"Thomas Wazhashk is the
night watchman at the jewel bearing plant, the first factory located
near the Turtle Mountain Reservation in rural North Dakota. He is also a
Chippewa Council member who is trying to understand the consequences of
a new “emancipation” bill on its way to the floor of the United States
Congress. It is 1953 and he and the other council members know the bill
isn’t about freedom; Congress is fed up with Indians. The bill is a
“termination” that threatens the rights of Native Americans to their
land and their very identity. How can the government abandon treaties
made in good faith with Native Americans “for as long as the grasses
shall grow, and the rivers run”?
Since graduating high school,
Pixie Paranteau has insisted that everyone call her Patrice. Unlike most
of the girls on the reservation, Patrice, the class valedictorian, has
no desire to wear herself down with a husband and kids. She makes jewel
bearings at the plant, a job that barely pays her enough to support her
mother and brother. Patrice’s shameful alcoholic father returns home
sporadically to terrorize his wife and children and bully her for money.
But Patrice needs every penny to follow her beloved older sister, Vera,
who moved to the big city of Minneapolis. Vera may have disappeared;
she hasn’t been in touch in months, and is rumored to have had a baby.
Determined to find Vera and her child, Patrice makes a fateful trip to
Minnesota that introduces her to unexpected forms of exploitation and
violence, and endangers her life.
Thomas and Patrice live in this
impoverished reservation community along with young Chippewa boxer Wood
Mountain and his mother Juggie Blue, her niece and Patrice’s best
friend Valentine, and Stack Barnes, the white high school math teacher
and boxing coach who is hopelessly in love with Patrice."--Goodreads blurb
When this won the Pulitzer earlier this month, I thought I'd give it a try. Wonderful writing, storytelling, and character voices. A unique story about family, community, and culture. Worth the read on many levels.
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