Wingshooters

by Nina Revoyr

"Revoyr does a remarkable job of conveying [protagonist] Michelle’s lost innocence and fear through this accomplished story of family and the dangers of complacency in the face of questionable justice."
-- Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Revoyr's fourth novel is a coming-of-age saga in which racism cuts across loyalties between family and friends . . . Gripping and insightful."
-- Kirkus Reviews

Michelle LeBeau, the child of a white American father and a Japanese mother, lives with her grandparents in Deerhorn, Wisconsin--a small town that had been entirely white before her arrival. Rejected and bullied, Michelle spends her time reading, avoiding fights, and roaming the countryside with her dog Brett. She idolizes her grandfather, Charlie LeBeau, an expert hunter and former minor league baseball player who is one of the town's most respected men. Charlie strongly disapproves of his son's marriage to Michelle's mother but dotes on his only grandchild.

This fragile peace is threatened when the expansion of the local clinic leads to the arrival of the Garretts, a young black couple from Chicago. The Garretts' presence deeply upsets most of the residents of Deerhorn--when Mr. Garrett makes a controversial accusation against one of the town leaders, who is also Charlie LeBeau's best friend.

In the tradition of To Kill a Mockingbird, A River Runs Through It, and Snow Falling on Cedars , Revoyr's new novel examines the effects of change on a small, isolated town, the strengths and limits of community, and the sometimes conflicting loyalties of family and justice. Set in the expansive countryside of Central Wisconsin, against the backdrop of Vietnam and the post-civil rights era, Wingshooters explores both connection and loss as well as the complex but enduring bonds of family.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Book Club, Historical, Coming Of Age, Race, Literary Fiction

250 pages, Hardcover

First published February 8, 2011

About the author

Nina Revoyr was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and a white American father, and grew up in Tokyo, Wisconsin, and Los Angeles. She is the author of four novels. Her first book, The Necessary Hunger , was described by Time magazine as "the kind of irresistible read you start on the subway at 6 p.m. on the way home from work and keep plowing through until you've turned the last page at 3 a.m. in bed."

Her second novel, Southland, was a Los Angeles Times bestseller and "Best Book of 2003," a Book Sense 76 pick, an Edgar Award finalist, and the winner of the Ferro Grumley Award and the Lambda Literary Award. Publishers Weekly called it "Compelling... never lacking in vivid detail and authentic atmosphere, the novel cements Revoyr's reputation as one of the freshest young chroniclers of life in L.A."

Nina’s third book, The Age of Dreaming, was a finalist for the 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Publishers Weekly called it "enormously satisfying;" Library Journal described it as "Fast-moving, riveting, unpredictable and profound," and Los Angeles Magazine wrote that "Nina Revoyr ... is fast becoming one of the city’s finest chroniclers and myth-makers."

Nina's fourth novel, Wingshooters, was published in March, 2011. It is one of O: Oprah Magazine's "Books to Watch For," an IndieBound Indie Next Selection, and a Midwest Connections Pick. Publishers Weekly described it as "remarkable...an accomplished story of family and the dangers of complacency in the face of questionable justice; and Booklist called it "a shattering northern variation on To Kill a Mockingbird.

Nina is the executive vice president of a large child and family service agency in Los Angeles. She has also been an Associate Faculty member at Antioch University, and a Visiting Professor at Cornell University, Occidental College, and Pitzer College. Nina lives in Northeast Los Angeles with her partner, two rowdy dogs, and a pair of bossy cats.

Reviews

[Verena · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I thought the author exaggerates the extent of the hatred, racism, and violence in 1974 in Deerhorn, Wisconsin. A town in the Deep South seemed a more appropriate location. But then I started thinking of some mid-westerners I have known even more recently than 1974 who have made me uncomfortable with their vitriolic racist views. If these people were living in a small all-white town, grew up fearful of anyone different from themselves; never left their comfort zone to travel; hated the idea of change of any kind; and had never met, or perhaps even seen, non-white people; they could easily have been the residents of Deerhorn. This story is an uncomfortable reminder of how little progress has been made in the hundred plus years since the American Civil War. I credit the writer with going beyond the obvious emotions of sorrow and regret that follow a tragedy fueled by ignorance and hate. In the final pages, the adult narrator struggles with the complicated memories of her place as a child in Deerhorn with a grandfather who showed her great love but who also embraced the culture of intolerance in his beloved town.

