In Blood Sisters, Vanessa Lillie has crafted a compelling story rooted in the ongoing tragedy of missing indigenous women that's led by an emotionally fragile, flawed heroine. Her Oklahoma setting-- an area wrecked by endless mining for every scrap of mineral wealth it contains-- is atmospheric and unsettling. It is a land that has tainted the lives of everyone who lives there.
The search for the person responsible for these missing indigenous women is fast-paced and grabs a reader's attention, and the history of the Bureau of Indian Affairs that the author weaves into the story adds depth and understanding to the behavior of the residents, but the main focus of the entire book is Syd Walker, who as a young girl survived a murderous night and has been running away from it ever since.
I liked the fact that archaeologist Syd Walker has focused her career on indigenous history and that she works hard to support projects that make a brighter future possible for Native people. Her Cherokee heritage and her experiences in Oklahoma have shown her how important this is. However, I could never warm up to Syd, perhaps because she's too flawed. Her survivor's guilt is crippling. Her emotions are raw and conflicted. She can't understand why her family doesn't welcome her back with open arms. (She escaped all the gossipmongers while her family has had to live with them and their pointing fingers and whispers for the past fifteen years.) Her wife back in Rhode Island is pregnant, and Syd spends a great deal of time worrying about whether or not she's fit to be a parent. She also doesn't pay attention to good advice and tends to shoot off her mouth and run off half-cocked. Characters who put themselves in danger repeatedly aren't among my favorites. To put it mildly, her angst just wore me out.
If insecure, guilt-riddled main characters are your cup of tea, you should enjoy Blood Sisters. I did enjoy the story, but I do have to admit that I wanted to make Syd stay in her room most of the time while I did my own investigating.
(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley)
The search for the person responsible for these missing indigenous women is fast-paced and grabs a reader's attention, and the history of the Bureau of Indian Affairs that the author weaves into the story adds depth and understanding to the behavior of the residents, but the main focus of the entire book is Syd Walker, who as a young girl survived a murderous night and has been running away from it ever since.
I liked the fact that archaeologist Syd Walker has focused her career on indigenous history and that she works hard to support projects that make a brighter future possible for Native people. Her Cherokee heritage and her experiences in Oklahoma have shown her how important this is. However, I could never warm up to Syd, perhaps because she's too flawed. Her survivor's guilt is crippling. Her emotions are raw and conflicted. She can't understand why her family doesn't welcome her back with open arms. (She escaped all the gossipmongers while her family has had to live with them and their pointing fingers and whispers for the past fifteen years.) Her wife back in Rhode Island is pregnant, and Syd spends a great deal of time worrying about whether or not she's fit to be a parent. She also doesn't pay attention to good advice and tends to shoot off her mouth and run off half-cocked. Characters who put themselves in danger repeatedly aren't among my favorites. To put it mildly, her angst just wore me out.
If insecure, guilt-riddled main characters are your cup of tea, you should enjoy Blood Sisters. I did enjoy the story, but I do have to admit that I wanted to make Syd stay in her room most of the time while I did my own investigating.
(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley)
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