Reading Murder on the Red River by Marcie R. Rendon felt like such a gift not only because of the intriguing plot but also because its Ojibwe authoredReading Murder on the Red River by Marcie R. Rendon felt like such a gift not only because of the intriguing plot but also because its Ojibwe authored.
This was my first time really delving into Rendons writing. I had received the second book in the Cash Blackbear Mystery series (Girl Gone Missing) in a literary box and set it aside until I’d read the first novel Murder on the Red River (which was the October book for @indigenousreadingcircle )
Mystery isn’t a genre I read often but Rendons writing style had me hooked. The plot progressed in a way that kept me turning the (digital) page even though it was well past my bedtime.
I also really enjoyed Cash Blackbear as a character and appreciated all of the important issues touched upon throughout.
Rendon does a phenomenal job of keeping us entertained with a well paced mystery plot while also demonstrating the negative impacts that the foster care system and being removed from one’s community has on many Indigenous youth.
There were so many “small� moments that stood out to me as Ojibwekwe and it once again displays the importance of Indigenous authors holding space across all genres. ...more
26 Indigenous authored short stories come together to form this sharp and unsettling horror anthology which was edited by Shane Hawk (Cheyenne/Arapaho26 Indigenous authored short stories come together to form this sharp and unsettling horror anthology which was edited by Shane Hawk (Cheyenne/Arapaho) and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. (Chippewa/Ottawa) and features an incredible foreword by Stephen Graham Jones (Blackfoot.)
It’s no surprise that Never Whistle at Night continues to chart as each story is visceral in it’s own unique way and pulsating with energy. There were a plethora of stories written by my favourite authors and a lot of new-to-me writers as well.
Many genres have misrepresented Indigenous people, dark fiction/horror included, but what happens when Indigenous folks write the stories? The result is magnificent. Told with passion and alive with tradition and storytelling across various tribes.
We witness the importance of oral storytelling, how our Elders, family and communities shape who we are, the choices we make and the stories we tell, how the cautionary tales we’re told as children follow us for the rest of our lives and are passed on & on & on, how many people may simply see fiction but niijiis see a story that reminds us about Little People and a tale our cousin told us when we were five and how two weeks later four of our socks were missing and there were tiny foot prints all over the inside of our closet walls.
(side note: my mom left out candy with some tobacco every month if too many socks we’re going missing lol.)
A strong recommendation from myself. Miigwech to Shane and @vintageanchorbooks for making sure I received an e-copy to review!...more
Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice (Anishinaabe) was a highly anticipated release for many readers & for very good reason. It’s been a longMoon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice (Anishinaabe) was a highly anticipated release for many readers & for very good reason. It’s been a long while since I’ve had such an emotional reaction to a novels ending.
What does life look like for Indigenous people when society as we know it falls apart? Is it a death sentence or is it a chance to live our lives in a way that more closely resembles that of our ancestors? Is it our opportunity to truly return home? As Anishinaabekwe, this novel certainly felt that way.
The love & care for the land, Anishinaabemowin & community are all woven into the prose. When I close my eyes & think of this novel, I see trees, sunlight, ceremony and full bodies of water. I appreciated the loving and careful depictions of ceremony and how Anishinaabe language was interspersed throughout.
The action in the novel really keeps you hooked & the genuine bonds between the characters are so well developed that each emotion shines through truthfully. Everything is immensely well balanced.
This is an amazing sequel. If you haven’t read Moon of the Crusted Snow, I’d highly recommend you read it as soon as possible and then enjoy Moon of the Turning Leaves.
Anishinaabe have and will always be here, caring for the land and our people. ...more
(Miigwech to one world books for sending me this gifted copy. It came to me while I was a newly diagnosed cancer patient and kept my mind occupied whe(Miigwech to one world books for sending me this gifted copy. It came to me while I was a newly diagnosed cancer patient and kept my mind occupied when I needed it the most. )
Have you read Excavations by Hannah Michell? I devoured it this summer while I was undergoing my egg retrieval and I’m not sure if it’s because my hormones were all over the place but this book really had me feeling everything.
It was full of mystery, secrecy, love Korean history and heartbreak. For a novel that’s rather fast paced and a quick read, I found the relationships and the layers within nuanced and palpable. The plot kept me intrigued the entire way through and I gasped and cried along the way (again, hormones. Maybe.)
I remember when the book was over, I wanted more, I wanted further answers and resolve but as so often in real life, amidst immense grief and oppression, there are no clean and happy endings....more
Carol Rose GoldenEagle (Cree/Dene) writes of community, family, ceremony and reconnecting. I always sink comfortably into books that make me feel likeCarol Rose GoldenEagle (Cree/Dene) writes of community, family, ceremony and reconnecting. I always sink comfortably into books that make me feel like I’m visiting family, like I’m going back home to the rez. While much of my reading experience felt this way, there was no mistaking the immense amount of sexual and intergenerational trauma that took place within the novel and the depictions of sexual assault were very graphic and added an even more reprehensible layer to a character who used his role as a knowledge keeper and ceremony conductor to prey on members of his community.
The Narrows of Fear (Wapawikoscikanik) shows the way residential schools continued to negatively impact the lives of the family members forced to attend and the homophobia that was instilled into the grandfather after relentless sexual trauma and how it affected the relationship between him and his son. The way GoldenEagle worked through this issue in particular brought tears to my eyes.
In this novel the strength of Indigenous family bonds is limitless through so much trauma and that familial strength doesn’t always have to be borne through blood, the characters chosen family is just as important to their healing and reclamation of their culture and language (Cree is featured lovingly throughout.)
The taste of rez berries and wild meat after a long stint in the city, a vicious laugh with your family on the way to a pow wow, learning a new drum song, dancing in new regalia- The Narrows of Fear is full of so many tender moments and I’m happy I had the chance to read them.
I came away thinking of how Indigenous folks don’t have to be resilient, in the arms of our loved ones and in the thrums of a drum song, we can just be.
And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott was a whirlwind of a reading experience. Indigenous motherhood and familial bonds, grief, addiction, mental illnesAnd Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott was a whirlwind of a reading experience. Indigenous motherhood and familial bonds, grief, addiction, mental illness, racism, Mohawk storytelling and the way this knowledge is preyed upon by colonial institutions are some of the subjects focused on throughout the novel.
The first portion follows Alice as she grapples with the loss of her mother and feeling out of place after leaving her community and moving to a predominately white neighborhood with her husband Steve and their baby Dawn. We witness Alice falling into the depths of something immense while trying to write a retelling of a Haudenosaunee creation story.
The latter half of the novel takes us to a uniquely miraculous climax which brought me to tears. Elliott ties everything together in such a brilliant way and as an Indigenous reader I was left ruminating on how ceremony, love and unbreakable bonds carry us through seas of intergenerational trauma. With that love we are never lost.
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