[Kristie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow--what a powerful story! I am so glad I was led to this book by an independent book store owner. I would not have found this one otherwise.

At first I was confused and thought this book was supposed to be a memoir but later realized it was not and I am glad it was not. The drama in it was sometimes so intense that I had to put it down and take a break. There was so much prejudice and hate it was difficult to stomach but I do realize there are still people like that in this world. Sad but true.

I felt that the characters were very well thought out and seemed real. Another reader felt they were "cardboard" but I did not get that impression. Because the story was told by the main character when she was much older than when the story took place, it made for a more mature read than what normally would be the thoughts of a young child.

This story did remind me of a more present day To Kill a Mockingbird (this story took place in the 1970's) and I would highly recommend it to someone desiring a more dramatic, intense story packed with snapshots of racial tension in rural America.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Wingshooters" is heavy-handed at times, but the depiction of a relationship between a 9-year-old mixed-race girl (Japanese mother, American father) and her grandfather saves the day easily.

There are other novels out there whose stories center around a child's growing realization of the intricacies and malignant power of racism ("To Kill a Mockingbird," anyone?) and Revoyr, whose works I'd never read before, certainly goes for it in a bid to join the club. She mostly succeeds.

Michelle LeBeau's father and mother are out of the picture (he's supposedly trying to find her), so the girl lives with her grandparents in small-town, whiter-than-white Deerhorn, Wis. Michelle — "Mike," as her grandfather Charlie calls her — has grown accustomed to the verbal and sometimes physical cruelty of other children in 1974 Wisconsin. Telling the tale as a woman in 2011, Michelle recounts the events that drew the town's eyes from her differentness: the arrival of a young black couple, male schoolteacher and female nurse. Bigoted Charlie frowns on his son's marriage choice but loves Michelle as his own. But the arrival of the black couple pushes his scant tolerance too far and enrages others in Deerhorn, particularly one of his friends.

Now, perhaps I'm naive, but the almost across-the-board intolerance of the Garretts and virulent racism seems over the top for 1974 American Midwest. Revoyr simply doesn't try very hard to show that not everyone has a dark heart. Surely a few people besides this little girl see how wrong it is. No? Isn't there an Atticus Finch in this damn burg?

Revoyr hits the bull's eye with the grandchild/grandfather relationship, however. Yes, Charlie teaches her to hunt, dotes on her, not seeing how incongruous it is to adore this girl in her difference but to resent the obviously kind black newcomers.

The Garretts, not standing by while an obvious wrong is being done, are involved in an accusation against Charlie's most-racist friend, setting Michelle's and the town's worlds spinning off course.

Again, Revoyr at times overplays her hand. Would Charlie really have allowed Michelle to accompany him on what's obviously a potentially dangerous confrontation? Revoyr says here, yes, because as the storyteller she needs to be there. And would even a racist man say, in 1974, referring to a black man: "No sign of the buck?"?

But the story at its heart is about the girl and her grandfather, and Revoyr, who writes well, makes it moving and worthwhile.

[Jason Pettus · Rating 2 out of 5]

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)

While it's easy to see what former Lambda Award winner Nina Revoyr was going for in Wingshooters, the latest from our friends at Akashic Books -- namely, to revisit the territory covered by Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, but this time from the perspective of 1970s Wisconsin instead of 1930s Alabama -- I have to plainly confess that I found just a whole series of badly handled details along the way, none of which are necessarily that bad on their own, but that add up by the end to a real mess. For example, I never could figure out why Revoyr made her own little-girl narrator half-Japanese, a fact that endlessly distracts you from the central conflict regarding a picked-on black family who moves in down the street from her; and while Lee balanced the preachy side of her "RACISM IS BAD!!!" diatribe with a healthy dose of creepy and poetic Southern Gothic goodness, Revoyr attempts no such juggling (save for a few half-hearted odes to country baseball and wheat fields that feel tacked on even coming off the page), leaving behind almost nothing but a big giant sermon, one so heavy-handed that I actually felt sore by the time I was done, from all the times the author had beaten me over the head with her points, not helped at all by the change in date and setting, which has the effect of morphing the nature of all the racists from complex products of their times (like in Mockingbird) to cartoonish monsters. Maybe it's because I see so many of these kinds of manuscripts, because of being a left-leaning urban arts administrator, but I confess that I have a particularly low tolerance for overly obvious morality tales, especially when they preach a hackneyed message to people who already believe in that message; and while usually I feel only ambivalent about the Akashic titles I don't care for, I have to admit that I find myself with an active dislike for this one, a pedantic book whose stylistic flourishes distracted me from a storyline I found non-compelling to begin with. It does not come recommended today.

