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zarrazine's review
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
alex9's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
emilyb_chicago's review against another edition
3.0
This is a book that benefits from some time between the stories. I would’ve loved to have read this with a class as so much of this was intentionally educational and hard pleasure reading. Alongside the fascinating core story concepts are clear political views - and sometimes the concept I found most fascinating gets set aside for the sake of making clear the impacts of past and current choices. The last story was my favorite, but I could not have appreciated it as much if I had not read the other stories and all of the footnotes with them.
I’m so glad I read this book … but I do not know who I would recommend it to. And if you want to read it, please message me while you do! We can talk things through and I’ll happily reread.
Each story is so individual, here are my specific thoughts…
Locating myself - I wish there was a similar section like this for every non-fiction novel, and other fiction ones. So many of the words and even nation names I was not familiar with. This brought me into the right mindset to continue with the book. Definitely do not skip this section.
Preface/ Introduction - these chapters were intimidating. They made me feel not smart enough to read this book. I’m glad I kept going because I felt like this was the most difficult part.
Note: I loved this excerpt from the intro “Instead of accepting that the buffalo and our ancestral ways will never come back, what if we simply ensure that they do?”
BUFFALO BIRD - I found the footnotes distracting from the story, but they educated me on this time and space. Sometimes I found some sentences a little clunky or awkwardly worded, like there was just so much the author wanted to put into each sentence. That said, I remember the details of the footnotes more vividly that the story itself. In this story I felt taught to read these stories.
MICHIF MAN - this story was ok but generally shocking to me for how recent the timeframe of the oppression is. This is something I should have understood but am thankful to the story for making it clear.
DIRTY WINGS - I don’t like reading about dreams so this was my least favorite.
MAGGIE SUE - this has a very conversational tone with a speaker who constantly interrupts their own story. From the authors note at the end, it’s clear that that was intentional - but I struggled to follow the story lines.
A LODGE WITHIN HER MIND - the story was intensely wonderful. It was thought-provoking in great ways. This story was the first one that resonated so clearly with me. I read this not far in my time from the quarantine during the 2020/2021 pandemic and it clearly pulled from those experiences. It was powerful and I look forward to going back to it.
ÂNISKÔHÔCIKAN - I have never heard of this writing strategy and found it fascinating. It was interesting to read what the author thought was the main takeaways in the short version, and compare that to what I would’ve taken away from the long version (or would have without this information).
I, BISON - the story definitely needed some suicide trigger warning. I found the jumping around distracting, and made it difficult for me to follow the storyline. But there was such a beautiful phrase she used here: “poured herself empty”. I get the chills, even just reading those three words.
UNSETTLED - my favorite story from the book. I feel like this could easily be made into a major motion picture. It reminded me in all of the best ways of the 2009 movie the Moon.
Conclusion - I love how much love the author poured into this book. How concretely she shared her knowledge with others and made us vividly see her community. I will be thinking of this book for a long time.
I’m so glad I read this book … but I do not know who I would recommend it to. And if you want to read it, please message me while you do! We can talk things through and I’ll happily reread.
Each story is so individual, here are my specific thoughts…
Locating myself - I wish there was a similar section like this for every non-fiction novel, and other fiction ones. So many of the words and even nation names I was not familiar with. This brought me into the right mindset to continue with the book. Definitely do not skip this section.
Preface/ Introduction - these chapters were intimidating. They made me feel not smart enough to read this book. I’m glad I kept going because I felt like this was the most difficult part.
Note: I loved this excerpt from the intro “Instead of accepting that the buffalo and our ancestral ways will never come back, what if we simply ensure that they do?”
BUFFALO BIRD - I found the footnotes distracting from the story, but they educated me on this time and space. Sometimes I found some sentences a little clunky or awkwardly worded, like there was just so much the author wanted to put into each sentence. That said, I remember the details of the footnotes more vividly that the story itself. In this story I felt taught to read these stories.
MICHIF MAN - this story was ok but generally shocking to me for how recent the timeframe of the oppression is. This is something I should have understood but am thankful to the story for making it clear.
DIRTY WINGS - I don’t like reading about dreams so this was my least favorite.
MAGGIE SUE - this has a very conversational tone with a speaker who constantly interrupts their own story. From the authors note at the end, it’s clear that that was intentional - but I struggled to follow the story lines.
A LODGE WITHIN HER MIND - the story was intensely wonderful. It was thought-provoking in great ways. This story was the first one that resonated so clearly with me. I read this not far in my time from the quarantine during the 2020/2021 pandemic and it clearly pulled from those experiences. It was powerful and I look forward to going back to it.
ÂNISKÔHÔCIKAN - I have never heard of this writing strategy and found it fascinating. It was interesting to read what the author thought was the main takeaways in the short version, and compare that to what I would’ve taken away from the long version (or would have without this information).
I, BISON - the story definitely needed some suicide trigger warning. I found the jumping around distracting, and made it difficult for me to follow the storyline. But there was such a beautiful phrase she used here: “poured herself empty”. I get the chills, even just reading those three words.
UNSETTLED - my favorite story from the book. I feel like this could easily be made into a major motion picture. It reminded me in all of the best ways of the 2009 movie the Moon.
Conclusion - I love how much love the author poured into this book. How concretely she shared her knowledge with others and made us vividly see her community. I will be thinking of this book for a long time.
lisamchuk's review
4.0
I liked some stories more than others of course, yet all were interesting and insightful in their own way. I live nearby so the settings were often very familiar, which added more interest. The short explanations after a story added context, as did the footnotes, though as I read this as a ebook flipping between the text and footnotes for those few stories with extensive notes usually took me out of the story and broke my reading flow. Regardless, I’d recommend this read as a look into the potential futurism of what might have been.
joy_ful's review
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
Refreshingly hopeful. An enjoyable spin on science fiction.
I love that it's set in Alberta, Canada
I love that it's set in Alberta, Canada
lookatjimmy's review against another edition
4.0
Read for a book club and unfortunately did not give myself as much time as I should have to properly read it with the time I think it needs and deserves. Very much enjoyed but will absolutely need to re-read at some point and really take my time with it.
searobin's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
This was phenomenal! I loved every single story included in this collection. The notes surrounding the story were a surprise, but they definitely added to my understanding and hence enjoyment of the stories. This was such a fantastic experience; I'm so glad to have read this finally!