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shorshewitch's reviews
256 reviews
Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Suicide
Last Words from Montmartre by Qiu Miaojin
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Homophobia
Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions: A Novel in Interlocking Stories by Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions by Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi
I bought this pre-loved book from a known bookseller because of its title. It has food. And Jollof is such a tasty word. No, I can't explain!
This is my first time with this format of a novel with interlocking short stories based on characters - in POVs both first person and third person. And I absolutely loved it. The story(s) has 4 Nigerian friends who have grown up together and have stayed in touch. I love reading about friends who stay with each other through everything.
This is a debut of the author and it totally does not seem like it. The author seems like a veteran and knows exactly what she wants to convey and how.
The span during which the stories occur covers one and a half century - from 1897 to 2050. There is a high level chronology followed when a story opens and at a granular level, each story takes up the burden of filling in the details of the gaps in between.
Despite the challenging format, the author does exceptionally well in making each story connect with the others, building up a fabulous single thread, all along superbly tackling themes ranging from churches, religions, to romantic relationships, generational traumas, conservative politics, immigration, belonging, alienation, bullying, police brutality, racism, rape and sexual abuse, parental neglect, childhood traumas, friendships, medical complexities, grief, misogyny and patriarchy. It has some fiesty women and tonnes of good men, some stories witty in their humor, and many rich in their descriptions of Nigerian culture, customs and food. The final wrap up in which we get to see all the characters again in one story is emotional and cathartic.
I would totally recommend this book if you like short stories and want to explore a related format. The pace is pretty fast.
.
.
.
//And so here is Ife, my only grandchild, engaged to a moron at sixteen and dressed like a nun from the 1980s, except her habit is royal blue instead of black. At a time when the Catholic Church has agreed that priests can marry and women can be ordained, my granddaughter is asserting her right to be a throwback.//
I bought this pre-loved book from a known bookseller because of its title. It has food. And Jollof is such a tasty word. No, I can't explain!
This is my first time with this format of a novel with interlocking short stories based on characters - in POVs both first person and third person. And I absolutely loved it. The story(s) has 4 Nigerian friends who have grown up together and have stayed in touch. I love reading about friends who stay with each other through everything.
This is a debut of the author and it totally does not seem like it. The author seems like a veteran and knows exactly what she wants to convey and how.
The span during which the stories occur covers one and a half century - from 1897 to 2050. There is a high level chronology followed when a story opens and at a granular level, each story takes up the burden of filling in the details of the gaps in between.
Despite the challenging format, the author does exceptionally well in making each story connect with the others, building up a fabulous single thread, all along superbly tackling themes ranging from churches, religions, to romantic relationships, generational traumas, conservative politics, immigration, belonging, alienation, bullying, police brutality, racism, rape and sexual abuse, parental neglect, childhood traumas, friendships, medical complexities, grief, misogyny and patriarchy. It has some fiesty women and tonnes of good men, some stories witty in their humor, and many rich in their descriptions of Nigerian culture, customs and food. The final wrap up in which we get to see all the characters again in one story is emotional and cathartic.
I would totally recommend this book if you like short stories and want to explore a related format. The pace is pretty fast.
.
.
.
//And so here is Ife, my only grandchild, engaged to a moron at sixteen and dressed like a nun from the 1980s, except her habit is royal blue instead of black. At a time when the Catholic Church has agreed that priests can marry and women can be ordained, my granddaughter is asserting her right to be a throwback.//
PET by Akwaeke Emezi
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
Revolution came to Lucille long back and the angels all drove the monsters out. The people of Lucille are absolutely sure there are no monsters any more. They all respect each other, treat their kids with dignity and maturity, refrain from using violence of any kind, are queer friendly and believe in reformative justice. But like we read in Utopias of all kinds, there is no Utopia that doesn't have some level of Dystopia. Not yet, at least. Utopias can truly be maintained only if we decide to collectively look far, far away the other direction.
