A review by pagesofpins
If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth
4.0
Four stars, barely, by a hair. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the characters and the story, and Gansworth writes beautifully about reservation life, music and growing up in the 70's--but he has got to figure out his pacing a bit more.
It's slow going in the beginning, and even once we get into lonely, smart kid Lewis' friendship with military brat George, we still have paragraphs interspersed with obvious or unnecessary details, so by the time we get to the real action of Lewis getting viciously bullied by a jerk, battling a school administration that does nothing, George getting suspicious of Lewis' lies about his home life, and a historic blizzard, I feel like I've been reading this book forever. FOREVER.
Which is a shame, because there were so many things about this book I really loved. Lewis' family is the opposite of George's in so many ways: on a rez everyone is always staying and in a military family everyone is always leaving. Lewis' family is haunted by the effects of Vietnam on their funny but worse for wear uncle, George's military family is harassed for complicity in Vietnam when they weren't there. Lewis' grandparents were traumatized by Indian boarding schools. George's grandparents worked in one. George has a strict dad, Lewis an absent one. They might have come from different directions, but they understand each other and have that fierce loyalty that 12-13 year olds harbor for their friends. The love of the Beatles the boys share in the 70's, after the band has broken up and before music is easily stored and shared, rings true.
The details about the reservation, from fire ball (don't tell me a flaming soccer game doesn't sound awesome), to truancy/travel/work life/driving on reservations, to who gets to be part of the Tuscarora Nation when natives have children outside the tribe, are seamlessly woven into the story. I feel like I know a bit more about the Onondaga (located in North Carolina and Ontario as well as NY, apparently) than I did before this book.
Worth the read. But, skim a little at the beginning.
It's slow going in the beginning, and even once we get into lonely, smart kid Lewis' friendship with military brat George, we still have paragraphs interspersed with obvious or unnecessary details, so by the time we get to the real action of Lewis getting viciously bullied by a jerk, battling a school administration that does nothing, George getting suspicious of Lewis' lies about his home life, and a historic blizzard, I feel like I've been reading this book forever. FOREVER.
Which is a shame, because there were so many things about this book I really loved. Lewis' family is the opposite of George's in so many ways: on a rez everyone is always staying and in a military family everyone is always leaving. Lewis' family is haunted by the effects of Vietnam on their funny but worse for wear uncle, George's military family is harassed for complicity in Vietnam when they weren't there. Lewis' grandparents were traumatized by Indian boarding schools. George's grandparents worked in one. George has a strict dad, Lewis an absent one. They might have come from different directions, but they understand each other and have that fierce loyalty that 12-13 year olds harbor for their friends. The love of the Beatles the boys share in the 70's, after the band has broken up and before music is easily stored and shared, rings true.
The details about the reservation, from fire ball (don't tell me a flaming soccer game doesn't sound awesome), to truancy/travel/work life/driving on reservations, to who gets to be part of the Tuscarora Nation when natives have children outside the tribe, are seamlessly woven into the story. I feel like I know a bit more about the Onondaga (located in North Carolina and Ontario as well as NY, apparently) than I did before this book.
Worth the read. But, skim a little at the beginning.