Thanks to videos posted by E, tu Brody and Michele I am participating in Indigathon2020. The books I have read are below:
Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones
First of let me start by saying that werewolf lives suck. They are stipped in misery and poverty. The book is very engaging and the language is simple and easy to follow but, oh my God. The story is heartbreaking. The sad and disturbing thing is that if you replace paranormal wolfishness with drug and alcohol addiction, the story wouldn't change much. The family is practically illiterate and destitude. Moves around all the time due to illegal shit they have to pull to survive and there is no end in sight. There is no 'good choice' that the protagonist can make that will change his fate. Their misery is so deep and so complete - we are talking about generation upon generation of semi-existing - that they cannot even fathom a way out. They are unloved and unwanted and thoroughly desperate all the times. I have a suspicion that werewolfism is just a metaphor for being native American and If that is true, holy shit the crimes commited against them by the world are terrible.
This town sleeps by Dennis E Staples
This is not the best or more memorable book I have read this year. It explores an interesting theme: life in modern Indian reservations. To describe it in one word: depressing. I have read before that alcohol and drug addiction are a major problem in Indigenous communities and that is clearly evident in this book as well. To top it all up the protagonist of the story is gay and rather unfortunate in love. He lives in a small and rather isolated town/village and most of the partners he discovers are surprise, surprice, closeted. All in all I liked it but it wasn't a great book. It could have been but it was not. If I had to recommend a book by an indegenous author, it wouldn't be this one.
This book was written by an indigenous writer, just not an American. It is extremely confusing and weird. It feels like the girl/woman life is a dream. There are these spirits who posses her for luck of a better word. They are many and they are hungry. She is trying to have a normal life but they will not let her. This book is difficult to read. Not because of the language but because it depicts the internal life of someone who is insane. The doctors would have a different term it would probably be depressed and suicidal tendencies due to molestation and abuse during childhood but the end is the same.
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
Wow just wow. This book was out of this world. It was full of cruelty and hearbreak but at the same time it was a story of resilience and courage. It's a dystopian world where indegenous people are treated like property but this is the 2nd round of terror. What I mean by that is that the atrocities described in the book have already happened once. They are not new. This makes the story even more horifying. Canadians, you suck!
How I became a ghost by Tim Tingle
How is this a children's book?!? I admit that as a Greek woman I was only vaguely aware of the trail of tears but how is this a children's book. People drop dead right, left and center. Am I the only one who wants bad things to happen to the soldiers? Like awfully bad? Well, I am pretty sure that their grandchildren are the same people who refuse to wear a mask so they are spreading covid19, so not much has changed. *Spoiler* this is a story about a 10 year old who dies literaly and becomes a ghost. I do not know wwhy I thought it was a metaphore; it's right there on the title, but still.
Here is a phrase that struck me: That's when I realized for the first time that the soldiers couldn't hurt me. I was already dead! Maybe being a ghost wasn't so bad after all.
What? WHAT???? He is TEN. Don't get me wrong you absolutely must read this book just be prepared to cry.
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
This book is marvellous. The characters are well thought out and the story is fast-paced but we still learn a lot about the protagonists. **Spoiler alert: The revenge that Serapio is after is not only well deserved but timely as well.** I liked that there was a bisexual character but I mostly liked the way the author approached the subject. These days it is 'fashionable' to prove how forward-thinking you are by adding an LGTBQ+ character just for the sake of publicity (we are looking at you, JK Rowling). This is not the case here.
The book was written by an indigenous author and is based on native American folklore but I only knew this because I read it in other reviews; otherwise I wouldn't have realised it at all. My only problem is that the bok has just been released and it's a trilogy and I don't know how long I will have to wait for the next instalment (probably a year or so)
I was quite disappointed; The book was kind of boring. I wouldn't recommend it. I gave it 3 out of 5 stars