Out of 10: 5.4

[William · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was very close to the conclusion of this book and wondering whether is should give it 4 or 5 stars. Within the last 2 or 3 pages I came to a very different conclusion.
The story is mostly about the relationship between the adolescent protagonist, a mixed race, half Japanese on her mothers side, Caucasian girl, and her paternal grandfather. She has been abandoned by her parents and left in her grandparents care. Her parents live in an all-white town in Wisconsin and the locals don't look too kindly on the Asian girl left in their midst. Her Grandfather becomes her protector and almost only source of love and encouragement. Problem is, he is just as if not more so racist than any of the other townspeople. But blood being thicker; he learns to love the child.
Into the town and as a sort of sub-plot, arrives a Black couple to take some of the pressure from our hero and give the townspeople a new excuse for outrageous racist behavior. This all leads to a racist calamity and actions that can never be taken back or undone. The grandfather, while not the executor of said actions was, in his agitations, racists pronouncements, and provocations certainly culpable. Just as the driver of the getaway car is always prosecuted for the bank robbery. When the incident spills out of control and threatens to endanger the life of his young grand daughter the grandfather must choose between his racist beliefs and friends or his blood.
Because he choose his blood kin we are treated in the last pages of the book to the protagonists adult recollections and waxing nostalgic of the days she spent fishing, hunting, naming clear blue lakes and pink rose skies.

But wait didn't a horrific event just happen to an innocent and completely blameless black couple? Events that your virulent racist of a grandfather helped put in motion? No, no, no, a thousand times no! You don't get to whitewash his memory because he did his (parental) duty and was kind to you and ignore his criminally racist past.

[Marvin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of those bestselling, well-reviewed books that I found disappointing, largely because it felt inauthentic. I could well be mistaken because the author's website says that she was "born . . . to a Japanese mother and a white American father, and grew up in Tokyo, Wisconsin, and Los Angeles." Except for the Los Angeles part, that pretty much matches the essential story of the 9-year-old narrator of this story. But the residents of the Wisconsin town in the early 1970s that she tells about are so uniformly extreme racists that I just didn't believe it, and for those who consider it a good book discussion group selection, I would just say that it's less likely to provoke an honest discussion of race relations in the US than a self-congratulation that we're not like the characters in this novel. With the narrator's grandfather character, there is some effort to add some complexity to the story, but I found it generally just too simple to be believable.

[Colette · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the blurbs I read about this book says it's a northern version of "To Kill A Mockingbird". As I read the book, I thought the author was trying to make as serious a statement on race relations. But the story left me wanting. All of the major characters felt like cardboard cutouts. Their actions were presented to the reader, with little attempt at showing the motivations for those actions. I understand that the main reason for that is the reader is supposed to be viewing people through the eyes of the narrator as a nine-year-old. But the problem is that the narrator is looking back on her experiences as an adult. And in looking back, the narrator empathizes with her relatives and friends, and tries to understand the actions of her enemies, with limited results.

The African American characters in the book seem to serve no purpose beyond helping the narrator understand how the world works, which is a far too common premise in U.S. novels, like "To Kill A Mockingbird". There's no depth to their characters at all.

I wasn't surprised by the ending, but I don't think the author "earned" that ending with her story.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first glance, Wingshooter appears like yet another rendition of the banal plotline in which a young innocent girl comes to learn about race in the US. However, unlike the saccharine feel-good versions that lets white readers always imagine themselves the exception to white supremacist culture (e.g. "The secret life of bees", "The help"), Revoyr's young narrator, Mike, comes to learn of the power, depth and violence of racism, even in the person who loves her best.
Reyvor has created a compelling setting and narrator, and effectively shows the co-existence of the profound racism of Mike's grandfather and his love for his Japanese-American granddaughter. Reyvor also shows the tension between Mike's love for her grandfather and the things she learnt from him, and at the same time how profoundly damaged she is not just by the violence she experiences and witnesses, but also by the failure of those who love her to understand how their racism - directed towards others - destroys her sense of safety.
Well written and highly recommended.

