This book made me tear up in a few of the more emotional and well-written scenes. I cared about the characters, except Emmy’s birth dad, who I actually think the author gave too much excuse, as sorry as he was, in explaining his actions.
The saddest fact to me, which I had to verify, was the expanse of the Grand Coulee Dam and what it did to sacred native lands. From Wikipedia: “Creation of the reservoir forced the relocation of over 3,000 people, including Native Americans whose ancestral lands were partially flooded. The dam has also blocked the migration of salmon and other fish upstream to spawn.”
This novel has a lot of heartbreak:
- Third world poverty
- Alcoholic, deadbeat parents
- Religious fundamentalism that corrupts communities
- Single moms who work multiple jobs to make ends meet
- Teenage girls with no self-confidence who fall for the first boy who pays them any attention and proceeds to take advantage of that low self-esteem
- Racism
- Broken families
- Resignation
On the other hand, there is a lot of sensitivity the author uses to frame life on a rez, life in a trailer park, and life in an inner city apartment with secondhand everything that I found completely authentic. I can say this with some amount of authority because I myself grew up on a Native American reservation.
I wasn’t sure about Emmy’s voice at first, though I became more accepting of it as the novel went on. I thought the multiple perspectives were very well done and very different to each other (except how perhaps “true” love is viewed). I also wish there was a little bit more resolution between mother and daughter at the end, and that the f-word wasn’t used so much, though I thought when it was used it showed the frustration it meant. Overall, this is a very special debut novel and I hope more people read it. I have already specifically recommended it to some. ( )