I couldn't for the love of the Northern Lights get over the writing style. It's all short, repetitive sentences, all super lyrical and senseless and iI couldn't for the love of the Northern Lights get over the writing style. It's all short, repetitive sentences, all super lyrical and senseless and it really drove me nuts over the course of the read. I found it so grating I really wanted to give up. But I persevered and reached the end, which was actually my favourite part of the book. The last few chapters are actually understandable and have a plot! But it's too late, the book had lost me by then. I have even considered giving it another read and being more patient, but I really can't deal with the writing style (I might still give it another go because I really want to like it). Also, some of the passages are so on the nose and preachy. Ugh. I distinctly remember one about "saving money won't save you." It felt very "I am 12 and this is deep" and something about the narrator's femurs feeling the different types of ice. OK. A few memorable moments here and there such as passages about heartbreaking abuse, coping with trauma, letting lemmings into your hair, being literally fucked by the Northern Lights, giving a blowjob to a fox man, standing up to bullies. Lots of interesting themes all of them hidden under a layer of edge that I just found annoying....more
It's a concept that I've thought about before... what would happen if the end of the world comes? We'd have to go back to gardening and hunting. But wIt's a concept that I've thought about before... what would happen if the end of the world comes? We'd have to go back to gardening and hunting. But what happens when you are a First Nation community in northern Canada? I like the story and i was gripped until the very last page, but it left me wanting more. I don't know if it's because it felt a little shallow or because I expected more drama, but when I reached the last chapter I was like... "so that's it?" I wanted the stakes to be higher, it's like we never really get to understand the motivations of the "bad guy" and nobody really changes much by the end. So yeah, on one hand I liked the premise and I liked reading about the goings-on of all the people living in this reservation but I wish there was more meat to chew on. (lol, so did all the characters) ...more
So I decided to reread the book once i finished it the first time around. (First read through review at the bottom)
Okay so writing down the names of So I decided to reread the book once i finished it the first time around. (First read through review at the bottom)
Okay so writing down the names of ALL the characters and how they are related to each other made me in joy this book so so so so so so so much more than the first read-through. I got the plot so much better and was able to have a deeper insight into why the characters are as they are and what their motivations are. Strongly suggest you keep track of the characters somehow, especially since there is a lot of messy family trees. Anyway i really loved how all the characters are kind of like “fated” to attend a pow wow in Oakland and we get to see exactly what drove them to go: to mind one’s grandchildren? to connect with one’s roots? to play the drum? forced to go? I also love how the constant changing POV pushes forward the plots for several characters at once, since all the narratives overlap in some way or another. i don’t know what to write without giving too much away but yeah i loved this book
Original review: I think i need another read of this to truly get the plot and figure out how the characters are related to one another. The first few chapters I read I had just assumed that all the people in this belonged to separate unrelated short stories, so I didn't really keep their names and relationships in mind past their own chapters and then oops we're 70% through the book and who were these people again? So yeah, I'm going to read it again (it's not that long, after all) and I'll write some proper thoughts on it. But for now: I loved the variety of characters, in terms of age, their identity, their feelings towards their being Indian (or not. They really felt real and multi-dimensional, even though we just get a very short time with each of them. I also feel like I learnt a lot about the dynamics of Indian people in the U.S., which has striking similarities with that of Indigenous people in Taiwan....more
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