A review by brownbetty
Bear Daughter by Judith Berman
4.0
[b:Bear Daughter|508364|Bear Daughter|Judith Berman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1309209274s/508364.jpg|496387] is quite obviously set among pre-contact west-coast natives. [a: Berman|1561120|A.S. Berman|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1238506385p2/1561120.jpg] is an anthropologist specializing in west-coast natives, but I was a bit uneasy reading something so saturated in native folklore written by a white woman. However, at no point did I feel that she presumed, although obviously, I am not an expert. I was also reassured by reading the author's essay on her struggle not to appropriate. [http://www.vectormagazine.co.uk/article.asp?articleID=29]. It's a thoughtful essay, and one which I recommend.
That out of the way, it was nice to read a story in which no white people appeared (discluding the girl on the cover who could only look whiter if she were blonde). The culture was treated as normal, rather than a deviation from the norm, and the author made the interesting choice, which I decided I liked, to use the less exotic word whenever one was available: house, instead of longhouse, feast instead of potlatch.
The story is long, and comfortably inhabits the liminal space between the mundane and the spiritual. Cloud, the protagonist, is at times self-centered, cowardly, and sullen, and yet remains likable, somehow, perhaps because of her loyalty to those she loves. I liked that the culture's patriarchal tendencies were not white-washed, and that the class system's fundamental injustice was treated frankly.
Recommended for those who want an unconventional quest story and good writing.
That out of the way, it was nice to read a story in which no white people appeared (discluding the girl on the cover who could only look whiter if she were blonde). The culture was treated as normal, rather than a deviation from the norm, and the author made the interesting choice, which I decided I liked, to use the less exotic word whenever one was available: house, instead of longhouse, feast instead of potlatch.
The story is long, and comfortably inhabits the liminal space between the mundane and the spiritual. Cloud, the protagonist, is at times self-centered, cowardly, and sullen, and yet remains likable, somehow, perhaps because of her loyalty to those she loves. I liked that the culture's patriarchal tendencies were not white-washed, and that the class system's fundamental injustice was treated frankly.
Recommended for those who want an unconventional quest story and good writing.