What do you think?
Rate this book
Carnival Lights
Minnesota Book Awards 2022 -- Finalist in Novel & Short Story
Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards (NEMBA) 2022 -- Winner in Fiction
"Fluid in time and place, Carnival Lights flows between one past and another, offering a heartbreaking portrait of multigenerational trauma in the lives of one Ojibwe family. This tapestry of stories is beautifully woven and gut-wrenching in its effect. Read it, and it may change you forever." -- William Kent Krueger, New York Times Bestselling Author
Blending fiction and fact, Carnival Lights ranges from reverie to nightmare and back again in a lyrical yet unflinching story of an Ojibwe family’s struggle to hold onto their land, their culture, and each other. Carnival Lights is a timely book for a country in need of deep healing.
In August 1969, two teenage Ojibwe cousins, Sher and Kris, leave their northern Minnesota reservation for the lights of Minneapolis. The girls arrive in the city with only $12, their grandfather's WWII pack, two stainless steel cups, some face makeup, gum, and a lighter. But it's the ancestral connections they are also carrying - to the land and trees, to their family and culture, to love and loss - that shape their journey most. As they search for work, they cross paths with a gay Jewish boy, homeless white and Indian women, and men on the prowl for runaways. Making their way to the Minnesota State Fair, the Indian girls try to escape a fate set in motion centuries earlier.
Set in a summer of hippie Vietnam War protests and the moon landing, Carnival Lights also spans settler arrival in the 1800s, the creation of the reservation system, and decades of cultural suppression, connecting everything from lumber barons' mansions to Nazi V-2 rockets to smuggler's tunnels in creating a narrative history of Minnesota.
"Chris Stark's newest novel explores the evolution of violence experienced by Native women. Simultaneously graphic and gentle, Carnival Lights takes the reader on a daunting journey through generations of trauma, crafting characters that are both vulnerable and resilient." -- Sarah Deer, (Mvskoke), Distinguished Professor, University of Kansas, MacArthur Genius Award Recipient
"Carnival Lights is a heartbreaking wonder of gorgeous prose and urgent story. It propels the reader at a breathless pace as history crashes down on the readers as much as it does on the book's vivid characters. The author's brilliant heart restores their dignity and via the realm of imagination, brings them home." -- Mona Susan Power, author of The Grass Dancer, a PEN/Hemingway Winner
From Modern History Press
Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards (NEMBA) 2022 -- Winner in Fiction
"Fluid in time and place, Carnival Lights flows between one past and another, offering a heartbreaking portrait of multigenerational trauma in the lives of one Ojibwe family. This tapestry of stories is beautifully woven and gut-wrenching in its effect. Read it, and it may change you forever." -- William Kent Krueger, New York Times Bestselling Author
Blending fiction and fact, Carnival Lights ranges from reverie to nightmare and back again in a lyrical yet unflinching story of an Ojibwe family’s struggle to hold onto their land, their culture, and each other. Carnival Lights is a timely book for a country in need of deep healing.
In August 1969, two teenage Ojibwe cousins, Sher and Kris, leave their northern Minnesota reservation for the lights of Minneapolis. The girls arrive in the city with only $12, their grandfather's WWII pack, two stainless steel cups, some face makeup, gum, and a lighter. But it's the ancestral connections they are also carrying - to the land and trees, to their family and culture, to love and loss - that shape their journey most. As they search for work, they cross paths with a gay Jewish boy, homeless white and Indian women, and men on the prowl for runaways. Making their way to the Minnesota State Fair, the Indian girls try to escape a fate set in motion centuries earlier.
Set in a summer of hippie Vietnam War protests and the moon landing, Carnival Lights also spans settler arrival in the 1800s, the creation of the reservation system, and decades of cultural suppression, connecting everything from lumber barons' mansions to Nazi V-2 rockets to smuggler's tunnels in creating a narrative history of Minnesota.
"Chris Stark's newest novel explores the evolution of violence experienced by Native women. Simultaneously graphic and gentle, Carnival Lights takes the reader on a daunting journey through generations of trauma, crafting characters that are both vulnerable and resilient." -- Sarah Deer, (Mvskoke), Distinguished Professor, University of Kansas, MacArthur Genius Award Recipient
"Carnival Lights is a heartbreaking wonder of gorgeous prose and urgent story. It propels the reader at a breathless pace as history crashes down on the readers as much as it does on the book's vivid characters. The author's brilliant heart restores their dignity and via the realm of imagination, brings them home." -- Mona Susan Power, author of The Grass Dancer, a PEN/Hemingway Winner
From Modern History Press
250 pages, Paperback
First published June 26, 2021
27 people are currently reading
3146 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
January 11, 2022
Anishinaabe author, activist, and teacher Chris Stark details a modern-day witch hunt.
