Category: Indigenous American

Biography, Black Experience, Family Drama, Indigenous American, literature, memoir

Year End Summary

k4books

In this difficult year for us all, I have surprisingly been able to read.  While certainly not at the same pace as I am used to, especially since it took me three months to read 20, five months for the next 20 – which included a number of books in the 90-150 page length – and then 10 in the past 3 months.  Either way, I made it to my goal. 

This year’s reading included a number of books, non-fiction, that captured my time.  The Library Book and The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu stand out.  Both are stories of how books formed the basis of the area they were made, and how the impact of the threats to them have continued throughout time.  Destruction of books can kill a community.  The numbers of people that step up and help in LA and Timbuktu that put themselves in real danger to save these are nothing short of inspiring. 

Inspiration also came from Young Woman and the Sea as well as The Memo.  Both Gertrude Ederle and Minda Harts are victims of the society they are brought into.  As a girl in the early 1900s, not only was swimming not in fashion, but a woman’s ability to swim was questioned.  Trudy not only broke all the women’s swim records but also the men’s.  While she failed in her first attempt to cross the English Channel, it is widely documented that she believed she was poisoned by her coach to keep her from completing the feat.  Minda, on the other hand, discusses the need for women of color to not only lean in, but to bring your own chair. 

I read about people coming into their own understanding of the place they hold in their life, their family, society, and more.  Some were laugh out loud, others brought tears, and more were in between. 

From a fiction standpoint, as I look back on the titles, all seem to be searching for a place to feel fulfilled.  People trying to connect, being brushed off, being hurt, just trying to survive.  My favorites this year include:

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats: A lovely story about the strength of real love.  This book was an amazing love story, while a bit unsettling about the legacy it left his daughter.

The Painted Drum: The history of Native Americans is something that has not been valued by the invaders.  When a woman comes in to catalogue a home of a deceased man, she encounters items he stole from a tribe when he was their “representative”.  Her journey to herself and her tribe, which was called to by the drum, was a lesson in the history of a people calling to its next generation, giving strength to carry on.

Where the Crawdads Sing: A compelling story, especially the isolation, that resonated due to the lock down.  The ending was worthy of Chris Bohjalian.

The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek: The concept of “colored” people in Kentucky is taken a step further when there is a group of “blue” people that are part of the community.  A real thing, this was a genetic quirk that actually existed.  The gradation of the color impacting the lives of people is amazing – there is always someone you can decide is lower than you. 

The Queen’s Gambit: After hearing about the TV adaptation, I pick up the book.  I have no idea how this book can be easily put into film, as the majority of the book is a metaphor of a game of chess, the game in question.  The Queen’s gambit is a move to start a game, similar to the first step to life.  As the story continues, each step in life becomes how Beth Harmon approaches the game.  To her, life is chess. 

Other titles that have left a lasting impression:

Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpen

Lilith’s Brood (Xenogenesis 1-3) by Octavia E. Butler

The Great Alone by Kristen Hanna

The One and Only by Emily Griffin

Elsewhere: A Memoir by Richard Russo

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts

The Dutch House by Anne Patchett

In the coming year, my focus will be to read books I own.  The titles may be a bit older, but I feel the need to do my bookshelves and brain the favor of slowing down the pace. 

book-review, Family Drama, Indigenous American, literature

There, There a story of a place that doesn’t exist anymore

k4books

Years ago I had been a participant in a program on diversity. During this program we were asked to create a spectrum of I am no sure what. I do, however remember that the facilitator stated that the Natives and the Jews should be together since we were both parts of tribes. At the time, I remember it was intriguing, but I didn’t explore it much.

As I listen to There There I am struck by the sad similarities and differences between our tribes. The book is made up of twelve separate stories that are tangentially collected. Early on we meet Jackie Red Feather and her sister Opal Victoria Viola Bear Shield. Their mother, recently battered by one of the girl’s father’s, takes the girls to join other Natives taking over Alcatraz. This reminds me of the Jews that fled Jerusalem after the first and second temples were destroyed. They fled to a fortress also to keep their way of life alive. Ultimately both fail to gain their demands, but they came together to build a community, which at the core of each is the most important part.

Other stories are added, where Natives are spoken down to, not heard, not given opportunities. They are herded together, but they don’t believe it can be that bad, people are not that evil. Both the Jews and the Natives were wrong in that belief, as they both face massacres in scale and scope that truly underline how evil exists in the world.

One character, Dene, earns a grant to capture the stories of Natives – who they are, what it means to be Native, and how they came to be there. This is also something that the Jews have done since the end of World War 2, bearing witness and sharing.

