I have listened to and recommended Rebecca Nagle’s podcast This Land, and I was very pleased to learn that she had a book coming out that expands on tI have listened to and recommended Rebecca Nagle’s podcast This Land, and I was very pleased to learn that she had a book coming out that expands on the topic of the podcast’s first season. By the Fire We Carry did not disappoint.
Part journalism and part history, this book offers an accessible and informed analysis of all that led up to and was changed by the historic 2020 McGirt v. Oklahoma decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. Nagle centers the political and legal context behind U.S. and state relations with Native peoples and their lands, spotlighting issues of sovereignty and justice. Whether you’re interested in Indigenous American affairs (historical or contemporary), “Indian law,” Oklahoma politics and history, or the broader scope of the U.S. story (and the lessons we can learn from it), this much-needed work will provide new insights. It also includes an excellent bibliography to fuel further investigation. This is a reader-friendly, passionate, and vital piece of legal, political, and historical investigation with deep importance and implications today, one that does not shy away from difficult topics, and I look forward to sharing it with others.
Thanks to Goodreads Giveaways and HarperCollins for the opportunity to read this book before it was published. All opinions in this review are my own....more
3.5 stars. This feels like a transitional work, as Cash Blackbear comes to new realizations about her future and its possibilities. I look forward to 3.5 stars. This feels like a transitional work, as Cash Blackbear comes to new realizations about her future and its possibilities. I look forward to more novels in this series....more
I thoroughly enjoyed this first book in the Cash Blackbear mystery series, and I’ve already bought the next book. Marcie Rendon’s focus is at least asI thoroughly enjoyed this first book in the Cash Blackbear mystery series, and I’ve already bought the next book. Marcie Rendon’s focus is at least as much on the geographical/recent-historical setting of the story and its deeply-ingrained racial issues between Natives and whites as on the mystery itself, but this works well. She handles compelling, three-dimensional characters and big issues with sensitivity and insight. I only wish the book had been longer, so my immersion in the world could have lasted for more pages. I look forward to reading more about Cash....more
“I didn’t want to get up and face what I’d almost certainly lost. What I’d lost and still had to lose. The country of the living was gone to me, and I“I didn’t want to get up and face what I’d almost certainly lost. What I’d lost and still had to lose. The country of the living was gone to me, and I knew I’d entered a different space, one that offered no solace but only the wind and the cold and the frost. Winter counts. This was the winter of my sorrow, one I had tried to elude but which had come for me with a terrible cruelty.”
This is a powerful mystery/thriller centered on contemporary reservation life (set on South Dakota’s Rosebud Reservation) and focused on the perspective of a vigilante enforcer who has a very personal reason for wanting to see drug dealers removed from his community. Along the way, the novel deals with issues of inherited trauma, government corruption, tangled law enforcement jurisdictions, racism (both from inside and outside of the reservation), and spirituality. The characters are compelling, although I deducted a star because the narrator seemed at times inconsistent in his language choice -- is he an eloquent near-poet or rough-speaking professional thug? -- and (perhaps?) a bit too soft-hearted to regularly take delight in bashing in heads. That said, this novel has great heart, and its meaning has great importance, and both shine through in a clear and compelling way.
I was reminded of mystery novels by Indigenous authors such as Marcie Rendon and non-Indigenous authors such as Craig Johnson, and both comparisons are meant as compliments. I will definitely be looking forward to reading more by David Heska Wanbli Weiden....more
This is a beautiful book set in the present-day Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Traci Sorell describes how Cherokees give thanks through different eventsThis is a beautiful book set in the present-day Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Traci Sorell describes how Cherokees give thanks through different events and activities in each of the four seasons, and she incorporates Cherokee words (with their pronunciations) in her descriptions. This is a perfect way to introduce young readers to a Cherokee perspective, and I already plan to give copies to family and friends....more
This story is a quiet and sensitive take on the post-apocalyptic novel, set in northern Canada in an Anishinaabe community. As one elder notes, the woThis story is a quiet and sensitive take on the post-apocalyptic novel, set in northern Canada in an Anishinaabe community. As one elder notes, the world of the Anishinaabe has already ended twice — first when the settlers took their homeland and second when the government took their children to residential schools — and yet the Anishinaabe had endured, so the notion of an “apocalypse” is not so daunting. The way the community fails and succeeds as it seeks to survive the loss of power and outside contact provides sheds light on Anishinaabe worldviews and larger Indigenous issues, and delicate hints of the wendigo (as character or as metaphor, you choose) add poetry and menace to the tale.
What makes this novel so compelling and successful, however, are the deeply believable characters and their daily struggles. This is a big-idea novel that nonetheless feels very personal and intimate. I will be thinking about it for a long time, and I look forward to introducing it to my students....more
The elegantly simple prose of Where the Dead Sit Talking contrasts effectively with the complexity of this wrenching slice of a life story. Set in rurThe elegantly simple prose of Where the Dead Sit Talking contrasts effectively with the complexity of this wrenching slice of a life story. Set in rural Oklahoma in 1980s (not far from my hometown of Tulsa), the novel explores the difficult coming-of-age of Sequoyah, a fifteen-year-old Cherokee youth in foster care. With his single mother in prison, his father out of the picture, and his foster siblings as troubled as he is, Sequoyah tries to make sense of his own identity, especially in relation to his seventeen-year-old foster sister Rosemary. Everywhere he looks, things and people are not what they seem, including his kindly foster father, who is running an illegal sports bookie business; what's more, almost all of the adults around Sequoyah seem lost in their own quiet desperation, examples of what not to do with one's life. It is impossible not to feel for everyone in the novel, and the authenticity of Sequoyah's voice draws you deeper into his disturbed and disturbing thoughts. Spare, relentless, and powerful. ...more
Storm of Locusts is a masterful sequel to Trail of Lightning, both expanding the geographic range of the story, taking us outside of Dinétah, and inteStorm of Locusts is a masterful sequel to Trail of Lightning, both expanding the geographic range of the story, taking us outside of Dinétah, and intensifying our connection to characters old and new, taking us inside the "found family" of Maggie and her allies. Here are old gods, new threats, and complicated, messy, beautifully human reactions to the (post-)apocalypse.