Jam is a citizen of Lucille and lives with her parents Aloe and Bitter. Redemption, her best friend, and his brother, Moss, live with their parents - Malachite, Whisper and Beloved - just a short distance away. One day, Jam accidentally summons an entity from another realm, through one of Bitter's paintings. Why is the entity here? Are they angel or monster? What are they hunting? All these questions form the rest of the story.
I have been a fan of Akwaeke Emezi since I read their The Death of Vivek Oji. That book made me bawl. Pet moved me as well.
Pet implores us to think of a world not completely devoid of crime and criminals, but with a better understanding of justice and rehabilitation of both the perpetrators and the survivor in a manner that neither diminishes the injustice done to the survivor nor denies the humanity of the perpetrator.
The conversations between Jam and everyone else around her are super comforting. It is a quick read. The climax is neatly and cleanly folded.
We have for far too long resisted even imagining a world without police and prison industrial complex. Of course it will require a lot of organizing and imagination. But like Angela Davis, in her phenomenal "Are Prisons Obsolete?" tells us, it was hard for us to imagine a world without slavery as well, and yet here we are. There is no need to have all answers immediately. There is a need to start conversations though. We need to have more stories put together by creative brains because how else do we build a society that reflects its literature.
Pet is therefore an important book. A significant initial tiny step towards a world full of radical kindness. This is a great pick for the Trans Readathon, or any other readathon for the prompt where the protagonist is a trans person.
Revolution came to Lucille long back and the angels all drove the monsters out. The people of Lucille are absolutely sure there are no monsters any more. They all respect each other, treat their kids with dignity and maturity, refrain from using violence of any kind, are queer friendly and believe in reformative justice. But like we read in Utopias of all kinds, there is no Utopia that doesn't have some level of Dystopia. Not yet, at least. Utopias can truly be maintained only if we decide to collectively look far, far away the other direction.
Jam is a citizen of Lucille and lives with her parents Aloe and Bitter. Redemption, her best friend, and his brother, Moss, live with their parents - Malachite, Whisper and Beloved - just a short distance away. One day, Jam accidentally summons an entity from another realm, through one of Bitter's paintings. Why is the entity here? Are they angel or monster? What are they hunting? All these questions form the rest of the story.
I have been a fan of Akwaeke Emezi since I read their The Death of Vivek Oji. That book made me bawl. Pet moved me as well.
Pet implores us to think of a world not completely devoid of crime and criminals, but with a better understanding of justice and rehabilitation of both the perpetrators and the survivor in a manner that neither diminishes the injustice done to the survivor nor denies the humanity of the perpetrator.
The conversations between Jam and everyone else around her are super comforting. It is a quick read. The climax is neatly and cleanly folded.
We have for far too long resisted even imagining a world without police and prison industrial complex. Of course it will require a lot of organizing and imagination. But like Angela Davis, in her phenomenal "Are Prisons Obsolete?" tells us, it was hard for us to imagine a world without slavery as well, and yet here we are. There is no need to have all answers immediately. There is a need to start conversations though. We need to have more stories put together by creative brains because how else do we build a society that reflects its literature.
Pet is therefore an important book. A significant initial tiny step towards a world full of radical kindness. This is a great pick for the Trans Readathon, or any other readathon for the prompt where the protagonist is a trans person.
This Earth of Mankind by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Dutch colonization of Indonesia started somewhere in the 15th century and they went on "civilizing" the "primitive" natives right until the 19th century. Of course, they also made laws to take over control of the trade of all the fur, cloves, nutmegs, etc just like colonialists "have" to. Laws were also further made to exploit the natives rendering them extremely poor and with no respect. As goes in most stories of oppression, it's the native women who suffered more than the men (the language of queerness is not even uttered).
This Earth of Mankind, is the first book of the Buru Quartet, an epic work of literature by Pramoedya Ananta Toer, an Indonesian communist writer, who was imprisoned for 2 years by Dutch and then 10 years by authoritarian Indonesian president, Suharto. The book was first an oral narrative, because Pramoedya did not have access to pen and paper in the jail. It was later turned into a written book in Bahasa Indonesian, with the help of his fellow inmates. All his works including the Quartet were banned for his scathing criticism of the colonial and authoritarian policies. While the ban has been lifted in 2010, despite being a prominent figure in the history of Indonesia, the schools do not have his books in their curriculum till this very day. It becomes an even bigger obligation then, upon us as readers who are not based in Indonesia, to read and speak about the book, the first chance we get.
