The Bone Thief by Vanessa Lillie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
“You can give me back my people’s bones and you can quit digging them up.”
“The most pathetic lies are the ones we tell ourselves.”
“Some places might be close on a map, but they are still a world away.”
“I realize kids aren’t rational, but then again, adults aren’t really either.”
The Bone Thief takes place in New England, specifically the state of Rhode Island. BIA archeologist Syd is the main character. Her boss has recently retired and she is now the go-to-person. She works closely with this local camp and especially with this group of kids to teach them about archeology. A country club and secret society type place owns it. There are some shady things going on including native bones, artifacts, and children going missing. The group wants to open a center that displays items and talks about history but to benefit whom? What is the reason behind it? Will Syd solve what is going on and will people get what they deserve?
Vanessa Lillie is the author and is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. This book was angering and frustrating. What the Indigenous People went through since Europeans landed on the shores (“as if the tribe wasn’t here from the first colonial boot on the ground stomping toward Independence Day”) is despicable and disturbing. I cannot believe it is something that is still going on. This novel sheds light on the desecration of native lands and belongings. “Power is power. People who have it think the way to keep it is by never giving an inch of what they’ve taken.” Firstly, I love that there are queer characters. I love the representation and how attention wasn’t drawn to the queerness. I also learned a lot reading this book including about the oldest powwow in the United States and the struggles that still exist today. When a girl goes missing, the person making signs asked if they should have put the race as white so maybe “people would care more.” This aspect plus the abuse of power is infuriating. There was a scene where cops were being bullies and assholes. It made my blood boil. And white people thinking that have a right to native babies? Unreal. “Lord, give me the confidence of a white man.” The words elucidate, immemorial, and desultory are the ones I captured and liked. So, I am currently watching this show, as part of my friends and my weekly show, that has this technique they utilize involving hallucinations and dreams without informing the audience. There was a little bit of this in the book as well. I am not a fan. I don’t like it and it annoys me so that put me off a little bit. There was also a scene that didn’t quite make sense logistically either. This is exactly the type of book you should read if you want to get a little more insight into the struggles of Indigenous People in a story setting. It was an ok book with some good messages.
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Tag: theft
Potentially Good And Running Rich Or Poor
“Without the reliable narcotic drip of an education to remind me how special I was…my self-worth became unstable and indeterminate.”
“You have so much potential.”
Killer Potential is about a tutor and a woman she goes on the run with. Evie tutors students for the SAT and her clients are rich. They are the wealthy with huge mansions and money to spare. One day she enters the house of a student and discovers that the parents are dead and it looks like murder. As she was just about to head out, she hears the whimpering pleas asking for help. She discovers a woman tied up in a closet and frees her. As they were about to leave, they were spotted and now they are on the run. They are suspects. They are fugitives trying to evade capture. Evie is now famous but will she find the real killer in time?
I liked the opening chapter of this book and the discussion of grammar. I love grammar and English. It was delightful to start off this way, with the discussion of passive and active voice which set the stage for the bigger story. Are we active or passive in our own lives? Do we do things or do we have things done to us? One thing I like throughout the book were the descriptions and imagery the author, Hannah Deitch, can conjure up. Her sentences like “Bootstrapping stories have kept capitalists’ dicks hard since the Gilded Age. But the thing about potential is that it’s purely speculative” or “the dark sinews of my body like an eel” really help to paint a picture. You can vividly picture it. I found it unique and fun. Her word choice is great…”gilded firmament of your life.” I also love learning so a couple things that she mentioned that I learned were about the Dimples of Venus and the words susurrus & sibilant which are fun to say. Authors gain points with me by doing this. In chapter 36, Hannah describes the differences between being poor and being wealthy in such an interesting way. I have never thought of it that way before but I could totally see it. It makes a lot of sense and thought she was clever with this paragraph. As I have stated there were many examples of the writing that I liked but now it is time for the negatives. The story started off with potential but I slowly lost interest in what was happening. I started to not care what happened with them or with the investigation. It was kind of boring and uneventful. There were no surprises for me and I didn’t like the development of the protagonist. I really didn’t like any character actually. I think the focus was more on big picture, existential topics of society and rich vs poor. I needed something to happen or it was just kind of like reading a philosophy book. As a debut novel though, it is not bad. This is exactly the type of book you read for a book club to discuss what they went through, how you can relate, and if things are justified or not.
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