R E K. (bigstone) - , reviewed on 11/18/2020 + 1452 more book reviews

This book begins with the discovery of a girl's body on Windigo Island by a group of Native American boys visiting the island to prove their bravery. The island is bleak and forbidding with a reputation that enhances it.

The dead girl is a friend of the missing Mariah Arceneaux whose Ojibwe family asked Midi Henry Meloux to help find. He refuses until the mother comes to him with her daughter's most precious possession. Henry is a friend, Cork O'Connor, private investigator, who vows to help. Once a law officer, O'Connor is retired . With his daughter, Jenny, who he reluctantly takes along, the two begins searching. They pool their ideas and thoughts to help the Arceneaux family find their daughter.

Teenage Native Americans often flee from the reservation to find a better life. There are many reasons for their flight including alcoholism, no job opportunities, and poverty. This book focuses on their hopelessness and the very real result of their independence that often finds girls forced into prostitution.

The reader discovers much about how about the interelationships between family, community and spirituality in the Iron Range Native American reservation. There is considerable use of the Ojibwe language and traditions that lend authenticity to the novel. I particularly liked this aspect. What was distressing was how many law enforcement officers beyond the reservation appeared to ignore the plight of such families. This is a good story that explores what can happen to these teenagesr, particularly young girls, who face a reality they never knew existed until they leave the reservation.

Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details