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A review by ljrinaldi
Soldier Sister, Fly Home by Nancy Bo Flood
4.0
It took a while to get into this book. At first I was bored, but then the story started being more descriptive of the local customs of the Navaho, and the landscape, and that is when the story blossomed.
The books starts with a true event, the death of the first native woman in a foreign war (the Iraq War, Lori Piestew), and how the Navaho and Hopi of the area honor her. From there, the story. From there, the story follow Tess, whose sister is also gone off to be a soldier, because she wants to go to medical school, and enlisting is the only way her family can afford it.
Tess is half white, half Navaho (white on her father's side) and goes to a white high school. Her friends on the reservation call her a red apple, red on the outside, white on the inside, and rotten to the core. Her "friends" at the high school just call her Pocahantaus, and insulting names. She feels as though she doesn't belong in either world, and wonders which one she should be.
So, there are two things going on her, her sister off in foreign lands, and her coming to know herself. The first part of the book is that. The second book is her finding herself, when she goes off to the Sheep Camp with her grandmother (who is pretty hip, and wears green tennis shoes along with her native clothes). There she gets more in touch with herself and with the land.
The book is sprinkled with Navaho words, and the part of the book that happens at Sheep Camp is deeply moving and very well described. I keep wondering if the author had seen this, and was Navaho herself, it was that good. (Nancy Bo Flood is a teacher on the reservation). I was tottering between a three and a four star, until I got to the second half of the book. If there had been more of that, more of the beautiful vistas, and such, it could have even gone to five.
The book reminds me a little bit of "The Absolutley True Diary of a Part Time Indian, except it didn't go that way. We only hear a little bit about the school, and how hard it is to be there. As I said, it is almost as though it is two books, which isn't bad.
I want to thank NetGalley for providing this book for an honest review.
The books starts with a true event, the death of the first native woman in a foreign war (the Iraq War, Lori Piestew), and how the Navaho and Hopi of the area honor her. From there, the story. From there, the story follow Tess, whose sister is also gone off to be a soldier, because she wants to go to medical school, and enlisting is the only way her family can afford it.
Tess is half white, half Navaho (white on her father's side) and goes to a white high school. Her friends on the reservation call her a red apple, red on the outside, white on the inside, and rotten to the core. Her "friends" at the high school just call her Pocahantaus, and insulting names. She feels as though she doesn't belong in either world, and wonders which one she should be.
So, there are two things going on her, her sister off in foreign lands, and her coming to know herself. The first part of the book is that. The second book is her finding herself, when she goes off to the Sheep Camp with her grandmother (who is pretty hip, and wears green tennis shoes along with her native clothes). There she gets more in touch with herself and with the land.
The book is sprinkled with Navaho words, and the part of the book that happens at Sheep Camp is deeply moving and very well described. I keep wondering if the author had seen this, and was Navaho herself, it was that good. (Nancy Bo Flood is a teacher on the reservation). I was tottering between a three and a four star, until I got to the second half of the book. If there had been more of that, more of the beautiful vistas, and such, it could have even gone to five.
The book reminds me a little bit of "The Absolutley True Diary of a Part Time Indian, except it didn't go that way. We only hear a little bit about the school, and how hard it is to be there. As I said, it is almost as though it is two books, which isn't bad.
I want to thank NetGalley for providing this book for an honest review.