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corsetedfeminist's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book reminds me of an Appalachian ballad: filled with love of the land and culture, family, purposefully ineffective police, murder, and grief.
It details the coming of age of a Sami girl, beginning on the day she finds her reindeer butchered by a neighbor who is not a tribe member. The rest of the books shows her growing up, the changes in her family, and her ongoing battle to force the police to treat the slaughter of her tribe’s reindeer seriously.
It begins with a deeply traumatized little girl, and ends with an even more traumatized, but brave and determined woman. I think Elsa is one of the most honest characters I’ve read in awhile, which comes with the author’s comfort with showing a story that doesn’t have a happy ending. The police never really come to care about the concerns of the Sami, climate change is affecting the village they live in, her family is deeply dysfunctional and everyone in her family has mental health issues, and the future of the reindeer herds is still up in the air… but there she stands, strong, proud, and tragic.
This isn’t a story of overcoming trauma, it’s a story about how sometimes life is just messed up and we have to survive it.
Beyond the raw beauty of the portrayal of Elsa and her family and friends, the racism and oppression of the Sami people is in stark contrast to the deeply loving portrayal of Sami culture in a way that makes the descriptions of oppression hit even harder, such as the scenes where Elsa’s grandmother’s dementia causes her to relive her days in boarding school.
In short, this is a poignant story about Indigenous suffering and grief, but still balanced with strength and somehow not without hope.
It details the coming of age of a Sami girl, beginning on the day she finds her reindeer butchered by a neighbor who is not a tribe member. The rest of the books shows her growing up, the changes in her family, and her ongoing battle to force the police to treat the slaughter of her tribe’s reindeer seriously.
It begins with a deeply traumatized little girl, and ends with an even more traumatized, but brave and determined woman. I think Elsa is one of the most honest characters I’ve read in awhile, which comes with the author’s comfort with showing a story that doesn’t have a happy ending. The police never really come to care about the concerns of the Sami, climate change is affecting the village they live in, her family is deeply dysfunctional and everyone in her family has mental health issues, and the future of the reindeer herds is still up in the air… but there she stands, strong, proud, and tragic.
This isn’t a story of overcoming trauma, it’s a story about how sometimes life is just messed up and we have to survive it.
Beyond the raw beauty of the portrayal of Elsa and her family and friends, the racism and oppression of the Sami people is in stark contrast to the deeply loving portrayal of Sami culture in a way that makes the descriptions of oppression hit even harder, such as the scenes where Elsa’s grandmother’s dementia causes her to relive her days in boarding school.
In short, this is a poignant story about Indigenous suffering and grief, but still balanced with strength and somehow not without hope.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Classism
haileyhardcover's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
August 9th is World Indigenous Peoples’ Day. In anticipation and observance of the holiday, I’ve been spending some time learning about the Sámi people. The only indigenous people of Europe, the Sámi’s ancestral lands are in an area known as Sápmi, spanning the north of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and part of the Kola Peninsula in Russia. During my research, I stumbled upon this book.
Stolen tells the story of Elsa, a young Sámi girl who witnesses the poaching of a beloved reindeer, Nástegallu. This traumatizing event is only the beginning for Elsa, as she grows up and continues to witness against racism and xenophobia, unchecked mental health struggles in her community, climate change, and ever-present threat to their reindeer and, thereby, their very ways of life.
Strong TW for animal torture and death. At several points, I had to just put this book down and cry after reading some of the descriptions; but I still think they were important to include. Though technically fictional, Stolen is inspired by real events, and these are horrific experiences that Sámi reindeer herders experience.
There is more than just trauma in these pages, though. While portraying the very real struggles that the Sámi experience, Laestadius, a Sámi woman herself, also clearly wrote this as a love letter to her culture and community. We get wonderful glimpses into culture, food, clothing, tradition. Though my Swedish didn’t come in handy very often, I enjoyed learning some new Sámi vocab words as well!
If you’re looking to broaden your knowledge of other cultures, I highly recommend Stolen. Before I was even halfway through, I pre-ordered Laestadius’ next book, Punished, which is also inspired by the true events of Sámi children taken from their families to state-mandated “nomad schools” - Scandinavian versions of the residential schools that Native American children were forced into in the US and Canada.
Netflix has adapted Stolen into a movie which was released in April of this year. I’ll be spending my afternoon watching the movie!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, and Grief
Moderate: Mental illness, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Dementia, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, and Alcohol
franzeerdbeerbacke's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, and Alcohol
mweis's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
*I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
I usually don’t put a lot of faith in comp titles, but in this case calling Stolen “Louise Erdrich meets Jo Nesbø” is very accurate. The book follows Elsa, a Sámi girl and who witnesses the murder of her reindeer when at the start of the book. As the plot continues we see the struggle of the Sámi people as they battle racism and hate crimes and climate change and other factors that are threatening their way of life. While Elsa is the main character, we do get chapters from other POVs including of the man who is torturing and killing reindeer so major trigger warning for animal cruelty here as there are some graphic depictions.
I think what this book does well is immerses the reader into the Sámi way of life and the struggles they face due to the other people’s hatred, an indifferent police and government, climate change, and more. The writing is also very immersive and well suited to such a bleak story. That being said, the pacing of this was off for me. That might be because I came in expecting more of a mystery plot, but we know from the beginning who the culprit is, so the book is more of a family saga than a mystery. But even after I readjusted my expectations, there were places where the story dragged for me.
Overall, I’m glad I read this book and I do recommend it if you’re in the mood for a fairly bleak family saga centering a Sámi community.
I usually don’t put a lot of faith in comp titles, but in this case calling Stolen “Louise Erdrich meets Jo Nesbø” is very accurate. The book follows Elsa, a Sámi girl and who witnesses the murder of her reindeer when at the start of the book. As the plot continues we see the struggle of the Sámi people as they battle racism and hate crimes and climate change and other factors that are threatening their way of life. While Elsa is the main character, we do get chapters from other POVs including of the man who is torturing and killing reindeer so major trigger warning for animal cruelty here as there are some graphic depictions.
I think what this book does well is immerses the reader into the Sámi way of life and the struggles they face due to the other people’s hatred, an indifferent police and government, climate change, and more. The writing is also very immersive and well suited to such a bleak story. That being said, the pacing of this was off for me. That might be because I came in expecting more of a mystery plot, but we know from the beginning who the culprit is, so the book is more of a family saga than a mystery. But even after I readjusted my expectations, there were places where the story dragged for me.
Overall, I’m glad I read this book and I do recommend it if you’re in the mood for a fairly bleak family saga centering a Sámi community.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Hate crime, Racism, Xenophobia, and Cultural appropriation
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Suicide, and Forced institutionalization
mellysay's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Den här boken är verkligen en fantastiskt verklig historia om hur det är att vara same och renskötare idag. Ett stort tack till Ann-Helén Laestadius för att du skrivit den här boken och jag ångrar så att jag inte läst den tidigare. Den är så otroligt hjärtskärande och gripande. Jag önskar alla fick en chans att läsa den här boken någon gång i livet, den berättar en sån viktig historia. Den är en gnutta långdragen och det tog lång tid att läsa den, i vissa delar hände det inte jätte mycket men mot slutet tog den fart igen och de sista 100 sidorna kunde jag inte lägga ifrån mig boken. Ett mästerverk.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
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