From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
No group discussions for this book yet.
What Members Thought
Storytelling at its finest. Fantastic choice for my last book of the year.
I might have given this 5 stars if it weren't for the narrator who I felt was too melodramatic. Yes, it was a melodramatic story of children who escaped horrors from an Indian school and set out to find their aunt in St. Louis, but just a normal telling would have been fine. Strong spiritual foundation.
...more
I'll give this 5 full purple stars as it is a marvelous recreation of both Huckleberry Finn and the Odyssey. Indeed, there are more than a few parallels to the Odyssey, including the name of our 12-year-old hero. Readers will have no trouble recognizing the cyclops, the siren, the Underworld, and the search for "home." It is also an homage to storytelling, set against the backdrop of the Great Depression and Minnesota history, including the Mankato massacre of 1862, traveling revival shows with
...more
3.5
After scrolling through a few dozen reviews, I conclude that readers are either wholly enchanted with this book, even brought to tears, or they find it a bit manipulative and riddled with implausible coincidences. Alas, I fall in the latter category.
I was also disturbed that the author made a young white boy his central character in a novel that deals with an Indian Training School and that the voices of Indian children are wholly absent, to the extent that the one major Native American char ...more
After scrolling through a few dozen reviews, I conclude that readers are either wholly enchanted with this book, even brought to tears, or they find it a bit manipulative and riddled with implausible coincidences. Alas, I fall in the latter category.
I was also disturbed that the author made a young white boy his central character in a novel that deals with an Indian Training School and that the voices of Indian children are wholly absent, to the extent that the one major Native American char ...more
I could read books like this all day long. Krueger writes about 4 young runaways, who escape from a prison-school for Native American children, and tells a story of their journey. Each child has a personality that is carefully drawn, and together, they make something of a family.
A good story well told. A bit heavy handed and formulaic for my taste. It reminded me of many action flicks or superhero movies. You know that the good guys win and there will be many close calls along the way but a happy ending is guaranteed. The river is a rather obvious symbol and the various stops along the way are predictable.
Nevertheless, it is a good story and, as I said, well told.
Nevertheless, it is a good story and, as I said, well told.
Read for the Carrollton Ladies’ Book Group.
Pleasant enough and simple to read, this Huckleberry Finn update was cruising along to a 3-star rating. The worst thing I could say about it was that it was a little…vanilla. But in the last 20 pages or so, it went all Depression-era Gone Girl in a way that gave me a headache from all the eye rolling.
Pleasant enough and simple to read, this Huckleberry Finn update was cruising along to a 3-star rating. The worst thing I could say about it was that it was a little…vanilla. But in the last 20 pages or so, it went all Depression-era Gone Girl in a way that gave me a headache from all the eye rolling.
A good old-fashioned historical novel in the manner of Huckleberry Finn, where four orphans escape an Indian Foundation School in Minnesota and travel down several rivers in a canoe trying to reach St. Louis with the hope of finding a new home. William Krueger evokes a 1930's American landscape of beautiful scenery contrasted with the hardscrabble lives of vagabonds and shanty towns. The children encounter both cruelty and kindness from strangers, and if you are willing to suspend belief in cert
...more
The writing style was pretty blunt and a bit heavy-handed, and it sometimes felt like the author was playing Marginalized-Identities Bingo (I completed my G column with the (view spoiler), for what it’s worth).
But I was reading it for a book club, and it wasn’t bad enough that I decided not to bother. If that sounds like mediocre praise, well. ...more
But I was reading it for a book club, and it wasn’t bad enough that I decided not to bother. If that sounds like mediocre praise, well. ...more
May 29, 2020
Lisa Thomas
marked it as to-read
Aug 07, 2020
Heather
marked it as to-read
Nov 11, 2020
Temple Dog
marked it as to-read
Jan 02, 2021
Jeanne Dimon
marked it as to-read
Feb 02, 2021
Dora
marked it as to-read
Feb 13, 2021
Phyllis
marked it as to-read
May 23, 2023
Divina
added it
Jun 30, 2024
Amber Foster
added it
Aug 16, 2024
Monica
marked it as to-read