‘Carnival’ derives from the Italian word for meat, “carne.” In Italian, “carne levare” means “to
remove meat,” while in Latin, “carne vale” means “farewell to meat.” This is a story of a flesh hunt – women’s flesh. While femicide is rampant worldwide today, especially by men who flatter themselves with patriarchal notions of innate superiority, this story begins with the rape of the land. In 1860, sacred Native American burial grounds were dug up in Minnesota to construct a carnival. A pickup truck used for hauling tree stumps dumped the human remains near a local river.
Decades later, those carnival grounds will provide a brief respite for two Ojibwe women on the run from sexual abuse. The author acknowledges the pervasiveness of rape, even inside the home of Kris, an Ojibwe youth whose paternal molestation prompts her escape. But there’s no respite from misogyny, not inside or outside or anywhere, especially towards Native American women who, to evil men, are human prey. I cringed for the desperate young women as they fled from one hideout and from one betrayal to the next, finding respite in rare and temporary kindness.
Two-spirited Sher (a name including ‘she’ and ‘he’ and her’) and her vulnerable cousin Kris live a story of Ojibwe sisterhood and loyalty. Sher is handy with a pocketknife and so quick-witted and fast that one misogynist gets a blood-red taste of her effectiveness. An abused relative, Em, appears a little later in the story and her love is a powerful support to Sher.
Woven throughout Carnival Lights is a bright yellow thread of ancestral wisdom, ways, traditions, and beliefs, all of which encourage the young women – and the reader. Dark red yarn weaves a back-and-forth history of betrayals, including the 1969 government-approved hunting of children for concealed commercial and pedophilic purposes, and American industry’s post-war welcome to former Nazis soldiers who found refuge and employment in the US. A pioneer in space technology in the United States was a Nazi too. Who cared as long as financial gain happened? Even the sky is Apollo-raped by the rich slaves to power and prestige.
The ancestors say there will be a reckoning. And Mother Earth has the very last word. The voices of the ancestors in Carnival Lights warn that what turns is not a Ferris wheel in a fly-by-night carnival but the unshakeable laws of Nature and Love. The author shared that over time, the ancestral remains from the ravaged Minnesota burial site found their way, via the river, to their ancestral home once again. This fact underscores a profound message of this passionate herstory; namely, that truth prevails.
Eleanor Cowan, Author, A History of a Pedophile's Wife: Memoir of a Canadian Teacher and Writer
‘Carnival’ derives from the Italian word for meat, “carne.” In Italian, “carne levare” means “to
remove meat,” while in Latin, “carne vale” means “farewell to meat.” This is a story of a flesh hunt – women’s flesh. While femicide is rampant worldwide today, especially by men who flatter themselves with patriarchal notions of innate superiority, this story begins with the rape of the land. In 1860, sacred Native American burial grounds were dug up in Minnesota to construct a carnival. A pickup truck used for hauling tree stumps dumped the human remains near a local river.
Decades later, those carnival grounds will provide a brief respite for two Ojibwe women on the run from sexual abuse. The author acknowledges the pervasiveness of rape, even inside the home of Kris, an Ojibwe youth whose paternal molestation prompts her escape. But there’s no respite from misogyny, not inside or outside or anywhere, especially towards Native American women who, to evil men, are human prey. I cringed for the desperate young women as they fled from one hideout and from one betrayal to the next, finding respite in rare and temporary kindness.
Two-spirited Sher (a name including ‘she’ and ‘he’ and her’) and her vulnerable cousin Kris live a story of Ojibwe sisterhood and loyalty. Sher is handy with a pocketknife and so quick-witted and fast that one misogynist gets a blood-red taste of her effectiveness. An abused relative, Em, appears a little later in the story and her love is a powerful support to Sher.
Woven throughout Carnival Lights is a bright yellow thread of ancestral wisdom, ways, traditions, and beliefs, all of which encourage the young women – and the reader. Dark red yarn weaves a back-and-forth history of betrayals, including the 1969 government-approved hunting of children for concealed commercial and pedophilic purposes, and American industry’s post-war welcome to former Nazis soldiers who found refuge and employment in the US. A pioneer in space technology in the United States was a Nazi too. Who cared as long as financial gain happened? Even the sky is Apollo-raped by the rich slaves to power and prestige.
