Sign in with Facebook
Ed's Reviews > Rez Life: An Indian's Journey Through Reservation Life
Rez Life: An Indian's Journey Through Reservation Life
by
More last minute cramming for the 2023 Santa Fe International Literary Festival with tickets to see David Treuer this weekend. There is a lot more non-fiction authors at this year's festival - especially related to Native American history - so I am thankful for that as much like African American history, I sorely need to learn some Native American history and this book is filled with things I (shamefully) never knew.
So while this is an extremely worthwhile read, Treuer himself in the afterward accurately describes it as a hybrid book of journalism, history, and memoir and that is primarily the reason for the 3 stars rating you have likely already seen. One man's "hybrid" is this man's "lacking focus." Again, while I was thankful for education and enlightenment I was getting, those moments felt perhaps too few and far between in what felt like some rambling that would lead me to do a not insignificant amount of skimming -- and thus feel like I can't give a book a 4 star (or more) rating even with the value of the material and Treuer's unique personal experiences and perspectives. Unofficially, a 3.5 star read with a Goodreads round-down to those 3 stars.
As well as having a ticket to attend his event, I also have pre-purchased a (autographed) copy of Treuer's (more) acclaimed and (more) well-reviewed/rated latest book "The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee" -- so even tho I had my technical issues with this book, I am pretty certain that I will read this as well in my continuing education of American history.
by
Ed's review
bookshelves: 2023, 3-and-a-half-stars, hubby-buddy-read, memoir, native-american, new-author-to-me, non-fiction, read-on-kindle, santa-fe-lit-festival
May 15, 2023
bookshelves: 2023, 3-and-a-half-stars, hubby-buddy-read, memoir, native-american, new-author-to-me, non-fiction, read-on-kindle, santa-fe-lit-festival
More last minute cramming for the 2023 Santa Fe International Literary Festival with tickets to see David Treuer this weekend. There is a lot more non-fiction authors at this year's festival - especially related to Native American history - so I am thankful for that as much like African American history, I sorely need to learn some Native American history and this book is filled with things I (shamefully) never knew.
So while this is an extremely worthwhile read, Treuer himself in the afterward accurately describes it as a hybrid book of journalism, history, and memoir and that is primarily the reason for the 3 stars rating you have likely already seen. One man's "hybrid" is this man's "lacking focus." Again, while I was thankful for education and enlightenment I was getting, those moments felt perhaps too few and far between in what felt like some rambling that would lead me to do a not insignificant amount of skimming -- and thus feel like I can't give a book a 4 star (or more) rating even with the value of the material and Treuer's unique personal experiences and perspectives. Unofficially, a 3.5 star read with a Goodreads round-down to those 3 stars.
As well as having a ticket to attend his event, I also have pre-purchased a (autographed) copy of Treuer's (more) acclaimed and (more) well-reviewed/rated latest book "The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee" -- so even tho I had my technical issues with this book, I am pretty certain that I will read this as well in my continuing education of American history.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
Rez Life.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
April 27, 2023
–
Started Reading
April 27, 2023
– Shelved
May 15, 2023
– Shelved as:
2023
May 15, 2023
– Shelved as:
3-and-a-half-stars
May 15, 2023
– Shelved as:
hubby-buddy-read
May 15, 2023
– Shelved as:
memoir
May 15, 2023
– Shelved as:
native-american
May 15, 2023
– Shelved as:
new-author-to-me
May 15, 2023
– Shelved as:
non-fiction
May 15, 2023
– Shelved as:
read-on-kindle
May 15, 2023
–
Finished Reading
June 3, 2023
– Shelved as:
santa-fe-lit-festival
Comments Showing 1-1 of 1 (1 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Bonnie G.
(last edited May 16, 2023 08:39AM)
(new)
-
rated it 5 stars
May 16, 2023 08:32AM
So sorry this was another that did not work for you. We are diverging a lot lately. I loved this book and love The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee even more. Treuer's fiction is another story, but is non-fiction totally works for me. I love the blend of memoir and non-fiction when it is done well, but I understand why other's do not -- and I will say that Treuer does not always do it as well as I might like and it can really get sort of muddy but the good stuff transcended the mud for me.
reply
|
flag
