pick5 ⭐️s
This is another one that leaves me feeling completely inadequate. I don't know where to even begin to express the scope of the story or the impact it has had on me. I urge anyone that enjoys historical fiction, multi-generational storytelling, and having your heart torn from your chest to read it immediately.
Five HUGE stars.
It wrecked me.
Read it.
pickI knew this would be a difficult read so even though I‘ve owned this for a while, I kept putting it off. Glad I finally got to it, though it was hard going in some places. The atrocities people can commit against each other because of “otherness” never ceases to amaze me.
pickA soft pick. A Native American history focused on the way the many different tribes responded to, and managed, European encroachment, each responding in their own way. The info is solid. The tone is strange. A lot to of pro-native bias - like way over the top.
pickFirst of all, the cover of this book is stunning. Second of all, I had to take my time with these essays. There is a lot to absorb. Thirdly, this is a powerful journey of awakening and discovery and growth and self-embracing and power. And the author offers us the same gifts. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
pickIt took me a bit to get used to the style of the story and it starts out a bit slow as we learn about the Only People and their lives/culture, but once Young Hunter set out on his journey, I was hooked. I especially loved his relationship with his dogs!
“Reed looked hard at Young Hunter as she spoke those last words and he felt a shiver go down his spine. He understood. He saw who the fire hunters were and the greatness of their danger to all the people. He saw that they were beings to be pitied and feared. He saw too that his own weak seeing was needed now to help these people of the Village Between the Hills, as well as his own Dawn Land People.”
“The dogs looked up at him and then turned to run back in the direction from which they had come. Young Hunter faced the west and began to make his way quickly down the hill, angling toward the headland where his uncle had taken him four autumns before. As he ran, a part of his divided mind retold him that story of the hunter and his dogs. The rhythm of his grandmother‘s voice speaking the tale blended with the soft beat of his running feet.”
“All of the fear that had edged close to him was gone now. One of the dogs in the lean-to behind him stretched its legs, pressing them against Young Hunter‘s back. He would not think of tomorrow now. He would hold the sweetgrass basket close to his face and smell it; he would enjoy the warmth of his fire, and soon, the taste of his food. It would be enough. For now, it would be enough. Tomorrow he would reach the village of the Salmon People.”
pickAnother challenging text, written in high detail. The Creek were used like a tool by Andrew Jackson to expand the confederacy, clearing out the land while fighting another tribe he called the ‘Red Sticks‘. Thousands of both tribes were slaughtered…this massive death event and violent colonization paved the way for expanded slavery territory, and eventually, the Civil War. Note: the confederacy enslaved both Black and Indigenous people, and⬇️
“He built the fire before the sun was rose.”
#FirstLineFriday
@ShyBookOwl