The ancestors say there will be a reckoning. And Mother Earth has the very last word. The voices of the ancestors in Carnival Lights warn that what turns is not a Ferris wheel in a fly-by-night carnival but the unshakeable laws of Nature and Love. The author shared that over time, the ancestral remains from the ravaged Minnesota burial site found their way, via the river, to their ancestral home once again. This fact underscores a profound message of this passionate herstory; namely, that truth prevails.
Eleanor Cowan, Author, A History of a Pedophile's Wife: Memoir of a Canadian Teacher and Writer
May 2, 2022
Through fiction, Chris Stark tells the whole truth. In language so beautiful that it makes this truth bearable.
May 3, 2022
Not an easy book to read, but an important one.
May 20, 2022
Two Ojibwa cousins leave the reservation to find a better life in the city. Their struggles, and those of their forebears, are tragic. A sad story of historic wrongs and the way life has not changed for multiple generations.
January 12, 2022
"Grief...is heat held inside, rising up and pushing out."
Stark (who is Anishinaabe and Cherokee) and her fellow indigenous tribes know much about grief. They have lived with it daily for centuries, passing it down as trauma passes through DNA from one generation to the next. This story tells the tale of two Native women who run away from their reservation in search of a better life, free of abuse. Only to discover that the abuse and violence outside the reservation may be worse than that within.
I could not put this down. I loved the glimpse into their ways of looking at story and home (both circular rather than square, and what that says about those who narrate or build in one form or another) and admire their perseverance under constant, constant attempts to destroy them and their culture. A page turner full of important historical facts that have gone untaught in schools and a tender testament to the beauty of the spirit ways of Natives and their interwoven history with place and the wild. Stark is both a competent and lyrical writer. I hope this wins some awards.
Stark (who is Anishinaabe and Cherokee) and her fellow indigenous tribes know much about grief. They have lived with it daily for centuries, passing it down as trauma passes through DNA from one generation to the next. This story tells the tale of two Native women who run away from their reservation in search of a better life, free of abuse. Only to discover that the abuse and violence outside the reservation may be worse than that within.
I could not put this down. I loved the glimpse into their ways of looking at story and home (both circular rather than square, and what that says about those who narrate or build in one form or another) and admire their perseverance under constant, constant attempts to destroy them and their culture. A page turner full of important historical facts that have gone untaught in schools and a tender testament to the beauty of the spirit ways of Natives and their interwoven history with place and the wild. Stark is both a competent and lyrical writer. I hope this wins some awards.
August 20, 2021
Insightful and Powerful
Two teens run away from the reservation up north to Minneapolis. They have good reasons to leave but have only twelve dollars upon arrival. Vietnam War protests, Bob Dylan songs, the first man on the moon, the Minnesota State Fair are going on as they try to find places to sleep and food to eat.
The author shows how family and society problems can spiral through the generations, for all of us, not just Sher and Kris. This is a profound book I will never forget. I highly recommend Carnival Lights.
Two teens run away from the reservation up north to Minneapolis. They have good reasons to leave but have only twelve dollars upon arrival. Vietnam War protests, Bob Dylan songs, the first man on the moon, the Minnesota State Fair are going on as they try to find places to sleep and food to eat.
The author shows how family and society problems can spiral through the generations, for all of us, not just Sher and Kris. This is a profound book I will never forget. I highly recommend Carnival Lights.
September 18, 2021
cultural dichotomies collide in a horror of misplaced dead removed from their honored resting places, to macabre carnival lights and disasters, to boned that find their way home upstream, against the current and people who do not
poetic, powerful and tragic
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
poetic, powerful and tragic
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
November 28, 2022
TW: sexual assault. It has not been noted and there is rampant sexual violence throughout the book that I think readers need to know about prior to reading.
Carnival Lights tells an interwoven story of three generations and the abhorrent things that happened to them personally and their community. The theme of the book is that trauma travels through family lineage whether that be through an Ojibwa or Jewish family. The story that is told is important so I found it difficult to rate the book because I know this story and others like it need to be told. That said, this is a novel and needs to be thought of as such.
