A review by caseythecanadianlesbrarian
Crazy Horse's Girlfriend by Erika T. Wurth

4.0

An intense, compelling book about harsh, harsh realities that doesn't shy away from that but also not from hope and heart. Margaritte is a 16-year-old mixed race Apache, Chickasaw, and Cherokee young woman living in Idaho Springs, Colorado. She's a drug dealer working with her cousin, both her parents are physically abusive, her white dad's an alcoholic, and her apparently nice new boyfriend turns out to be a lying cokehead. Halfway through the book she gets pregnant. This sounds like a straightforward, hard story of misery, but it's never that simple. Wurth continually resists the narrative of Margaritte being a victim and imbues her with smarts and self-determination. No one here is a stereotype, everyone defies expectations, and no one is only one thing, even if they're an abuser or an asshole. This gave me lots to think about issues like adoption, teen pregnancy, poverty, colonization, queer native identity, and more. It's a book that refuses to be easy, to provide easy answers, but is ready to show you other, unexpected options.