[Scott Wise · Rating 3 out of 5]

The nugget of the story is based on a complex, dynamic and intriguing relationship between a girl and her grandfather. However, the plot and especialy the climax feel overly simplistic and wraps up to abruptly.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had no idea how powerful this novel would be. Nina Revoyr's other novels have been set in California but this one takes place in a small Wisconsin town, though the Japanese angle is still represented by Michelle LeBeau, daughter of a white American father and a Japanese mother. She is the sole person of color in Deerhorn and is an outcast at school where she is tormented by her classmates.

When her father brought a Japanese wife home the family disapproved. Michelle's mother eventually abandoned them and her father took off after her, leaving Michelle with a grandfather who doted on her and a grandmother who fed and tolerated her.

It is a heartbreaking story, all the more because of what Michelle goes through as her father's promises to return for her go unfulfilled and her hero worship for grandpa is foreshadowed to be destroyed.

When an African American couple from Chicago come into this hidebound, racist, and ultimately violent community, all of their prejudices and inhumanity are exposed and put to the test. It is a chilling portrait of a small and insulated town where no views have changed for generations. The ultra-conservative wing of America holds sway as the townspeople do whatever they feel they must to "preserve their way of life."

This is the second book I've read this year set in the Midwest. (Kitchens of the Great Midwest was the other one.) When I first moved from Michigan to Los Angeles in 1991, I missed what I had experienced as the open friendliness and strong family ties of the region. But like anywhere, a dark underbelly of human fears and close mindedness dwelt side by side with those American values.

So if you want your eyes opened further to the great divides in American society that is what you will get, right up close and personal, with accurately drawn characters. But if you can't take cruelty and violence perpetrated by men against women, children, and animals, be warned.

One of Nina Revoyr's many sobering truths comes at the end. No one ever fully recovers from trauma. We live with our hurts and losses for all of our lives. To me that explains why humanity doesn't change much. The wonder is that some people rise above it all and still care for and about their fellow humans.

I haven't looked back over my year in reading yet, but this just may have been the most emotionally powerful book I read all year.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure the one-word review is really doing it. For so many books I have more to say, and one word is kind of unfair. So...I liked a lot of things about this. I thought it was interesting that Revoyr chose to use a non-white child narrator to approach this topic--American race relations in the 1960s and 1970s. I thought many of her descriptions of small-town Midwestern life, its conservatism and deep rootedness, its virtues and its evils, were terrific. I thought she did a great job evoking the nostalgia that adults feel for their childhoods, however flawed they were.

But I was skeptical of the high drama of the climax; it felt engineered and unreal. And in the end I was uncomfortable with how the black characters were used. To some extent the story failed to make them real people in real situations--they were described in terms of their skin color, their handsomeness/beauty, their patience and fortitude--even, at one point, a dazzling smile. Revoyr makes a point of having her narrator reflect back on those childhood observations to say that she couldn't know them very well, as full people, because she was just a child and she was caught up in admiration, awe, fear, etc. That feels like a dodge to me. Moreso because of the horrific climax, which felt to me both a bit exploitative and at the same time highly staged. I didn't need things to get as bad as they got to understand the book's basic message: that people we love can be racist, can do evil things, can be flawed. The extreme scenes at the end of the book felt dictated by a desire to show this as dramatically as possible--which in turn felt like overkill at the expense of the black characters, who were literally written off the page as silent victims of atrocity.

So. There's a lot to admire here--I particularly like the low-key way Revoyr drops sexuality into her adult narrator's tale, without waving any rainbow flags--but there's also a lot that troubled me. I'll try her again--she's doing a lot of things that I think are interesting, and she has a few other books that are highly praised.

Single word: dramatic?