This first book follows the story of Minke, a descendant of Native Javanese royalty, who studies at the the elite H. B. S., alongside the Dutch students. It begins with Minke's meeting with Nyai Ontosorah, concubine of a white man called Herman Mellema, and their "Indo" (Mixed blood) child, Annelies Mellema, in their estate, Boerderij Buitenzorg, of the Buitenzorg Agricultural Company. The estate and the family is guarded by a Madurese fighter, Darsam. The story then follows Annelies and Minke's love, Nyai Ontosorah's exceptional skills and education despite no formal degree and low status, Minke's family, his growth as a person, his political views and influences, his conversations with his peers and subordinates, and political controversies.
The writing style takes a bit of a getting used to. My guess is it is because of the language and culture related nuance. Max Lane, the translator, has done a good job of retaining the essential aspects of the culture and the language. The narrative style is journalistic. It reads as Minke's narration of the events as they occurred. There is an exchange of several letters in the narration during which it assumes a temporary epistolary form.
The characters are fascinating in their attitudes, ideas, lives and personalities. The book is rich in its vivid descriptions of contemporary Indonesia at the turn of the 19th century, its history, and its growing unrest.
I am definitely reading the Quartet through the rest of the year, along with Max Lane's "Indonesia Out of Exile: How Pramoedya’s Buru Quartet Killed a Dictatorship".
I read the book for #translatedgemsbookclub 's March reading and now we plan to read the Quartet though the year together.
This Earth of Mankind, is the first book of the Buru Quartet, an epic work of literature by Pramoedya Ananta Toer, an Indonesian communist writer, who was imprisoned for 2 years by Dutch and then 10 years by authoritarian Indonesian president, Suharto. The book was first an oral narrative, because Pramoedya did not have access to pen and paper in the jail. It was later turned into a written book in Bahasa Indonesian, with the help of his fellow inmates. All his works including the Quartet were banned for his scathing criticism of the colonial and authoritarian policies. While the ban has been lifted in 2010, despite being a prominent figure in the history of Indonesia, the schools do not have his books in their curriculum till this very day. It becomes an even bigger obligation then, upon us as readers who are not based in Indonesia, to read and speak about the book, the first chance we get.
This first book follows the story of Minke, a descendant of Native Javanese royalty, who studies at the the elite H. B. S., alongside the Dutch students. It begins with Minke's meeting with Nyai Ontosorah, concubine of a white man called Herman Mellema, and their "Indo" (Mixed blood) child, Annelies Mellema, in their estate, Boerderij Buitenzorg, of the Buitenzorg Agricultural Company. The estate and the family is guarded by a Madurese fighter, Darsam. The story then follows Annelies and Minke's love, Nyai Ontosorah's exceptional skills and education despite no formal degree and low status, Minke's family, his growth as a person, his political views and influences, his conversations with his peers and subordinates, and political controversies.
The writing style takes a bit of a getting used to. My guess is it is because of the language and culture related nuance. Max Lane, the translator, has done a good job of retaining the essential aspects of the culture and the language. The narrative style is journalistic. It reads as Minke's narration of the events as they occurred. There is an exchange of several letters in the narration during which it assumes a temporary epistolary form.
The characters are fascinating in their attitudes, ideas, lives and personalities. The book is rich in its vivid descriptions of contemporary Indonesia at the turn of the 19th century, its history, and its growing unrest.
I am definitely reading the Quartet through the rest of the year, along with Max Lane's "Indonesia Out of Exile: How Pramoedya’s Buru Quartet Killed a Dictatorship".
I read the book for #translatedgemsbookclub 's March reading and now we plan to read the Quartet though the year together.