I felt that the author got lost at times in the plot. She included so many small details of injustice that the plot was lost. In many ways I feel like this would have been better as a narrative nonfiction piece than a novel in the way the author included facts and details of injustice throughout Minnesota’s history, some of which left you questioning why they were included. I also felt that the character development was lacking and although I was disgusted by and felt empathy for the things that happened to Kris, Sher, and their family I didn’t feel any type of connection to the characters. The interwoven stories of past and present were a beautiful reminder of the way our experiences and the experiences of our ancestors shape who we become, however, I didn’t feel as though the writing style allowed for me to feel connected to the main characters.
I wanted so badly to love this book. I did find it informative and insightful, but not in the way I want a novel to touch my soul. It was difficult to read due to lack of clear plot and character development to sustain me through the difficult parts. The story got lost in the weeds at times making it unenjoyable to read as a whole. There were so many positives of the book but also things I just did not like. The exploration of the theme and research done for the book do not get the Justice they deserve from my two star review and I am aware of that, but I found other literary elements made it hard to read as a novel.
Carnival Lights tells an interwoven story of three generations and the abhorrent things that happened to them personally and their community. The theme of the book is that trauma travels through family lineage whether that be through an Ojibwa or Jewish family. The story that is told is important so I found it difficult to rate the book because I know this story and others like it need to be told. That said, this is a novel and needs to be thought of as such.
I felt that the author got lost at times in the plot. She included so many small details of injustice that the plot was lost. In many ways I feel like this would have been better as a narrative nonfiction piece than a novel in the way the author included facts and details of injustice throughout Minnesota’s history, some of which left you questioning why they were included. I also felt that the character development was lacking and although I was disgusted by and felt empathy for the things that happened to Kris, Sher, and their family I didn’t feel any type of connection to the characters. The interwoven stories of past and present were a beautiful reminder of the way our experiences and the experiences of our ancestors shape who we become, however, I didn’t feel as though the writing style allowed for me to feel connected to the main characters.
I wanted so badly to love this book. I did find it informative and insightful, but not in the way I want a novel to touch my soul. It was difficult to read due to lack of clear plot and character development to sustain me through the difficult parts. The story got lost in the weeds at times making it unenjoyable to read as a whole. There were so many positives of the book but also things I just did not like. The exploration of the theme and research done for the book do not get the Justice they deserve from my two star review and I am aware of that, but I found other literary elements made it hard to read as a novel.
February 16, 2022
I loved reading Stark’s dynamic interplay between the present and the past, between the girls’ lives in the city and the voices of their families on the reservation speaking as guides and governors as they faced new decisions. And, I reeled in pain at their pain. The girls were presented so realistically that they became larger than two native teens in the big city for the first time. They grew into symbols not only of innocence but also of something indigenous in our white culture: victims of genocide.
From the moment young Kris and Sher stepped off the Greyhound bus in Minneapolis, they were targets for being used and abused. Stark uses their journey within the Twin Cities as foreground to shed bright light on the background of a painful history between their native ancestors and white invaders.
The only redemption that I could find in this story was their belief that what was stolen from native people will haunt the invaders for generations. Eventually our white ways will consume us, and we will be devoured by our greed and hubris leaving the earth’s polluted water, punctured land and fouled air to heal in their own time. And then, the belief goes, only those of us who live in harmony with these elements will endure.
In the end, Stark shows us that those dazzling Carnival Lights on the grounds at the Minnesota State Fair that attracted Kris and Sher also blinded them. When the lights went out a darkness in the heart of white predators who brutally stole these two young lives just as their ancestors did to the girls’ ancestors two centuries ago on that same stolen land.
From the moment young Kris and Sher stepped off the Greyhound bus in Minneapolis, they were targets for being used and abused. Stark uses their journey within the Twin Cities as foreground to shed bright light on the background of a painful history between their native ancestors and white invaders.
The only redemption that I could find in this story was their belief that what was stolen from native people will haunt the invaders for generations. Eventually our white ways will consume us, and we will be devoured by our greed and hubris leaving the earth’s polluted water, punctured land and fouled air to heal in their own time. And then, the belief goes, only those of us who live in harmony with these elements will endure.
In the end, Stark shows us that those dazzling Carnival Lights on the grounds at the Minnesota State Fair that attracted Kris and Sher also blinded them. When the lights went out a darkness in the heart of white predators who brutally stole these two young lives just as their ancestors did to the girls’ ancestors two centuries ago on that same stolen land.
February 27, 2023
Yes, it is often a hard book to read because the truth is often harsh. But it is truth well-told and the characters and the many others they represent deserve the honor of being seen, heard and remembered.