One way that is not similar is the susceptibility of Natives to addiction. Tobacco, alcohol, and drugs are devastating to these people. The number of children born addicted is disproportionately high versus the US population. One section shares the speech of a suicide prevention specialist that was especially compelling. It is that just telling them to stop doing it does not address the real problem. That was hopelessness. If there was hope, there would not be as many choosing to check out.

All roads lead to the Big Pow Wow in Oakland. This is a trial for the Indian Center – if it goes well, they will do more. Its an opportunity to dance, to learn from the big drums, to be with your people, and to try for big prize money. It is also where the White parts of the Natives, illustrated by the White 3d printed guns, does random destruction and irreparable damage to those in attendance.

As all tragedies do, it tears some apart, while bringing others together. Either way, none are the same. They are all just trying to survive and honor who they are and where they came from.

book-review, books, Indigenous American, literature, reading

Refugee Problems in 1988 – the Kingsolver way

k4books

The first Barbara Kingsolver book I read was The Poisonwood Bible. It was soon after the release. Since then I have been reading as many of her books as I can. She is a storyteller extraordinaire.  As I was looking at my 50 States challenge, I realized I didn’t have a book for Arizona, and fell upon The Bean Trees.  One of her earlier books, this one focuses on a young woman that leaves the poverty of Kentucky to find her way in the world. She jumps in a car that is broken down, but moving, and heads west. As she goes through Oklahoma, she finds herself on Cherokee land. Here, she is faced with true need, and her fate is handed to her, literally.

As she continues her journey, she witnesses the worst that the world can be to others – especially children – and yet she remains surprised with each revelation. Her car finally gives out in Arizona, and she finds her way through the kindness of strangers. These people become her family, her home, and she comes to terms with the understanding that she was a refugee from Kentucky looking for a better life, just as refugees from other countries come to the US for another chance. Each has their past, but each also looks to the future with hope. The bean trees growing in Maddie’s back yard take root where they are, even though they came from so far away. Just like the people who tend them.

With the immigration issues still as difficult now as when the book was published, the story remains as relevant today as it did in 1988.  With this, and Letters from a Woman Homesteader, I can fill in Arizona and Wyoming on my 50 states list under the At Home Travel Log. And I will keep looking for more of Kingsolver’s books. I have never been disappointed.

aged aging background bark
Photo by Fancycrave.com on Pexels.com

book-review, Indigenous American, literature, reading

Stormy weather, here and in books

k4books

It was during this dark week that I finished the book Solar Storm by Linda Hogan. I have needed some time and space to process the horrifying and scary things that have occurred in the last week, as well as to process the complex story that Ms Hogan presents. As in life, this fiction has the roots of the hurt come from centuries of hate, mistrust and misunderstanding. As in fiction, hopefully life will follow; understanding, acceptance and change come next.

This is a multifaceted tale, focusing on generations of family and conflict, centered on the fictitious tribe, now known as The Fat Eaters, but truly known as The Beautiful People.  The tale begins as Angela Jensen, a 17 year old child in the foster care system, returns to stay with relatives she just discovered searching her social services file. It is here she comes to find herself, answers to the questions around the scars that mark her face, and to learn more of whom she comes from. While there she comes to know her family, her history, her gifts, and her strengths. She comes to accept herself, and her ability to adapt to the world that has changed around her, while remaining true to herself.

This book takes time to read and time to process. As the world changes slowly, the tale unfolds, one step backwards in time, then one forward. Just as the river runs on its own pace, so does the story. Similar in voice and pacing to Louise Erdrich, this seems to be a pace that is native to these tribes. Nothing is told outright, all is hinted at. You learn by listening with your heart, and seeing with new eyes.  And when the earth is to be harmed by the building of a dam, change was forced upon them. Outside intervention changes the course of the water, and impacts plants, animals and people in ways never expected.

The dam, while a fictional tale (as noted in the preface from the author) is a story that is based in truth.  In the early 1970s the Hydro-Quebec began development of a dam at James Bay on Cree and Inuit lands without permission. The hunting and fishing grounds that these tribes relied on were flooded, which resulted in mercury poisoning, entering the food chain and directly impacted these tribes.  The forced modernization that was described in the book also happened at this time. This arrogance of the company, and it’s devastating and irreversible impact on the ecosystems and the people who live on it, is shocking in its breadth and destructive power.

As the tribes band together to demand to be heard, we all need to listen. If we would only listen to the water and the earth, maybe we could all find similarities in what we learn instead of differences.  And maybe we can learn to live together in the harmony of the earth and water.

time lapse photo of stars on night
Photo by Jakub Novacek on Pexels.com