. The idea that the French colonists were nothing but harmless traders and missionaries would be laughable if it wasn’t so disgusting. This does nothing to debunk the very common stereotype of Indigenous peoples as wild and violent savages.
While characters like Bird, Fox and Snow Falls were seen as incredibly violent, the French were depicted as intelligent and peaceful. Any harm they brought to the Haudenosaunee -- like the diseases that nearly destroyed their entire tribe -- was shown to be unintentional. The Haudenosaunee were constantly impressed by the technology the French brought with them in almost a child-like way. The Haudenosaunee characters, however, never brought anything useful to the French and their way of life was shown to be backwards, out-dated, and fading away in the “new world”.
The depiction of the First Nations characters as violent savauges and the Frenchmen as innocent, intelligent nobleman wasn’t the end however. The characters of Bird and Gosling were stereotypical. Bird was the stoic, warrior savage while Gosling was a nondescript mystical being. Even Fox, who despite being very important to Bird wasn’t given much of a character beyond being an excellent warrior. More time was spent on battle than was on their home life and too much of their culture was described through the eyes of a racist missionary.
Overall, Boyden told a great story but fell into many racist tropes that are all too common in literature written about Indigenous peoples but not by Indigenous peoples.
The amount of violence in the novel was the first red flag. Not only were the descriptions extremely graphic, but the use of violence was entirely one sided. Only the First Nations characters were the ones engaging in violence, with incredibly drawn out and graphic scenes of them torturing each other. The idea that the French colonists were nothing but harmless traders and missionaries would be laughable if it wasn’t so disgusting. This does nothing to debunk the very common stereotype of Indigenous peoples as wild and violent savages.
While characters like Bird, Fox and Snow Falls were seen as incredibly violent, the French were depicted as intelligent and peaceful. Any harm they brought to the Haudenosaunee -- like the diseases that nearly destroyed their entire tribe -- was shown to be unintentional. The Haudenosaunee were constantly impressed by the technology the French brought with them in almost a child-like way. The Haudenosaunee characters, however, never brought anything useful to the French and their way of life was shown to be backwards, out-dated, and fading away in the “new world”.
The depiction of the First Nations characters as violent savauges and the Frenchmen as innocent, intelligent nobleman wasn’t the end however. The characters of Bird and Gosling were stereotypical. Bird was the stoic, warrior savage while Gosling was a nondescript mystical being. Even Fox, who despite being very important to Bird wasn’t given much of a character beyond being an excellent warrior. More time was spent on battle than was on their home life and too much of their culture was described through the eyes of a racist missionary.
Overall, Boyden told a great story but fell into many racist tropes that are all too common in literature written about Indigenous peoples but not by Indigenous peoples.
Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner Vol. 1
Frank Pittarese, Arnie Jorgensen, Bill Willingham, Marv Wolfman, Jamal Igle, William Rosado, Tom Peyer, Fred Haynes, Darryl Banks, Ron Marz, Steve Carr, J.B. Jones, Derec Donovan
My first exposure to Kyle Rayner was while reading Connor Hawke’s time as Green Arrow in the late 1990s. I wanted to read more of him and this collection made that super convenient. It gives a nice overview of what happened to Hal Jordan prior to Kyle getting the ring, and it’s also a great introduction to Kyle.
I’m not the biggest fan of Green Lantern so it was hard to get into the story at first. However, Kyle is such a charming character that it didn’t take long for me to love him. A superhero who’s an artist, wears cool leather jackets and lives in Greenwich Village? I never realized it was everything I could have wanted.
Another thing that pleasantly surprised me was Darryl Banks’ art. Kyle looked great; he had cool hair and great style. So many 90s comics have extremely cringey artwork that makes it hard to read due to the second hand embarrassment.
Overall, it was a great read that makes me excited to get the second volume when it is released in March.
I’m not the biggest fan of Green Lantern so it was hard to get into the story at first. However, Kyle is such a charming character that it didn’t take long for me to love him. A superhero who’s an artist, wears cool leather jackets and lives in Greenwich Village? I never realized it was everything I could have wanted.
Another thing that pleasantly surprised me was Darryl Banks’ art. Kyle looked great; he had cool hair and great style. So many 90s comics have extremely cringey artwork that makes it hard to read due to the second hand embarrassment.
Overall, it was a great read that makes me excited to get the second volume when it is released in March.