"This knowledge reached her, despite the severing of ways, conscious removal of the Old Ones, loss of language, and the schools and science and the white thinking ways that said nothing like that could happen -- once the deed is done in the white religion, now this young woman's religion, it flows away into time. Once a deed is forgotten by the people who witnessed it or heard of it, or spoke of it, or a man in black with a loon collar listened and crossed himself, it is over. But not in Indian ways and not in the ways of the world --deeds live on. Deeds have consequences that do not end. For place holds memory, not time." p.227
"This knowledge reached her, despite the severing of ways, conscious removal of the Old Ones, loss of language, and the schools and science and the white thinking ways that said nothing like that could happen -- once the deed is done in the white religion, now this young woman's religion, it flows away into time. Once a deed is forgotten by the people who witnessed it or heard of it, or spoke of it, or a man in black with a loon collar listened and crossed himself, it is over. But not in Indian ways and not in the ways of the world --deeds live on. Deeds have consequences that do not end. For place holds memory, not time." p.227
April 3, 2023
3.0 - the flow, character development, overly detailed and unnecessary Minnesota history and proof that we were in 1969 Twin Cities, and a lot of other structural issues made this a difficult book to stick with. But the core is incredible (urgent, as said in one review) with glimpses of strong writing. This is one of those rare books that everyone should read even if it is not the best literary work. The historical, present day, and all between treatment of indigenous people focusing on the disappearance and violence toward indigenous women is rarely addressed (ever?) in such detail and directly. That allows a reader to excuse stunted dialogue, quick and difficult transitions, and a grounding in place and time (the state fair portion, whoa) that was unnecessary.
September 22, 2022
This is hard to read, but an amazingly acute look at the perils of being a teen-age Native girl. Sher is the tough cousin, who is protective of Kris, the vulnerable one. The characters are fully, achingly drawn. The beauty of the prose contrasts the sordid nature of life on the streets. One intriguing aspect is the setting of Minneapolis and the State Fair in St . Paul, circa 1969. I could picture the cousins’ journey. The atrocities of the past are woven with topical references to the era. It is a book well worth the time.
November 24, 2023
Diverse and complex characters to follow along as they journey into the unknown. There are several twists in the story with many bumps in the road as the characters try to maneuver their way through the complexities of life. Like the background of the story and the journey is very entertaining and gripping to follow along. So many things happen in this story that it holds you until the end. Good read.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
May 14, 2022
I can't say I enjoyed this book, with the depiction of such violence towards the young Indigenous characters. But it is important and I leaned a lot. It is a new perspective on Minnesota history.
Since I live in south Minneapolis, and know the state fair, Duluth, Morris, and Little Falls areas, the story really was meaningful.
Since I live in south Minneapolis, and know the state fair, Duluth, Morris, and Little Falls areas, the story really was meaningful.
February 23, 2023
I am left breathless
I have only love for this book. It’s soul crushing, inspiring, truth telling - about adjacent backstories of Minnesota landmarks and iconic places - about things I suspected and felt, growing up in the places where Kris’ and Sher’s stories unfold. I will read it again and pass it on to my children and grandchildren.
I have only love for this book. It’s soul crushing, inspiring, truth telling - about adjacent backstories of Minnesota landmarks and iconic places - about things I suspected and felt, growing up in the places where Kris’ and Sher’s stories unfold. I will read it again and pass it on to my children and grandchildren.
May 1, 2022
this was a really unique and beautifully done read, I enjoyed the journey that I went on. The story was so well done and I liked getting to know the characters.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
November 10, 2022
This was a hard book to read. I reminded myself it was a novel but there was truth in the stories about violence towards Indigenous girls & women. Set in MN with lots of scenes in the city and state fair grounds so easy to visualize as I read.
November 30, 2022
I listened to this book on Audible. It was read by the author and sometimes it was really difficult for me to listen to her read. Very monotone. It's hard for me to rate this book and I'm not sure if I liked it or not. Difficult circumstances that I have no doubt are very real experiences.
February 15, 2024
I really wanted to like this but I just did not. The writing style was difficult for me to follow. The story is painful to read. I’m know there is an important message here, but there must be a better way to convey it.
March 4, 2022
This is an important book for every woman.
March 29, 2022
The writing style was odd to read but a wonderful story all around
November 24, 2022
Heartbreaking and gripping.
February 23, 2023
Devastating. A must read. I learned, and felt, a lot.
April 25, 2023
A heavy book to read
March 28, 2023
This book brings the horrifying plight of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women to life. Bleak, poignant, and gripping.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews