Shani > Recent Status Updates

I think I'm going to need to read a hard copy of this particular book. I'm just not connecting with it listening to it.

It might be because I'm listening to it on audio, but as much as I believe Valente is a skilled and detailed writer, I'm having a hard time focusing on the story. Again, I think it has more to do with me than it does the book itself. I'm still getting used to listening instead of reading a book in my hand.

So far, I'm liking it. It's a bit campy and out there, but I think that's what the author is going for. Valente's style reminds me a bit of Francesca Lia Block's which, to me, is not a bad thing.

I have to say that so far, Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys is both my favorite or least favorite section of this book. It's my least favorite, because the way Coyote (the Native American character) is portrayed makes me cringe. I'm not sure how Natives would feel about this character, but I believe he feels more like a magical creature than an actual person. I do love the spiritual symbolism in this story, though.

I'm really liking the spiritual symbolism; the goat pants, wings, and horns really make me feel like there's something evil happening underneath the surface of the rising fame of The Goat Guys.

I wonder what the thoughts of Native American readers are when they read this book. Something seems off with FLB's cultural appreciation. Again, I don't want to be too negative, because this was written in a different time.

It's been ten years since I picked this book up for the first time, and while I still like it, there are things I look at a little differently than I did before. I'm more sensitive to the struggles of marginalized groups other than my own, and there is no ignoring the illustrated cultural insensitivities in this book.

I want to throw FLB a bone, though. This book was released in the late 1980's.

I'm rereading this for the first time in years, and I expected to see it differently than the way I did before (when I was eighteen) because of all the negative reviews I've been reading.

While there are some "cringey" things I glossed over as a teen (some cultural insensitivity, for example), I still think there is a lot of heart in these stories. I understand this kind of book isn't for everyone, though.