Hey everyone out there..... so today I am going to post some books that I have read for my Native American Literature class. Why you might ask me am I doing that? Well I look at it this way, none of us knows every book out there. Sometimes we get a good review of a book, sometimes we see a cover of a book and we feel we have to read it. Sometimes we have to get out of our comfort zone and try something new. I am here to push at your comfort zone.....
While The Locust Slept by Peter Razor.
This was a hard book to tell you the truth. It really ticks me off to read about the Indian Boarding Schools and what went on there in the dark as well as what went on during the day. I am sad that there have been many generations that have been affected by all the crimes that went on in these establishments. While this is not a big book to read, it is a challenge. It plays with your emotions, makes you mad one minute and want to punch someone the next. By far it is not the worse story I have heard about boarding schools. It is however every bit as inhumane as the others. We need to really put ourselves in Peter's shoes to get the full meaning of the memoir.
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
This is a great book but it is a little hard to get going in. It is about an Indian from the Laguna Pueblo Reservation and he has been a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II. He goes back to the Rez and has to deal with all the poverty, racism, family issues all while dealing with the horrors of being in a war and having what we would call PTSD nowadays. This is alittle harder to get into as it goes back and forth in time, however it is a great book so stick with it to the end!
Fools Crow by James Welch
Another great book that may be a challenge to stick with. I got lost sometimes with people's names and who they were related to, but I finally got it. I really liked this book and the descriptions, the heart of the people, the relationships- how everyone really is connected to others whether we like it or not. There is also sadness in it, I hate to say it but most of the history out there is tragic for the Indians.However there is alot of wisdom in this book- we are dependent on each other and our decisions good or bad can affect many.
Please give one of these books a read. Expand your reading list. Let me know what you think of them.
Happy Reading!
While The Locust Slept by Peter Razor.
This was a hard book to tell you the truth. It really ticks me off to read about the Indian Boarding Schools and what went on there in the dark as well as what went on during the day. I am sad that there have been many generations that have been affected by all the crimes that went on in these establishments. While this is not a big book to read, it is a challenge. It plays with your emotions, makes you mad one minute and want to punch someone the next. By far it is not the worse story I have heard about boarding schools. It is however every bit as inhumane as the others. We need to really put ourselves in Peter's shoes to get the full meaning of the memoir.
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
This is a great book but it is a little hard to get going in. It is about an Indian from the Laguna Pueblo Reservation and he has been a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II. He goes back to the Rez and has to deal with all the poverty, racism, family issues all while dealing with the horrors of being in a war and having what we would call PTSD nowadays. This is alittle harder to get into as it goes back and forth in time, however it is a great book so stick with it to the end!
Fools Crow by James Welch
Another great book that may be a challenge to stick with. I got lost sometimes with people's names and who they were related to, but I finally got it. I really liked this book and the descriptions, the heart of the people, the relationships- how everyone really is connected to others whether we like it or not. There is also sadness in it, I hate to say it but most of the history out there is tragic for the Indians.However there is alot of wisdom in this book- we are dependent on each other and our decisions good or bad can affect many.
Please give one of these books a read. Expand your reading list. Let me know what you think of them.
Happy Reading!
Great article! I watched a few documentaries on the true Indian side of things. I wish I remembered what ones I watched so I could pass along the titles. I too, was angered at how the Indians were treated, especially the boarding schools. I also found out that much of what I was taught in high school was very incorrect regarding the Indians in the Great Lakes region and it wasn't until I did research on the side did I find out that my ancestors did not live in tipis and migrate but they were more of a hunting, farming, year round economy living in log cabins before the first Frenchman came to the area. It makes me upset that we are taught incorrect things in school. It's actually pretty insulting to our intelligence when we find out otherwise :) If you have any more good reads, please share! I wrote down these titles to read myself :)
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