[Nick Schroeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good. Read in two days, actually about 28 hours. Terrible how work interferes with the really important things in life. Quick, easy read but that doesn't mean it's an easy book. Michelle is a nine-year-old living in world full of contradictions, e.g. a caring and loving grandfather who is a bigot and the definition of provincial. I recently read Téa Obreht's The Tiger's Wife and that dealt with stories, public and private, and I think Wingshooters does that nicely also. What face (story) do we present to the public and which one comes out at home? There are things that we share with the public, things we share with select others and things that are shared with only one or two others. Michelle's grandfather is a great example of this. He shares his warmth and friendliness with anyone who comes along. He shared his love and knowledge of baseball openly with boys and young men in the community but this was a limited group. He shared with his granddaughter Mikey things that he didn't share with anyone else. But, we also see the negative side of this with Charlie protecting knowledge that needs to be brought into the open. This is a good book showing the darker side of small town life. The inability of insular groups of people to accept change and others who aren't like them, or are perceived to not be like them. Read for a book group — should be an interesting discussion.

[Khornberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the 1970’s in the north, our country often represented a Caucasian demographic. As time progressed, African Americans migrated into the north, mainly to cities but eventually to suburbs and rural areas. The story of Wingshooters is narrated by Michelle, an eight year old child and chronicles the events that occurred after a black couple moves into a rural Wisconsin town. Mrs. Garrett, the wife takes a job in a local medical clinic as a nurse while Mr. Garrett begins as a substitute teacher at the local elementary. Their presence is anything but welcome by a majority of the people in town and events and situations escalate to tragic proportions. Michelle, as narrator offers incredible insight through both observation and reflection. Michelle’s perspective is especially unique since she is half Japanese and suffered a great deal of racism prior to the arrival of the Garrett’s.

Author, Nina Revoyr, provides a great deal for discussion in this important novel. Many of the adults never call the Garrett’s by name, dehumanizing them and even refer to Mr. Garrett as “the buck” symbolizing one to be hunted. There is a great deal in this novel ripe for analysis which makes it a top recommendation. Libraries: Buy multiple copies.

[Amy Maikkula · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first 5 star rating of 2012. This book simply blew me away. It's not one of those fast-moving, can't-put-down kinds of stories, but it is deeply emotional and powerful. Revoyr perfectly captures the voice of Michelle ("Mike"), a 9-year old Japanese-American girl living with her paternal grandparents in rural Wisconsin in the early 1970s. Although a racist & bigot, Michelle's grandfather loves her more than anything or anyone in the world, and she in turn adores him, despite recognizing that he chooses to overlook her mixed heritage, while he judges others based solely on the color of their skin. Michelle is an outcast in the small town, and her life is lonely. She only has her beloved dog and her grandfather, so when an educated black couple moves to town, she is compelled to see and know them. Reminiscent of "To Kill A Mockingbird", this book is beautifully written and the story will stay with you. This would be a wonderful book club choice. Highly, highly recommend.

[Yasmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished reading Wingshooters and while I enjoyed the storyline...good character development, pacing, plotting, I wish I would have heard some of the adult voices. Seems like so many books today...or at least the ones I'm reading are being told from a young, protagonist perspective. As such, there's lots of loose ends in the storylines. In Wingshooters I wanted to know what made a young, African-American married couple move to BumF&ck WI which was a rural, farming town and one where they would be the only family of color. The chain reaction that their presence set off in the town, along with the white, grandfather's bi-racial granddaugther was unreal. Although I must admit my favorite character in the book was Brett...the grandfather's dog who protected his granddaughter, Michelle. I'm going to miss reading about Brett. LOL. :)

[Anderson's Bookshops · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary K. says, "This book made me so mad, and even though I finished it two days ago, I'm still fuming and having a silent argument with the author. I grew up in a community similar to Deerhorn, WI, and at first I didn't remember such prejudice at that time. Then I started really thinking back, not to my parents, but to some of their friends and, sadly, some of my classmates. Then the other side of the argument takes over - this couldn't have happened in 1974 in the Midwest,.. could it? Any book that stirs up this kind of emotion, even within one's self, is a must read!"

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Well written, heartbreakingly believable and so very, very sad. Sadder still because we are witnessing daily that this kind of prejudice, hatred and fear are very much alive in America. This is the kind of book that make you want to go out and work for change.

[lauraღ · Rating 4 out of 5]

They didn’t seem to realize that the danger was not out there, on the other side of the window. They didn’t realize that the storm was right there in the room, contained in their own minds and hearts.

