By Jay Grummel
November is nationally recognized as Native American Heritage Month. This month is used to celebrate their culture along with raise awareness to the many issues they still face today. This month is important to not only remember the past, but try to better the future. I have found four books not only written by Native Americans, but also about their culture. Some of these books are memoirs or based on true stories, others are fictional. However, even when dealing in the fiction world parts of reality will always shine through.
Firekeeper’s Daughter – Angeline Boulley
This book follows Daunis Fontaine who is half-native and half-white. Daunis being biracial, an unenrolled tribal member and the product of a scandal contributes to her never quite fitting in. She feels unwelcome in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. However, when tradgedy arises Danuis must put her aspirations aside to care for her fragile mother. Daunis’s only light is Jamie, a new recruit to her brother’s hockey team, but when Daunis witnesses a murder everything becomes very complicated. After agreeing to go undercover Daunis embarks on a journey of deception and death. Will Daunis be able to protect her community if it means tearing her world apart? Boulley is also Ojibwe. This helps her address the harsh realities of reservations in America through a work of fiction.
There There – Tommy Orange
There There is unique due it starting with several essays on Native American history and identity. These essays reveal the violence and genocide Indigenous people have endured and how it has been brushed over for centuries. The novel then continues into fiction, alternating perspectives. The plot follows twelve characters who are either Native American or closely related to those who are. All characters are from the area of Oakland, California. Each character faces different, but similar conflict throughout the story. Each character and their story does eventually come together in a heartbreaking final scene. Tommy Orange is part of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, he also grew up where the novel takes place. Orange’s inspiration for the novel comes from his work at the Native American Health Center. There he was working on a digital storytelling booth, hearing hundreds of stories that needed to be shared. He mostly wanted to help expand the range of what it meant to be Native.
The Only Good Indians – Stephen Grahams Jones
The award winning story starts with Ricky a Blackfeet man leaving a bar and seeing a distressed elk damaging cars. He tries to calm the elk, but is instead accused of damaging the cars outside by white bar goers. Ricky is chased, caught and beaten to death. This beginning sets the themes and tone for the rest of the thriller. The story then follows four Native American men after tragic events from their youth. The four childhood friends left behind their culture and traditions in their youth. But, now they need them back in order to survive. Jones is a Blackfoot Native American known to bring in elements from his past and culture into his writing. The Only Good Indians offers insight on how old traditions and modern life have collided for contemporary living.
Heart Berries – Terese Marie Mailhot
In this memoir Mailhot shows us through her childhood, early motherhood and into her adult struggles. She wants us to be inside her struggles with mental health and personal identity. Mailhot grew up on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in British Columbia. The essay shows us the everyday lives of those who live on reservations along with the issues that occur. The memoir also explores Mailhot’s relationship to her family and how this ties into her culture and experience in America as an Indigenous woman. This book will bring you face to face with the lives of those who’ve suffered due to America and their perspective on Indigenous people/women.
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