Moving Tale Weaving Romance, Mystery, and Family in Modern Native American Life
"My girl, some boats are for the river and some are for the ocean."
Boulley set out to write Firekeeper's Daughter, according to her Author's Note in the back, "because there are simply too few stories told by and about Native Americans, especially from a contemporary point of view." On top of that she hopes to reinforce the idea that Native Americans exist in the now and "have dynamic experiences beyond history books or stories set long ago." The result of her ambitions is an incredibly moving story woven in with a bit of romance, mystery, and family drama.
Ten years in the making, Boulley was inspired by a vaguely similar jumping off point when, during her own high school career, a new guy later turned out to have been an undercover narcotics officer. Though the two never met, it was where the seed of an idea erupted with life and possibilities for Boulley.
In Firekeeper's Daughter, Daunis Fontaine, a newly graduated, eighteen-year-old woman, agrees to aid in an undercover meth investigation. When reduced to this level, it seems as straightforward as the plot really is — and while a few basics were obvious or predictable, some points weren't at all, and that made for a story that has both all the predictability of actual life mixed in with something new and layered.
My only issues with the book were the first person present tense narration from Dauny and the overall length. Boulley is a talented writer, and I think the present tense narration makes a lot of sense in some scenes, but I disliked its use throughout — and found it especially heavy by the second half of the book. While I really enjoyed the story and characters created by Boulley, there were many times throughout this lengthy book (that could've been about 75 pages shorter), in which the first person present tense narration was rather stifling and wearing.
Depsite that, this is a wonderful Young Adult book that doesn't skirt around heavier issues, in fact, Firekeeper's Daughter embraces these — and shows the wonderfully rich culture of modern Native Americans, written by a Native American woman.
"My girl, some boats are for the river and some are for the ocean. And there are some that can go anywhere because they always know the way home."
Boulley set out to write Firekeeper's Daughter, according to her Author's Note in the back, "because there are simply too few stories told by and about Native Americans, especially from a contemporary point of view." On top of that she hopes to reinforce the idea that Native Americans exist in the now and "have dynamic experiences beyond history books or stories set long ago." The result of her ambitions is an incredibly moving story woven in with a bit of romance, mystery, and family drama.
Ten years in the making, Boulley was inspired by a vaguely similar jumping off point when, during her own high school career, a new guy later turned out to have been an undercover narcotics officer. Though the two never met, it was where the seed of an idea erupted with life and possibilities for Boulley.
In Firekeeper's Daughter, Daunis Fontaine, a newly graduated, eighteen-year-old woman, agrees to aid in an undercover meth investigation. When reduced to this level, it seems as straightforward as the plot really is — and while a few basics were obvious or predictable, some points weren't at all, and that made for a story that has both all the predictability of actual life mixed in with something new and layered.
My only issues with the book were the first person present tense narration from Dauny and the overall length. Boulley is a talented writer, and I think the present tense narration makes a lot of sense in some scenes, but I disliked its use throughout — and found it especially heavy by the second half of the book. While I really enjoyed the story and characters created by Boulley, there were many times throughout this lengthy book (that could've been about 75 pages shorter), in which the first person present tense narration was rather stifling and wearing.
Depsite that, this is a wonderful Young Adult book that doesn't skirt around heavier issues, in fact, Firekeeper's Daughter embraces these — and shows the wonderfully rich culture of modern Native Americans, written by a Native American woman.
"My girl, some boats are for the river and some are for the ocean. And there are some that can go anywhere because they always know the way home."