In the Belly of the Congo by Blaise Ndala
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Expo'58 in Brussels was an international fair that became famous for various reasons - one of them being the "Atomium", a giant aerial structure representing the atom of an iron crystal 165 billion times magnified. It also gained much deserved infamy because of its display of a human zoo in the form of a Congolese village. Approx 600 actual people were "displayed" in this zoo, the section meant to demonstrate the Belgian colonialist claims of having "civilized" the "savage" natives.
🍂 This Expo'58 forms the backdrop of Blaise's novel. Two Kuba princesses of Kinshasa, two formidable young women, form the protagonists of the story. The story occurs in two time periods, 1957-58 and then 46 years later in 2004-05, with locations spanning from Brussels to the Belgian Congo. Some of the events and people in the story are not fiction, like Wendo Kolosoy, Patrice Lumumba and most significantly, the brutality and human cost of colonialism.
🍂 Like most descriptions of the book say, it is an ambitious story, told majorly in the form of first person narrative. In the first part, Tshala Nyota Moelo speaks to her niece Nyota Kwete, and in the second part, Nyota Kwete recites the story in the form of a monologue to her grandpa, King Kena Kwete III. The ancillary characters also have their own stories and ghosts to deal with. It is a very interesting writing style, with long sentences, and multiple character references for the same person. For the first 40% it took me a bit of getting used to, but once I caught the various threads running through the story, and read up a bit more about the history of the region, the next 60% caught pace.
🍂 There are plenty of trigger warnings. Rape, miscarriage, patriarchy, racism, sexual violence - are just a few that are at the top. The biggest trigger warning is the barbarism of the colonialist. No matter the number of books one reads and the stories one hears, the extent of exploitation will always remain deeply disturbing.
🍂 I think I will read the first 40% again after a few months because Tshala's voice will sound different now that I know exactly what happened to her eventually. It's a remarkable book, albeit a bit heavy.
🍂 I read this as a part of #translatedgemsbookclub 's March reading.
🍂 This Expo'58 forms the backdrop of Blaise's novel. Two Kuba princesses of Kinshasa, two formidable young women, form the protagonists of the story. The story occurs in two time periods, 1957-58 and then 46 years later in 2004-05, with locations spanning from Brussels to the Belgian Congo. Some of the events and people in the story are not fiction, like Wendo Kolosoy, Patrice Lumumba and most significantly, the brutality and human cost of colonialism.
🍂 Like most descriptions of the book say, it is an ambitious story, told majorly in the form of first person narrative. In the first part, Tshala Nyota Moelo speaks to her niece Nyota Kwete, and in the second part, Nyota Kwete recites the story in the form of a monologue to her grandpa, King Kena Kwete III. The ancillary characters also have their own stories and ghosts to deal with. It is a very interesting writing style, with long sentences, and multiple character references for the same person. For the first 40% it took me a bit of getting used to, but once I caught the various threads running through the story, and read up a bit more about the history of the region, the next 60% caught pace.
🍂 There are plenty of trigger warnings. Rape, miscarriage, patriarchy, racism, sexual violence - are just a few that are at the top. The biggest trigger warning is the barbarism of the colonialist. No matter the number of books one reads and the stories one hears, the extent of exploitation will always remain deeply disturbing.
🍂 I think I will read the first 40% again after a few months because Tshala's voice will sound different now that I know exactly what happened to her eventually. It's a remarkable book, albeit a bit heavy.
🍂 I read this as a part of #translatedgemsbookclub 's March reading.
Kurdistan +100: Stories from a Future State by Ava Homa, Muharrem Erbey, Sema Kaygusuz, Jîl Şwanî, Qadir Agid, Yildiz Cakar, Omer Dilsoz, Meral Simsek, Jahangir Mahmoudveysi, Huseyin Karabey, Nariman Evdike, Selahattin Demirtaş, Karzan Kardozi
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
🌱 A fundamental part of our existence is defined by the language we express ourselves in. That is why when we seek liberation, we first look for words in the language we're most comfortable in, to feel them, then perhaps modify them to encompass the spirit of freedom.
