Read Women discussion

I'm simply going to "borrow" (steal) Carol's initial write-up here:

Stolen is a ”Swedish novel that follows a young indigenous woman as she struggles to defend her family’s reindeer herd and culture amidst xenophobia, climate change, and a devious hunter whose targeted kills are considered mere theft in the eyes of the law...Based on real events, the award-winning novel ... is part coming-of-age story, part love song to a disappearing natural world, and part electrifying countdown to a dramatic resolution—a searing depiction of a forgotten part of Sweden."

I have started and actually paused to do some research into the Sami culture, which I will share shortly. Please note next message - there is a potential trigger warning for animal cruelty.

Stolen is book 1 of the Sapmitrilogin Series.

Hannah wrote: "I feel very torn about stolen. I really want to read it and bear witness to this experience but I find violence against animals to be very triggering due to past trauma, I'm not sure I can handle it tbh."

Hannah, I have already started it. It is a lovely book mainly in the fact that I am learning so much about the Sami culture and the area of the country in which the story unfolds, BUT the book starts out with the 9 year old seeing "her" reindeer dead and it is quite traumatizing to her. The incidences aren't particularly graphic (to me, yet) but I have the luxury of thinking of the reindeer as Rudolph, a cartoon character, and therefore keeping my troubling thoughts at bay. I think you may find this quite triggering.

So I'll try to provide some data here while trying not to make it sound like a research paper.

"The Sámi (/ˈsɑːmi/ SAH-mee; also spelled Sami or Saami) are the traditionally Sámi-speaking indigenous people inhabiting the region of Sápmi, which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and of the Kola Peninsula in Russia. Sápmi demonstrates a distinct semi-national identity that transcends the borders between Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. There is no movement for a sovereign state, but they do seek greater autonomy in their respective nation states.

The region of Sápmi was formerly known as Lapland. Historically, the Sámi have been known in English as Lapps or Laplanders. However, these terms are regarded as offensive by the Sámi, who prefer Northern Sámi Sápmi.

Traditionally, the Sámi have pursued a variety of livelihoods, including coastal fishing, fur trapping, and sheep herding. Their best-known means of livelihood is semi-nomadic reindeer herding. As of 2007 about 10% of the Sámi were connected to reindeer herding, which provides them with meat, fur, and transportation. For traditional, environmental, cultural, and political reasons, reindeer herding is legally reserved for only Sámi in some regions of the Nordic countries.

Sámi is one of five national minority languages recognized by Swedish law ... Sámi pupils are entitled to be taught in their native language; however, a municipality is only obliged to arrange mother-tongue teaching in Sámi if a suitable teacher is available and the pupil has a basic knowledge of Sámi.

The Indigenous Sámi population is a mostly urbanised demographic, but a substantial number live in villages in the high Arctic. The Sámi are still coping with the cultural consequences of language and culture loss caused by generations of Sámi children being taken to missionary or state-run boarding schools and the legacy of laws that were created to deny the Sámi rights (e.g., to their beliefs, language, land and to the practice of traditional livelihoods). The Sámi are experiencing cultural and environmental threats, including: oil exploration, mining, dam building, logging, climate change, military bombing ranges, tourism and commercial development.

One piece of clothing you will read about in the book is the
Gákti, which are the traditional clothing worn by the Sámi people. The gákti is worn both in ceremonial contexts and while working, particularly when herding reindeer.

This link will take you to a picture in Wikipedia for an example:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...

Traditionally, the gákti was made from reindeer leather and sinews, but nowadays, it is more common to use wool, cotton, or silk. Women's gákti typically consist of a dress, a fringed shawl that is fastened with 1–3 silver brooches, and boots/shoes made of reindeer fur or leather. Sámi boots (or nutukas) can have pointed or curled toes and often have band-woven ankle wraps. Eastern Sámi boots have a rounded toe on reindeer-fur boots, lined with felt and with beaded details. There are different gákti for women and men; men's gákti have a shorter "jacket-skirt" than a women's long dress. Traditional gákti are most commonly in variations of red, blue, green, white, medium-brown tanned leather, or reindeer fur. In winter, there is the addition of a reindeer fur coat and leggings, and sometimes a poncho (luhkka) and rope/lasso.

