djohan's review
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.5
This was disjointed. The story was all over the place.
thehappylittleelf's review
The narrative is extremely disjointed. A lot of it felt like padding (Did we need several paragraphs on why the writer of "Yellowstone" felt qualified to write Yellowstone? It had NOTHING to do with Savanna...)
The book has a thesis, but the story of Savanna doesn't connect organically to it. It's almost like the story was shoehorned in awkwardly, which is a shame, because it's a story that needs to be told.
Also, it is very clear the author got almost all the information about Savanna and the family from Facebook, which is a little suspect. Facebook is not a person's authentic self. You cannot construct a person's whole from what they post on social media.
DNF. I might suggest a podcast of this case instead of this book, because it is an interesting story that needs to be told.
The book has a thesis, but the story of Savanna doesn't connect organically to it. It's almost like the story was shoehorned in awkwardly, which is a shame, because it's a story that needs to be told.
Also, it is very clear the author got almost all the information about Savanna and the family from Facebook, which is a little suspect. Facebook is not a person's authentic self. You cannot construct a person's whole from what they post on social media.
DNF. I might suggest a podcast of this case instead of this book, because it is an interesting story that needs to be told.
lexhop's review against another edition
3.0
I have heard of this case on many different true crime podcasts, and was excited to read this book since it was a resource, a lot of these podcast mentioned using. The detail in which she told savannas story was really impressive and really detailed and painted the visual of what was going on in a non-gory way, but really illuminated the beautiful soul savanna was. When she discuss meeting with the family, I was a little, wary or hesitant to understand what their involvement with this book was so give me a little bit of an ick factor there. Additionally, I was really hoping to learn more about, the historical roots and how this is impacting native women more broadly than she did while she does touch on this I honestly really wanted more of it, but I just might not have been the exact point of this book but I’m excited to learn more and see how I can be a contributor and stopping this type of violence.
cdhotwing's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.5
pmhandley's review
dark
sad
medium-paced
2.75
This book and the case it centers on is certainly interesting, but it fell short for me. The writing style of it really irritated me. There were so many sentence fragments that felt like a stream of consciousness. Additionally, I found myself asking what the purpose of this book was. The organization of it doesn't make much cohesive sense. We jump around from Savanna's murder, to the trial of her killers, to surface level explanations of MMIW. Did we need a chapter that runs down Savanna's old Facebook posts describing memes? I honestly don't think so. Savanna's story is tragic, but it didn't seem like the author had any unique insight that made sense for her to write this book. In fact, she seemed disrespectful at points, talking about how often she messaged Savanna's boyfriend and hoping to get a response. He obviously does not want to talk to you, leave him alone! At one point she talks to a childhood friend who clearly had not seen or talked to Savanna in a long time. The author just grabbed on to who she could get an interview with. I felt almost like her chapter on Brooke, one of Savanna's killers, was written to make you sympathetic. Her life had a lot of horrible events in it that impacted her, yeah, but it came off as being kinda friendly to someone that did a horrific fetal abduction and murder.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Violence and Racism
ellehawk's review
challenging
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
3.0
I really really wanted to like this one... but I really didn't have any feelings about this book besides meh. I picked up this book for Savanna's story, not the author going in to great detail about happenings in congress about bills that didn't get passed. Don't get me wrong, I think understanding the crisis of MMIW is incredibly important, but it seemed like the author was using Savanna's name and story to talk about how shitty senators are.
samanthamanz's review against another edition
3.0
I was just about to enter my junior year of university when Savanna LaFontaine Greywind went missing. I went to school in Minnesota and I wasn't that far away from Fargo, ND. As an Indigenous woman, it was terrifying, troubling, and far too common. This book made me so sad. It was hard to hear intimate and horrific details from the case.
I appreciated that Mona Gable interviewed the family and convinced people to talk about Savanna as a person, as a daughter, sister, and girlfriend. She was so loved and seemed to be kind, hard-working, and dedicated to her family. Ruth Buffalo's experience as a searcher and in legislation was inspiring.
I didn't like how Gable seemed to weave her own identity/experience as a mother into the story. It felt weird since she's in the process of reconnecting with her Chickasaw heritage and I wanted to ask her if she began writing about MMIWG2S+ before or after she discovered her heritage? Did she ever write about anything? Also, I understand she was reconnecting and learning, but it felt really weird that she talked about her experience when didn't really grow up on a reservation or in a community like Savanna. Also, this wasn't about her, her experience, or her identity as an Indigenous woman. That all rubbed me the wrong way. I can understand talking about it from a mother's perspective, especially when she talked with Savanna's mother, but then she would also throw in being Indigenous and reconnecting.
It was clear both Brooke Crews and William Hoehn, especially Hoehn were racist and anti-Indigenous.
I appreciated that Mona Gable interviewed the family and convinced people to talk about Savanna as a person, as a daughter, sister, and girlfriend. She was so loved and seemed to be kind, hard-working, and dedicated to her family. Ruth Buffalo's experience as a searcher and in legislation was inspiring.
I didn't like how Gable seemed to weave her own identity/experience as a mother into the story. It felt weird since she's in the process of reconnecting with her Chickasaw heritage and I wanted to ask her if she began writing about MMIWG2S+ before or after she discovered her heritage? Did she ever write about anything? Also, I understand she was reconnecting and learning, but it felt really weird that she talked about her experience when didn't really grow up on a reservation or in a community like Savanna. Also, this wasn't about her, her experience, or her identity as an Indigenous woman. That all rubbed me the wrong way. I can understand talking about it from a mother's perspective, especially when she talked with Savanna's mother, but then she would also throw in being Indigenous and reconnecting.
It was clear both Brooke Crews and William Hoehn, especially Hoehn were racist and anti-Indigenous.
ruthypoo2's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.75