Memories of Pain

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This novel was very emotional and deeply wounding. A story in which the two main characters suffer a great deal through various hardships that aren’t uncommon.
The story takes place mostly in the Mozhay Point Reservation in Northern Minnesota, during a time where many native women are disappearing.
Told in different POV’s by various women in the lives of the two main characters, the story has a very unique voice. Azure Sky and Rainfall Dawn are only babies when their mother Loretta gives them up to the county. The girls are then separated for years and sent to different foster homes before finally getting sent to the same home. They do their best to push forward with every move they make, but they also keep hoping that their mother will return and make their family whole again.
I found this novel gripping in some points, but also hard to grasp in others. The pace was set in a very interesting way by slowing down some timeframes of the girl's lives and then by speeding up other portions. I found this to be something I disliked about the novel because just when I was feeling the story of Azure and Rain I was pushed forward in a very detached way. Every time this happened I lost the sense of connection I was building with the characters. This being my first novel from Linda LaGarde Grover, I found her writing very emotional and deep, but some parts were confusing as there was a lot of history I was not educated on, but this may just be a reason to educate myself on Native American history. Overall I liked the book