pickFilled with examples of truly beautiful prose (e.g. “If I was allowed, I‘d run my finger across Mama‘s face the way I do with Christmas bulbs to feel their shine”), this novel describes hideously traumatic experiences. There‘s so much needless death, the fact of which the Dakhóta children in each section (set in the 1960s, 1930s, & 1900s) are all too aware.
It‘s heartbreaking, intimate, and historically accurate pain. ??
monalyisha 1/3: In the Author‘s Note, Mona Susan Power informs her readers, “Writing this book was a healing endeavor. May it support the healing of others.” It does, eventually, come around to healing. The final chapter provides some much needed lightness, in the form of “a codependent cockatoo” named after His Royal Badness (aka Prince). 💜 14h
monalyisha 2/3: Unfortunately, I also found the final chapter to be the weakest part (despite the gorgeous bit about the supermoon). And it seems, after combing through other reviews, that I‘m not alone. The writing in this section isn‘t subtle enough. Powers‘ dialog is warm but it feels stilted and formal — written rather than spoken (which I‘m realizing is perhaps a horribly insensitive criticism of a writer who comes from an oral storytelling tradition). 6h
monalyisha 3/3: Though therapy is an important and valuable part of healing, it doesn‘t heighten the poetry of the reading experience to be buried in therapy-speak. Still, I was moved by the story/stories, overall, and impressed with the telling. The hook of writing through the dolls‘ perspective could have been “corny” (reference intended) — but it wasn‘t. It was tenderly executed. A solid 4 stars. 6h
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so-so