I saw some reviews comparing this to "To Kill a Mockingbird", and that's a pretty good comparison, but I do think this stands super well on its own. This is my third book from this author, and her writing always strikes me for being so economical and clean, and striking nonetheless, in the way she examines race and class and family dynamics. The fact that this was told from first person POV meant that there was thankfully none of the POV-switching that's often found in litfic of a certain era. I do wish that there had been a little less foreshadowing, but that's a me thing. I seldom like foreshadowing in my novels.

Michelle is a half-Japanese, half-white 9 year old, and her father drops her off to live with her grandparents in a small town in Wisconsin. Her grandfather is proud, strong, well-respected, liked by everyone in town. He's also a racist and a bigot. Nevertheless, he dotes on his granddaughter, for all he hated his son's marriage to a Japanese woman. A year after Michelle moves to town, a year in which she endures taunting and bullying and epithets from children and adults alike, a young black couple moves to town, and life for Michelle starts changing irrevocably. It's a slow moving novel, very atmospheric, all told with hindsight from a much older Michelle. Sometimes, in the moment, the author would seem to ascribe thoughts and emotions and observations to the young Michelle, things that it didn't seem likely that a child would notice, but the method of storytelling made it realistic. Or at least, not too jarring. It says a lot about race and racism and small town life that you might expect any book set in 1970s America to say, but it still all felt very new and moving to me. Unlike other books like this that I've read, Michelle, the main character, has her own experiences with racism, though it's a different kind of racism than the Garretts face. It was interesting seeing that juxtaposition. The book is set in a time when both anti-Asian (Michelle is Japanese, but all kinds of slurs get thrown at her) and anti-black sentiments were at a high, and some of the most moving moments in the book were when she and the Garretts would share a moment across that divide. And of course, her relationship with Charlie, her grandfather. The narrator and the author never hold back on describing him just as he was: a bigot and an instigator and a catalyst for many of the events in the book, whether intentionally or not. Even Michelle, at 9 years old, sees and despairs at the ugly parts of him. And yet she loves him. And those conversations, about how the best people in your life can also be terrible, aren't exactly new or novel, but the way the author went about it here... idk. It just really worked for me.

Listened to the audiobook as read by Johanna Parker, and it was amazing. One of those single narrator books that feels like a real, full performance. There were a few scenes near the climax where I really felt the emotion. I do kinda wish the ending (the very ending, like the last paragraph) had a slightly different tone, but it didn't detract from my overall feelings. I really really enjoyed this; and I definitely want to read more from the author's backlist.

Content warnings: racism, racist slurs, murder

And when you leave something you love you can never go back, for you have so damaged and altered both that thing and yourself that what you had before can never be recovered.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is just unreal! I just could not put it down. My reviews are usually pretty short... But I'm not sure if this one will be. I was just so amazed. There were so many question marks in the writing. No, I'm not saying that that was annoying. It showed all of the thoughts/uncertainty/feelings running through Mikey's mind. What is her perception of all that happened? It shared with us how she interpreted things in her life. What a deep and moving book this is. I can't believe it's from 2011 and I never heard of it. It says on the inside flap that it is in the tradition of "To Kill A Mockingbird." If you enjoyed that - this is a must. Now let me see if my library had some others by her in stock...

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ms. Revoyr is such a good, precise writer. I like that she does not try to explain everyone's motivations, "I don't know why he did that," comes up a few times in this book. A girl and her dog. Humans are more complex than dogs. I don't know if you can compare this to "To Kill a Mockingbird" without stretching it a bit but she's prolific compared to Harper Lee. Having now read several of Ms. Revoyr's novels, I'm looking forward to someday reading her autobiography, if I live that long.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick read but it tackles some big issues: racism, good vs. evil, and what we (society, parents, family) owe our children. Michelle (called Mike by her grandfather) is a Japanese-American child who is the only person of color living in a rural Wisconsin town. Her mother left long ago, and her father has abandoned her to his parents while he goes to search for her mother and then later, just never comes back. Her grandfather is highly respected by the other townspeople and loves Mike although he doesn't like people of color. Matters come to a head when a black couple moves into town and the woman, a nurse, treats patients at a free clinic and the man teaches a fifth-grade class at school. When the black teacher discovers that a white child (son of one of Mike's grandfather's close friends) is being abused by his father and reports it, it's the beginning of the end.