🌱 When you suppress a language and alphabets of a people, you make them hold it tighter than ever. As you read through "Kurdistan + 100 : Stories from a Future State", you see the words held tight and close, at last spill over in a manner of a free flowing river. You see subjects dealt with through science fiction, magical realism, climate activism and the power of dreams, ambitions, anticipation and yearning coursing through all of them.
🌱 I read it as an English translation, and while I will always gripe about not being able to read it in the language in which stories are written, (but then like Geetanjali Shree of Tomb of Sand said "We should not agonise about what is lost in translation. Something always changes when you move from one language to another. It will mingle with something new to become another rich entity."), I will always be glad to have gotten a chance to read it in whatever way I could.
🌱 The stories with their indomitable spirit of liberty, are derived from years of resistance and need for autonomy, as communities work together towards each other's upliftment. There is sadness but such unbridled hope and resilience, that the hope at times breaks heart, but people cannot afford to have desolation define their actions.
🌱 A few writers of the stories are at this point either in exile or in prison, and the historical and political import aside, the fact makes this collection significant by multitudes.
🌱 Thank you @translatedgems for the pick and you probably know by now that I am going to bug you for more Kurdish recommendations. 🥲
🌱 I will speak it out loud because I can and owe it.
Jin
Jiyan
Azadi
Kurdistan
🌿 //‘They’ve taken everything else from us: our mountains are black with their bombs, our walnut trees were plucked from the land, our land is barren and dead, and we can’t even speak in our language anymore. The sun, fire, and the foxes of our old stories are all we can give our children.’//
🌿 //It dawned on me that the distinction between horror and entertainment lay in your proximity to the events unfolding.//
🌿 //She would take my hand in hers and continue, ‘Although they may build many nests on the land, their trees will never take root.’ Before my grandma passed away she whispered in my ear, then took a seed wrapped in a green headscarf from under her pillow, and pressed it into my hand. Since that moment, my hand has felt a strong connection to the turpentine tree. I have crossed mountains and valleys, planting these trees wherever I go. Using a small spade I carry with me I dig into the soil, plant the seed and gently cover it. This earth is not the same earth as that which covers the faces of dead people. It is a living substance which has witnessed storms, wars, and genocides. But each time it is reborn.//
🌿 //Who can say that the trees are not like our children? Ever since my grandma put that seed in my hand, I have been holding onto the idea of it. It wasn’t just a tree, it was a thought that I watered every morning. Even if she wasn’t thirsty, still I gave her water. I filled my hands at Kaniya Xanike spring and gently let it trickle down into her soil. Sometimes the village women laughed at me and said, ‘The roots of the tree reach down to a well of water, you don’t need to give it handfuls of water like that.’ They didn’t know that I wasn’t giving that water out of necessity, but out of love.//
#translatedgemsbookclub #translatedbooks #kurdistan #kurdistan🇹🇯
🌱 When you suppress a language and alphabets of a people, you make them hold it tighter than ever. As you read through "Kurdistan + 100 : Stories from a Future State", you see the words held tight and close, at last spill over in a manner of a free flowing river. You see subjects dealt with through science fiction, magical realism, climate activism and the power of dreams, ambitions, anticipation and yearning coursing through all of them.
🌱 I read it as an English translation, and while I will always gripe about not being able to read it in the language in which stories are written, (but then like Geetanjali Shree of Tomb of Sand said "We should not agonise about what is lost in translation. Something always changes when you move from one language to another. It will mingle with something new to become another rich entity."), I will always be glad to have gotten a chance to read it in whatever way I could.
🌱 The stories with their indomitable spirit of liberty, are derived from years of resistance and need for autonomy, as communities work together towards each other's upliftment. There is sadness but such unbridled hope and resilience, that the hope at times breaks heart, but people cannot afford to have desolation define their actions.
🌱 A few writers of the stories are at this point either in exile or in prison, and the historical and political import aside, the fact makes this collection significant by multitudes.
🌱 Thank you @translatedgems for the pick and you probably know by now that I am going to bug you for more Kurdish recommendations. 🥲
🌱 I will speak it out loud because I can and owe it.
