3.5 I really appreciated this book for the content and writing. It highlights a really important subject and she managed to write about it from the perspective of a 13 year old boy in a really believable, authentic way. But it took me a long while to get into the pacing and I found myself skimming past a lot of descriptive text that didn’t feel important. I definitely still think it’s worth reading if you don’t need a page turner and am really interested in reading more by Erdrich.

Great empathy builder for kids and adults.

3.5 I’m not going to become a regular romance reader any time soon, but this was a fun little foray. Also I think it’s hilarious how many reviews referenced how much they ate but not how much they had sex, which was pretty much every moment they were alone together. No wonder they ate so much!

This book! It was good all the way through, but the final pages had me squealing and weeping and feeling! The writing is exquisite. The character building is captivating. And it does an excellent job of immersing its readers in First Nations history and culture, all in the appealing package of a dystopian YA novel. One of a kind and full of depth. I wish I could replace any one of the white male coming of age stories that high schoolers have to read with this one. Bonuses: Métis #ownvoices, lgbtq rep, female author. Read this book!

Brief and poignant and powerful. A must-read classic unfortunately still as timely as ever.

Totally original, a deep dive, a fever dream. Recurring themes and characters beautifully woven together. Tons of insight. More Tommy Orange books ASAP, please.

My very favorite thing about this book, from page one, was Julia. Her voice was so real and refreshing and pure, even in its unreliability. She was never for a moment anything less than herself, in all her unfiltered teenage glory, and I loved it. Highly recommended for teens and adults.