Mike struggles with how her grandfather can love her but hate the black couple. She doesn't understand why he can't see that they have some things in common. She learns early that most people are not all good or all evil and everyone - even her - has the roots of both inside us.

This is the first book by Revoyr that I've read, but I would definitely pick up another one. The language is beautiful, the characters were flawed and realistic, and the plot kept moving along.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Told from the memory of Mike/Michelle, a bi-racial (Japanese and white) child who is abandoned by both of her parents and lives with her Grandparents in a small town in Michigan, this novel describes the racism that Michelle experiences, but also the racism experienced by the first two Black professionals to arrive in town. It's a really beautiful book, and the ending made me cry. I think it's technically young adult, but it is profound in its descriptions, and the narrator manages to bring an adult voice to the child's point of view.

Michelle's grandfather, Charlie, is an unrepentant bigot, and he never recognizes how his racism toward others affects Michelle (even though he adores her and will do anything for her). Michelle, meanwhile, loves Charlie, and doesn't know or completely understand what she experiences as racism. What I liked about this book was the fact that the characters are, for the most part, complicated & the childhood descriptions include bike riding, dogs (spaniels), and hunting, all things that were part of my childhood.

It's the best thing I've read in a while. I haven't cried over an ending in a long time.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have given this book a 3.5...it was very well-written, and I thought the perspective...written by the adult Michelle, but through the eyes of her nine-year old self, was effective. I will not take time to discuss the horrible, racial prejudice here - it is something offensive all the way to the core of my being - I am thankful beyond belief that I was raised in a household that taught me the opposite way of thinking, believing and acting. The big takeaway for me in this book was how we all must come to the realization that often the people in our lives that we believe are perfect, are actually flawed. We all go through that to some extent...it was just amplified in this book. And, it was very touching (at least to me) to watch Michelle go through this process...still loving her grandfather, but for the person he was, not the person she created in her mind. She learned, over time, that while she could not forgive him for some things, she could still love him and admire him for many others. This book has been compared to "To Kill A Mockingbird," my favorite book. For me, the takeaways were very different and the stories can't be compared at all.

[Charity · Rating 4 out of 5]

"And when you leave something you love you can never go back, for you have so damaged and altered both that thing and yourself that what you had before can never be recovered."

I'm not sure how I could possibly give this book anything less than 5 stars. It was one of the most touching books I've ever read. The author finds a way to put on display a tender, deep love a grandfather has for his granddaughter in the face of ugly racism, hatred and fear of the other. The idea that the two, his granddaughter and the ugliness of a small town in the early 1970's, doesn't cross paths in the man's mind (though it does for everyone else), is nothing short of a miracle that changes both her life and his.

When I got to the last chapter of the book, I was openly weeping for more than one reason, with more than one emotion mixed up in my tears.

I very rarely re-read books but I know this beautiful story will be one that will not sit on my bookshelf for more than a few months at a time before it's revisited.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read this year! Too bad it's not out till March 2011. This powerful story of a mixed race girl being raised by her prejudiced grandparents in an all-white small town in Wisconsin in the 70's feels like a memoir. The narrative voice is absolutely perfect throughout. What a great book! I can't say enough about it.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Revyor has some wonderful passages...one about baseball that I had to read aloud to my non-fiction loving spouse, and many about dogs...and I love dogs, so there ya go. I am a sucker for kid protagonists, although this is interesting in that she clearly positions the narrator as an adult who is reviewing her childhood.

[♥ Sandi ❣ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I connected with the characters and I sympathized with Michelle, understanding her helplessness of being the odd man out. As the story built, I watched the author move her characters towards their inevitiable demise. I thought the book had a story to tell and the author did a good job of telling it. I would read more by this author. 4 stars"

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third book I've read this year with racism against the Japanese. Until recently, it had not occurred to me what an awful time WWII would have been for the US-born Japanese. This book also draws parallels between racism of other kinds - black, Asian and the poor white. I enjoyed the insights but was saddened by the story itself.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It reminded me of To Kill a Mockingbird, which is my all-time favorite book. It's a compelling story of a young girl who is half Japanese and who goes to live with her grandparents in a very small town in Wisconsin in the early 1970s. I can't wait to read other books by Revoyr.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story of bigotry in a small town in Wisconsin. The story told from the point of view of a biracial 9 year old girl was an insightful look into the network of relationships that allow unforgivable acts of prejudice.