Jin
Jiyan
Azadi
Kurdistan
🌿 //‘They’ve taken everything else from us: our mountains are black with their bombs, our walnut trees were plucked from the land, our land is barren and dead, and we can’t even speak in our language anymore. The sun, fire, and the foxes of our old stories are all we can give our children.’//
🌿 //It dawned on me that the distinction between horror and entertainment lay in your proximity to the events unfolding.//
🌿 //She would take my hand in hers and continue, ‘Although they may build many nests on the land, their trees will never take root.’ Before my grandma passed away she whispered in my ear, then took a seed wrapped in a green headscarf from under her pillow, and pressed it into my hand. Since that moment, my hand has felt a strong connection to the turpentine tree. I have crossed mountains and valleys, planting these trees wherever I go. Using a small spade I carry with me I dig into the soil, plant the seed and gently cover it. This earth is not the same earth as that which covers the faces of dead people. It is a living substance which has witnessed storms, wars, and genocides. But each time it is reborn.//
🌿 //Who can say that the trees are not like our children? Ever since my grandma put that seed in my hand, I have been holding onto the idea of it. It wasn’t just a tree, it was a thought that I watered every morning. Even if she wasn’t thirsty, still I gave her water. I filled my hands at Kaniya Xanike spring and gently let it trickle down into her soil. Sometimes the village women laughed at me and said, ‘The roots of the tree reach down to a well of water, you don’t need to give it handfuls of water like that.’ They didn’t know that I wasn’t giving that water out of necessity, but out of love.//
#translatedgemsbookclub #translatedbooks #kurdistan #kurdistan🇹🇯
Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
This collection is very different from author's Your Utopia. I think I liked Your Utopia much more than this. I also think the author has evolved as a writer. A lot.
Perma Red by Debra Magpie Earling
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
🐱 I read this book as a part of the February reading of @indigenousreadingcircle
🐱 This is easily my first extremely horrifying book of this year, and I have read a book this year that has feces turning into a full ass human. So you get the drift.
🐱 The plot happens on a Flathead reservation where whites are as prejudiced as ever. Their bars have placards of "No dogs or Indians allowed".
🐱 Louise White Elk, a young Native American woman, is trying her best to live the way she wants in a world that only has several odds stacked against her. Baptiste Yellow Knife is a Native American man, who has, despite the white man and his persistence, defied movement from the Native ways. Charlie Kicking Woman, the opposite of his cousin Yellow Knife, has become a stooge of the white man and his systems. The story is narrated from the povs of these three people, and as you read, you figure that the povs of the woman and the men while narrating the same incidents, differ a LOT from each other. Almost like they're talking of different incidents altogether. Charlie's pov of being a cop under the white man, and how it affects his identity and community, is a very revealing read.
🐱 People do things for survival as they think fit. But the reservation, with its extreme weather changes, ferocious rivers, unending violence, oppression, abuse, and snakes, decides how and who gets to survive.
🐱 This is a grim tale. The writing is poetic and full of similes in so many places, it becomes heavy, not just because of the way it's done but also because of the story it's attempting to tell. I found it a bit slow initially. I also struggled to invest in the characters for the first 60% but then the plot suddenly sped up and things started to happen quickly. I now feel I should go back and read the 60% again because I am sure I missed a few things I should have caught on. The last 40% is hauntingly beautiful. I am still unsure of the dynamics of the main characters and I have several questions but I am glad I kept going and finished the book. I learnt a lot of things I wouldn't have otherwise learnt.
🐱 I am very keen now to explore more by the author and the genre.
🐱 Quotes 🐱
"I got the call no more than ten minutes into my shift. Some Indian disturbing the peace in the Dixon Bar. I was sick and tired of those calls, sick of the sign above every small bar and tavern across the state of Montana and beyond, anywhere there was an Indian, no dogs or indians allowed. Tired of being the authority charged to uphold a law that forbid me to enter a bar when I wasn’t in uniform. Who the hell was I to haul off a brother looking for small comfort? "
"And I stood there, dumb to the nuns. I stood there with a pencil and a hardback report and I couldn’t make sense of any of it. It just seemed to me the more good the white man tried to do for us the more trouble we had. The government thought it was a good thing for the Indians to attend the white man’s school, to be instructed by a group of women who had never known love. Women who were more lost than we were as a troop of wild-eyed Indians, homesick, lousy, smelling like woodsmoke. Women who came from France, women who came from Germany. Women who were more like us Indians than they cared to admit. Women who had lost their identities, too, even their names, like our names, were lost to them. Nuns. Sisters who were not sisters. Their hands so white there was a gray look about them.
