2022: a strong character study that took me a long time to get into.

I had to put this book down and come back to it at first. There were so many characters, and we heard from so many different points of view, and overall there was just so much going on! I loved the story of the Native community members coming together to try and fight against Congress (a true story!) but it felt so distinct from the main storyline with Patrice & Wood Mountain. Roxane Gay called it out in her review that it felt like I was reading two different books in one and I wholeheartedly agree.

I learned a lot about American laws and different ways that the US government impacted the Native communities, especially in the mid-20th century. I'll tell you one thing, the character Arthur V. Watkins did nothing to endear me to the Mormon faith. There were a lot of magical realism elements that came into play (such as spontaneously switching the narration to the point of view of the horses?!) which I took as just inherent or at least extremely symbolic of Native storytelling.

"Do you think they'll miss us? Do you think they'll look back in the future and say, 'Wow, we should have listened to those Indians?'" As I currently live in California and am watching the effects of climate change ravage this state, yes. Yes I do.