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I‘m intrigued by this author and her chosen subject matter. Fuller was born in England and moved to South Africa as a child. In her 20s she moved to Wyoming and this book is about Native Americans. Anyone read anything by her?

My 1st shipment from Politics & Prose Book-A-Month (you can also add-on a surprise CD and/or DVD!) subscription service. They surprise you based on your preferences, and with these choices I feel safe in saying the bookseller knows best. 👏🏻🎟🎯

I went to hear Alexandra Fuller at the Tattered Cover. She opened by saying she'd been raised by white supremacists. She talked about how we all be a bit white supremacey, and that we live in a white supremacist country. She did not hold back.
I knew from her memoirs, she'd be entertaining but her talk was moving and urgent in a way I wasn't expecting. She is not letting herself or her readers off the hook.
If you get the chance, go see her.

I tend to avoid politically-controversial literary topics like the plague, and if this post sparks a heated debate I won't participate in it, but non-indigenous writers writing fiction about indigenous folks is a red-hot screaming match of an issue in Canada. Not in America? I am not sure why British, Rhodesian-raised Fuller would wade into this minefield by penning her first novel with Native American women as the main characters.

I received a free advanced copy of this book via a Goodreads giveaway. Turns out this was just what I needed to pull myself out of a reading slump. Part of what I loved so much about reading this book was it's short chapters. Most were only a page or so long. There were ample places to pause if need be, but more often than not I found myself having internal negotiations when external obligations threated to interrupt my reading. 👇

I had to look this up. "Look at Mills! Look at Mills!" Pure and unfiltered human emotion spilling out of Dick Bank. Wow. And there is a Billy Mills movie? I need to find it.

https://youtu.be/uOj0zjPzg-c

My mini reading slump has been destroyed by this #arc 😍

"You'll hear people from the Bureau of Indian Affairs say Indians sleep all day. Show up at any time, even during so-called working hours, they'll tell you, and you'll find all the kids running wild in the hills with a pack of Rez dogs, and all the adults passed out. It's never occurred to anyone to suppose the kids and the dogs are running for their lives and the adults are not asleep so much as playing possum. Tonic immobility..."

Started a new book today. Feels good.

I have loved every one of her nonfiction books. Can.Not.Wait to dive into her first novel. Set not in Africa but in South Dakota. Opening sentence: "They say Rick Overlooking Horse didn't talk much."

Such a beautiful book with lots of food for thought. There are lots of passages worth quoting but this is my favorite, I think. Will definitely read this one again.

It's a good story. Sensitively told. Beautifully written. And the mechanical and moral dilemmas tackled by the author are interesting to consider. It's totally what you should read if you've already read all of Erdrich, Wagamese, Silko, and Treuer.