The colours, patterns and the jewellery of the gákti indicate where a person is from, if a person is single or married, and sometimes can even be specific to their family. The collar, sleeves and hem usually have appliqués in the form of geometric shapes. Some regions have ribbonwork, others have tin embroidery, and some Eastern Sámi have beading on clothing or collar. Hats vary by sex, season, and region. They can be wool, leather, or fur. They can be embroidered, or in the East, they are more like a beaded cloth crown with a shawl.

The gákti can be worn with a belt; these are sometimes band-woven belts, woven, or beaded. Leather belts can have scrimshawed antler buttons, silver concho-like buttons, tassels, or brass/copper details such as rings. Belts can also have beaded leather pouches, antler needle cases, accessories for a fire, copper rings, amulets, and often a carved or scrimshawed antler-handled knife. Some Eastern Sámi also have a hooded jumper (малиц) from reindeer skins with wool inside and above the knee boots."

source: Wikipedia

GailW wrote: "So I'll try to provide some data here while trying not to make it sound like a research paper.

"The Sámi (/ˈsɑːmi/ SAH-mee; also spelled Sami or Saami) are the traditionally Sámi-speaking indigen..."

Wow thanks for the wealth of background info. Very interesting to learn.

So that no one wastes time trying to find the translation for the chapter titles (because I just did thinking those large lovely-looking words meant something else...) they are simply the numerical sequence - one through ??? - in Northern Sámi. Used this website: https://glosbe.com/se/en

I started to read this book review and then stopped, afraid it would give too much away. I'm saving the link here so that I don't forget to read it once I'm done.
https://swedishbookreview.org/ann-hel...

joining you on November 1, friend. 😇

Carol wrote: "joining you on November 1, friend. 😇"

I tried stretching this out until after the 1st and just couldn't. Finished it yesterday. !!

GailW wrote: "Carol wrote: "joining you on November 1, friend. 😇"

I tried stretching this out until after the 1st and just couldn't. Finished it yesterday. !!"

share your thoughts?

I'm wondering how you got on with it too Gail, did the violence continue as it started?

Hey guys. Have been dealing with a medical issue. Have another appt today. Will answer very very shortly.

Hey Gail, no rush! I hope your appointment goes well, take care x

So here goes. And please, bear with me, if this sounds preachy or at all aggressive - writing about a passionate topic, while in pain, is not always a good idea!... 😟

In response to the questions about the “animal abuse” in the novel, yes, it is there. It is the main focus and, dare I say, reason for the story at all. It is prevalent throughout, not in gory detail, but in sentences that state an action – “the throat was slit”, “the reindeer was disemboweled”. (I’ve read much worse within crime and war novels, that often-times I could not finish). I guess what I’m really saying is that it is all a matter of where the reader decides to center their concentration while reading the book. Sometimes that works for me. Sometimes it doesn't. This time it did. For me, I would call the episodes “twingey”. Something I would think “ewww” and then quickly move on to the rest of the story. (And please, please - no judgement on my part if that can't happen for you!)

And then there is the "rest of the story". As the story progresses, there were two main areas on which I focused.

The first was the Sami culture of the reindeer herders. The reindeer-herding Sami’s entire life centers around their herds; it is the source of their food, their livelihood. People are not only stealing the animals for the money they can bring but are also brutalizing them as a “F… you” to the Sami nation that they hate. In Scandinavia, the government and it’s departments (police), looked at the thefts not as to the effect on the livelihoods (and the mental/physical well-beings of the herders), but as a nuisance, like stealing a watch. The writing of the culture is beautiful and very eye-opening. It's a way of life that at times seems just like mine - family, parents, siblings, school, jobs - lived in a way that is nothing like mine.

