A Song over Miskwaa Rapids

by Linda LeGarde Grover

A fifty-year-old mystery converges with a present-day struggle over family, land, and history
  When a rock is dislodged from its slope by mischievous ancestors, the past rises to meet the present, and Half-Dime Hill gives up a gruesome secret it has kept for half a century. Some people of Mozhay Point have theories about what happened; others know—and the discovery stirs memories long buried, reviving a terrible story yet to be told.   Returning to the fictional Ojibwe reservation in northern Minnesota she has so deftly mapped in her award-winning books, Linda LeGarde Grover reveals traumas old and new as Margie Robineau, in the midst of a fight to keep her family’s long-held allotment land, uncovers events connected to a long-ago escape plan across the Canadian border, and the burial—at once figurative and painfully real—of not one crime but two. While Margie is piecing the facts together, Dale Ann is confronted by her own long-held secrets and the truth that the long ago and the now, the vital and the departed are all indelibly linked, no matter how much we try to forget.    As the past returns to haunt those involved, Margie prepares her statement for the tribal government, defending her family’s land from a casino development and sorting the truths of Half-Dime Hill from the facts that remain there. Throughout the narrative, a chorus of spirit women gather in lawn chairs with coffee and cookies to reminisce, reflect, and speculate, spinning the threads of family, myth, history, and humor—much as Grover spins another tale of Mozhay Point, weaving together an intimate and complex novel of a place and its people.     Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly.

Genres: Fiction, Indigenous, Mystery, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Native American

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 7, 2023

About the author

Linda LeGarde Grover is a professor emeritus of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She is coauthor of A Childhood in Minnesota: Exploring the Lives of Ojibwe and Immigrant Families 1880–1920 and author of a poetry chapbook, The Indian at Indian School. Her 2010 book The Dance Boots won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction as well as the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize. Her novel The Road Back to Sweetgrass is the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers 2015 fiction award recipient. Linda's poetry collection The Sky Watched: Poems of Ojibwe Lives has received the Red Mountain Press 2016 Editor's Award and the 2016 Northeastern Minnesota Book Award for Poetry. Grover’s essay collection Onigamiising: Seasons of an Ojibwe Year received the 2018 Minnesota Book Award for Memoir & Creative Nonfiction as well as the Northeastern Minnesota Book Award for Memoir, her novel In the Night of Memory the 2020 Northeastern Minnesota Book Award for fiction as well at the UPAA (Upper Peninsula Publishers & Authors Association) U.P. Notable Book Award.

Grover is an enrolled member of the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe.

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was so lost almost the whole time. I loved the middle section and thought it was gunna keep going up but it went back down

[lids :) · Rating 3 out of 5]

more of a novella tbh. thought it was going to be a quick read because it was so short but i was very lost on the plot and the characters so it took me a while to get through. the prose was pretty though!!

[Kim Hollstein · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF: made it to page 51. I know that NA writing follows oral storytelling, and doesn’t always have a specific plot. But this one was too loose for me. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right place for it. But I couldn’t get into it. Like her other novel, so I’ll try her again on another book.

[MaryBeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up at the library because it was about native people and it had birds on the cover. LOL. It is really a novella, only 140+ pages and a quick read. I enjoyed how the author wove in the beliefs and practices of the tribal people as a mystery is uncovered at the local park.

[Alexia-Jane Morrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was written really beautifully, but I did get lost at times.
3 stars

[Sam · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF! Awful book. Had no idea what was going on or if there was anything even happening.

[Jacqueline Nyathi · Rating 3 out of 5]

After a slow (and somewhat confusing) start, it becomes clear that this is a story of “mischievous” ancestors intervening in the lives of family. It’s about land, and connections, old traumas and hauntings. Margie is preparing to fight to keep her family’s land, and there are buried secrets that the ancestors work to uncover to help her. There are also buried connections that come to light in unexpected ways.

It’s a pleasant read, but it didn’t feel like it really got going until the middle of the book. The flashbacks could also be perplexing, scattered as they were throughout the narrative. Family connections were not always clear, but that may be from my not having an understanding of cultural practices in that community. I was also less than satisfied with the big reveal at the centre of the novel, and its resolution.

Still, a pleasant way to pass the time. Thank you to University of Minnesota Press and to NetGalley.

[Merey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book off a giveaway on goodreads. I really liked it how it was written like the words used and ease at which I read it. The story itself, I feel like it was two stories put together. A lot of information and characters that are unnecessary and honestly quite confusing. I’m still sitting here like huh?

[Tracey Cramer-Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be confusing. It kept jumping back and forth in time and had many characters with similar names (Maggie & Margie; Therese and Theresa). The dead folks showed up and talked about tea. I was drawn to it for the mystery, but there was no emotion around the dead guy. Just not enough emotion in general.

[Maileen Hamto · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mozhay Point tribal government has started making plans for a new road leading to the state park, becoming a popular destination for non-tribal members. The prospect of development also holds the promise of a lucrative cell tower. More visitors to the reservation will also increase traffic to the casino. But the plans run through Sweetgrass, a land allotment that belongs to Margie Rabineau, 70, the long-time partner of a departed Tribal council member. Margie has made it clear that she does not want to give up the allotment. Breaching human will and self-determination, the ancestors have other plans. Closely held secrets reveal the intricate webs of places, memories, friendships, and betrayals.

In "A Song Over Miskwaa Rapids," Linda Legarde Grover tells the stories of Indigenous women, their ties to the land, family, and each other. Grover’s prose reflects her affinity for poetry. While she is sparing and prudent with words, she narrates the tangled and variegated relationships within the community, inviting discernment. What does holding onto the allotment mean to Margie and her descendants? Grover explains the thorny issues associated with development, who will benefit, and who will potentially be harmed. From my reading, the author makes no attempt to take a side. What is clear is the Indigenous worldview of oneness and the comforting promise of healing and repair.

[Sylvia Tancheva · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't remember ever giving 1*, but here we are. Being a very optimistic reader, I never quit a book, thinking that it may eventually have something at the end. This time I was so wrong. The long list of characters (for a relatively small book) and their relationships should have been a huge red flag, but I ignored it. If I decided to read this book on paper it will probably take me a few months to finish, I chose the audiobook and still those less than 5h took me 5 days!!!
This is the most chaotic and meaningless thing I ever read. I felt totally lost the whole time, aside the main plot, I was expecting at least to ... you know .. melt and sink into a culture, not well known to me, but that did not happen either. I am always very careful not to put spoilers, but this time I'm safe... I did not even know what I was reading from the beginning to the end. Why was this written, what was the purpose of this book? How come it was "promoted" by Goodreads into some "achievement list"? I achieved only the feeling of endless patience, which I did not expect to have in me, so thank you for that!

[Celeste Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

📚 A Song Over Miskwaa Rapids by Linda LeGarde Grover 📚

Thanks to netgalley and @uminnpress for the advance ebook.

After reading In The Night of Memory by this author earlier this year for @indigenousreadingcircle , I jumped at the chance to read this on netgalley. It's a very short novel, about 150 pages, and it focuses on two points in time - a present day story about the Sweetgrass area and allotment that Margie holds, and a day in the 70s that has a long lasting effect on the region, and especially Dale Ann. There are spirits who are involved with the story, most often as observers but sometimes with actions that set things in motion. Looking at the synopsis for her novel, The Road Back To Sweetgrass from 2014, I think it would be wise to read that book before reading this, since it seems to give a lot of the backstory on Dale Ann, Margie, and Theresa. Even without that info, I liked this book and enjoyed being back on the Mozhay land and around these character groups that I got to know in Night of Memory.

#ASongOverMiskwaaRapids

[LilyRose · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Song over Miskwaa Rapids by Linda LeGarde Grover is a moving and mysterious novel. Set in a fictional Ojibwe reservation in northern Minnesota, after a rockslide the residents of Mozhay Point are shocked at what fifty year old secret is unearthed. The mystery slowly unfolds over the course of the book as traumas old and new surface as Margie Robineau fights to keep her family’s long kept allotment land from development by preparing to deliver a speech to the tribal government and Dale Ann must confront her own fears and orchestrates an escape plan across the Canadian border before tragedy strikes. It is a story of interwoven narrative and timelines which creates a beautiful, textured and layered novel. The novel also features a chorus of female voices who guide and shape the story with myth, history, humour and family. It is a story that you have to follow carefully to make sure each strand of its telling doesn’t become confusing or lost in its shifting timeline but I found it a well paced and engaging read. An intimate examination of a place and it’s people across generations and ideal for fans of literary fiction 4 Stars ✨.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy of this book in exchange for honest feedback.

[Rob Brock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book set in and around Linda LeGarde Grover's fictional Ojibwe reservation in Northern Minnesota, this book wraps up one of a few strands of the stories started in The Road Back to Sweetgrass. It isn't necesssary to have read her previous novels set in Mozhay Point, but if you have, you will find this book to be satisfying in many ways. The narrative is anchored in the present, at a Minnesota state park associated with the Mozhay Point reservation, as two self-entitled white hikers try to scatter the ashes of a loved who who wanted to be burried at "an ancient indian burial ground." A series of mishaps leads to a surprising discovery that impacts multiple members of the Objibwe tribe. As with her other novels, this book easily navigates past and present to present a picture of the lives of a few families connected to the tribe, and adds in biting criticism of petulant white people and their ugly caricatures of indigenous people.

[G Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Legarde Grover is a lovely, evocative writer. Her characters are real and funny. As has been my complaint of late, this book was too short! It is hard to pull off a clear plot and flesh out all aspects of the story in less than 200 pages. The ending felt rushed and frankly confusing. I also think the publisher should have made it more clear that this story is very much the 3rd in a series, starting with Road Back to Sweetgrass and then In the Night of Memory. If you read all 3 back to back, it would create a world of depth and interlocking stories. But I read Road Back to Sweetgrass years ago, and the plot was fuzzy in my mind. Could have been fleshed out better.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the story had the potential to be very intriguing as it was told in a unique way, but I felt like the cast of characters was too big for such a short book. I had a really hard time keeping track of everyone and how they were all connected (and this was with a paper copy of the book in hand where I could keep flipping back to the character guide on the first page). That combined with some time jumps would make this a nearly impossible audiobook to follow! Aside from it being surprisingly challenging to follow, I liked the author’s way with words in many spots, and it was fun seeing my hometown mentioned a few times!

[Josie Estevez · Rating 1 out of 5]

First book I have DNFed in years and while usually I try to give the books a chance until the end, this book I just simply couldn't. From the writing style to the story itself, everything was making this book less and less readable to me. The story is set up in an extremely confusing format, the characters were terribly introduced and I could not keep my attention on this book for more than 3 minutes at a time. Truly sorry to not have been able to even finish this book even though it was short enough to be able to read it in a day without issue, but I wasn't putting myself through reading it any longer.

[Anita · Rating 1 out of 5]

When I first picked up this book, I suspected it might not be to my taste—and unfortunately, that turned out to be true. I’ve rarely connected with works of Native American literature, and this novella didn’t change that. The writing style was challenging, with frequent use of unfamiliar words and passages written in a Native language that made it difficult to stay engaged. I decided to give this book a try as part of my Goodreads reading challenge, hoping it might surprise me, but in the end, it simply wasn’t for me.

[Jillian]

"In her latest novel, Grover (The Road Back to Sweetgrass, 2014) revisits the fictional Mozhay Point reservation in Minnesota and the lives of those who inhabit it, focusing especially on its women. The novel is divided into three sections, each offering a different perspective..." You can read the rest of my review of A Song over Miskwaa Rapids in Booklist's Oct. 1 2023 issue and online here: https://www.booklistonline.com/A-Song...

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting tale mixing in current political challenges in Native American groups and some magical realism. I kept comparing this with Louise Erdrich, which is unfair (she has hundreds more pages to develop her story and characters), but I liked the main characters here all the same. Being local to the area, I could easily picture the scenes she describes. A short read and good exposure to the current culture in and near Native American lands. Some good plot twists, too…

[John Benson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third in a series of books that take place in the fictional reservation of Mozay Point in northeastern Minnesota. Most of the characters are still alive, but there is a chorus of dead relatives, who add their options to the story. The plot seems rather thin, but the author brings out the easy and gentle style of Native conversations within the book.

[Dorinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read Grovers prior books about Mozhay Point in order to really appreciate the interrelationships of families and characters. I really like the elder women chorus here, I should be so lucky to join such a group in the next world. Really appreciate the humor.

[Nancy]

Book in Subtext 2023 Catalog, U of M press; MN author

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed returning to the setting/characters of "Road Back to Sweetgrass," but I definitely would have been confused if I hadn't read that earlier book first.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 5*

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 really

[Mandy Brummer- stangl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely love this author and her books are so touching, sad but thoughtful.

[Carol Stanley-Snow · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greatest indigenous writers around.

Please read

[Yvonne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m still looking for the plot, it had some interesting elements though.

[Cassandre · Rating 2 out of 5]

The setting was really confusing (maybe it's supposed to be read as a companion story to her other books). The middle part was engaging, but it landed flat at the end. The writing was good.