And I used to think they hated us. I’d been struck by these women, had my ears slapped for laughing, had been cuffed so hard I bit through my lower lip. But I felt sorry for these women and their lonesome lives. I used to walk up behind the school and look at the graveyards of all these women buried far from their families, knowing that long after we had left the Ursulines’ they would stay."
🐱 This is easily my first extremely horrifying book of this year, and I have read a book this year that has feces turning into a full ass human. So you get the drift.
🐱 The plot happens on a Flathead reservation where whites are as prejudiced as ever. Their bars have placards of "No dogs or Indians allowed".
🐱 Louise White Elk, a young Native American woman, is trying her best to live the way she wants in a world that only has several odds stacked against her. Baptiste Yellow Knife is a Native American man, who has, despite the white man and his persistence, defied movement from the Native ways. Charlie Kicking Woman, the opposite of his cousin Yellow Knife, has become a stooge of the white man and his systems. The story is narrated from the povs of these three people, and as you read, you figure that the povs of the woman and the men while narrating the same incidents, differ a LOT from each other. Almost like they're talking of different incidents altogether. Charlie's pov of being a cop under the white man, and how it affects his identity and community, is a very revealing read.
🐱 People do things for survival as they think fit. But the reservation, with its extreme weather changes, ferocious rivers, unending violence, oppression, abuse, and snakes, decides how and who gets to survive.
🐱 This is a grim tale. The writing is poetic and full of similes in so many places, it becomes heavy, not just because of the way it's done but also because of the story it's attempting to tell. I found it a bit slow initially. I also struggled to invest in the characters for the first 60% but then the plot suddenly sped up and things started to happen quickly. I now feel I should go back and read the 60% again because I am sure I missed a few things I should have caught on. The last 40% is hauntingly beautiful. I am still unsure of the dynamics of the main characters and I have several questions but I am glad I kept going and finished the book. I learnt a lot of things I wouldn't have otherwise learnt.
🐱 I am very keen now to explore more by the author and the genre.
🐱 Quotes 🐱
"I got the call no more than ten minutes into my shift. Some Indian disturbing the peace in the Dixon Bar. I was sick and tired of those calls, sick of the sign above every small bar and tavern across the state of Montana and beyond, anywhere there was an Indian, no dogs or indians allowed. Tired of being the authority charged to uphold a law that forbid me to enter a bar when I wasn’t in uniform. Who the hell was I to haul off a brother looking for small comfort? "
"And I stood there, dumb to the nuns. I stood there with a pencil and a hardback report and I couldn’t make sense of any of it. It just seemed to me the more good the white man tried to do for us the more trouble we had. The government thought it was a good thing for the Indians to attend the white man’s school, to be instructed by a group of women who had never known love. Women who were more lost than we were as a troop of wild-eyed Indians, homesick, lousy, smelling like woodsmoke. Women who came from France, women who came from Germany. Women who were more like us Indians than they cared to admit. Women who had lost their identities, too, even their names, like our names, were lost to them. Nuns. Sisters who were not sisters. Their hands so white there was a gray look about them.
And I used to think they hated us. I’d been struck by these women, had my ears slapped for laughing, had been cuffed so hard I bit through my lower lip. But I felt sorry for these women and their lonesome lives. I used to walk up behind the school and look at the graveyards of all these women buried far from their families, knowing that long after we had left the Ursulines’ they would stay."
Watchmen by Alan Moore
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
White man, touted as the "world's smartest man", figures out his killing millions of people is not going to help end the wars, thereby realizing he is not the world's smartest man after all. 🥲