My second focus centered on the age-old pattern of “old-man” patriarchy in the Sami. Women are not treated as equal citizens. Women were/are not allowed to “own” herds (they automatically became the husband’s property when they married). Technically, women were not allowed to step outside of the “village” or “tribal” construct without permission (which would likely never come to be). But the main character, Elsa, does just that. As much as anything, it is the story of a young woman stepping back and saying “Wait. If YOU’RE not going to do something about this, I AM! And you need to get out of my way." And there were lots of "you's".

There is an excellent paper that was written about the feminist and activist thought built into the storyline that makes me want to go back and read the book again now that I've read the paper: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/...

So, if you can't tell yet, I loved this book. I found it fascinating, eye-opening, something to cheer about. Do I think everyone will? Nope. But that's okay too!

I think I've nominated this one more than once and now I realise that it's the read of the month!? And I don't even believe I was the one who nominated it this time! Lol!

I'm Swedish - but not Samí - so maybe I can add to some knowledge if you're interested. In Swedish the word for the group is Samer and for a single person the word is Same (no, it doesn't sound like the English word spelled the same) and the language is Samiska.

They were terribly mistreated by the church during the 17th and 18th centuries when they were forced to work for the mining industry. Now there are a fierceful empowering generation of Samí artists/cultural workers that brings forth the Samí experiences.

I don't know if I will have the time and energy to read the book now though, since I'm battling brain fatigue.

Nike wrote: "I think I've nominated this one more than once and now I realise that it's the read of the month!? And I don't even believe I was the one who nominated it this time! Lol! I'm Swedish - but not Sam..."

Haha! I wondered where I had found this! It was probably from you! So thank you for that. Yeah, definitely wait until you are out of brain fatigue.

GailW wrote: "Nike wrote: "I think I've nominated this one more than once and now I realise that it's the read of the month!? And I don't even believe I was the one who nominated it this time! Lol! I'm Swedish -..."

Yes, Gail! We must have talked about this book in ATY 52, aren't you a member there? You mentioned another book written by an American-Finnish woman, about Sami in Finland? Am I right? Was it you? 🙂

GailW wrote: "So I'll try to provide some data here while trying not to make it sound like a research paper.

"The Sámi (/ˈsɑːmi/ SAH-mee; also spelled Sami or Saami) are the traditionally Sámi-speaking indigen..."

The largest province in Sweden is still named Lappland actually. Look at the map.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapland...

Hi, Nike. Thanks for this! It reads a bit differently than the articles I found. But, as with anything, that always depends on the person doing the writing.

I am in ATY but I don't remember mentioning any other book. I'm not near as involved in that group. But, because my memory can be so poor, I checked my spreadsheet for my list of books to-read/ already read by country and don't see anything open for Finland or Sweden that is Sámi related. But if you later think of the title I'd love to check it out!

I think I found it. I had posted "Stolen" as a best book for October and NancyJ had commented about the book "The End of Drum Time". https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I’m slowly working my way through this one and there is so far one scene from someone else’s POV and what they do to the reindeer that is a little graphic. It was very short but it made me very uncomfortable. I would say if you’re reading this and worried about that, it would be easy to skip this short POV chapter and not miss anything. I am listening on audio so I don’t have page numbers but I found a chapter breakdown online that shows it as chapter 34. I initially wondered at the author offering his POV at all, but this is such a complex book that I can’t begrudge it. I’m really enjoying how much the generational shifts are explored here with the culture and the ‘times.’

I liked this one and found myself drawing a lot of comparisons to Native Americans and Indigenous in North America in regards to their treatment by government and others. I know they are not the same, but it was sad to see that people are awful in similar ways everywhere. I did see this was part of a trilogy and I did not know that. I’m curious as one of them looks like they may delve more into older generations at boarding schools and I was intrigued by her grandmother’s story, sad as it seemed in the piecemeal we got. I’m surprised I got through a group read to be honest and am working on our other one this month as well, wishing everyone some peaceful moments this holiday season.