Don't start here; read Trail of Lightning first. But if you loved Trail, you will find everything compelling from that novel -- broken, brilliant characters, dry wit and biting commentary, Navajo culture, and a pervasive, aching sense of longing -- dialed up a notch and drawn more deeply. ...more
This is one of *the* foundational anthologies to read if you are interested in Indigenous Futurisms in science fiction. The stories range from good toThis is one of *the* foundational anthologies to read if you are interested in Indigenous Futurisms in science fiction. The stories range from good to great to outstanding, and they represent some of the most important and beautiful voices in the field. Highly recommended. ...more
The horror of this story and its deeply unreliable narrator didn't really sink in until the final pages of this shortI wish I could give this one 3.5.
The horror of this story and its deeply unreliable narrator didn't really sink in until the final pages of this short work; before that, Mapping the Interior seemed to me more sad than frightening, with insights on contemporary Native America intertwined with a boy's sense of longing for an absent father as he tries and fails to be all that his family -- especially his little brother -- needs. I appreciate the artistry involved with this tale, even though it seemed at time to hold me at arm's length, emotionally speaking. The ending packs a punch, and I'm glad I read it. ...more
This is a powerful and moving study of a bright Tuscarora teen in the 1970s, his first "off the reservation" friendship with a white classmate, and hoThis is a powerful and moving study of a bright Tuscarora teen in the 1970s, his first "off the reservation" friendship with a white classmate, and how the powerful of music (specifically the music of the Beatles and Paul McCartney) gives him a new sense of his place in the world. Racism, bullying, and brutal government policy toward Native America (such as the boarding school system) all receive sensitive treatment here, as do larger themes of family, community, and place. I definitely will be reading more from this author. ...more
This elegant work of dystopian fiction deserves the honors it has received. The metaphors here are powerful, as Canada turns to its Indigenous people This elegant work of dystopian fiction deserves the honors it has received. The metaphors here are powerful, as Canada turns to its Indigenous people as a resource to be exploited to the death. Dimaline captures both the anguish of First Nations (in particular with regard to the legacy of the forced residential schools) and the hope inherent in their persistence. Disturbing and inspirational. The unlooked-for ending undid me....more
This is an immensely useful work, not to mention a challenging and even inspirational one. I read/teach/write in this field, and I covered this with hThis is an immensely useful work, not to mention a challenging and even inspirational one. I read/teach/write in this field, and I covered this with highlights and sticky notes so I could return to key passages and citations. I most certainly will be sharing this with my students.
Meant to inspire conversation and further reading (both of which it is certain to do), Why Indigenous Literatures Matter is part survey of the field of Indigenous literary studies, part cultural history, part literary polemic, and part autobiography from a key voice in the field. Daniel Heath Justice investigates why Indigenous literatures matter through four key questions that are relevant both to Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals alike. How do we learn to be human? How do we behave as good relatives? How do we become good ancestors? How do we learn to live together?
I found Justice's discussion of "wonderworks" and what Indigenous authors bring to post-apocalyptic fiction of special interest, and his ending section on his own journey of discovery about his Cherokee context spoke to me on a very personal level, but his expertise and deep humaneness shine through in every page. This is no dry monograph; it is an accessible, compelling book, and anyone who reads, writes, or thinks about these fundamental issues -- and who doesn't think about how we become human? -- will be well rewarded for spending time with it....more
This is a wonderful fantasy that's deeply steeped in Navajo tradition and mythology while also centered in present-day Indigenous reality. Rebecca RoaThis is a wonderful fantasy that's deeply steeped in Navajo tradition and mythology while also centered in present-day Indigenous reality. Rebecca Roanhorse has crafted a fast-paced adventure that speaks both to individual empowerment and cultural identity. This is the kind of book I'll give my nieces to read. Beautifully done, thrilling and moving, with just the right touch of humor. Adults will also find plenty to love and appreciate here....more
My expectations for Trail of Lightning were extremely high, and this wonderful story exceeded them all. Rebecca Roanhorse ticks all the boxes: compellMy expectations for Trail of Lightning were extremely high, and this wonderful story exceeded them all. Rebecca Roanhorse ticks all the boxes: compelling, authentic characters (including a mighty but damaged heroine whose self-image is more than a bit problematic); exquisite world building (with a Navajo people who fittingly thrive after the Big Water decimates North America, because, after all, this wasn't their first apocalypse); lush, mythological storytelling (including monsters, witches, and a singular take on Coyote); and big issues (including PTSD, abuse, and one very fraught mentor-student relationship, among others). The novel blends genres -- fantasy, science fiction, action/adventure, the Gothic -- to deliver an unputdownable work of Indigenous futurism. The moment I can preorder the sequel, I will! ...more
I love every single page of this issue. Then again, if I didn't, that would mean I hadn't done my job as Guest Editor. ;) These are stellar writers, aI love every single page of this issue. Then again, if I didn't, that would mean I hadn't done my job as Guest Editor. ;) These are stellar writers, and I hope you will give them a chance to enchant you....more
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