Susan's Updates en-US Sat, 14 Jun 2025 12:32:25 -0700 60 Susan's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Rating867690247 Sat, 14 Jun 2025 12:32:25 -0700 <![CDATA[Susan Power liked a review]]> /
A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power
"I enjoyed the combination of magical realism and historical accounts of Indian boarding schools. Inspiring read! "
]]>
Rating867602194 Sat, 14 Jun 2025 06:08:50 -0700 <![CDATA[Susan Power liked a review]]> /
A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power
"First, a little note about where I’m at in my journey:

I used to avoid books written by BIPOC authors because I was taught and stupidly believed that they weren’t written for me to read. I felt super ashamed for those thoughts (even though they were put there by the people that raised me) and this further delayed my foray into these incredible stories. Finally this year, I have begun to address these feelings and really dig into /why/ I feel this way (a combination of the few books by BIPOC authors I had read not fitting my taste and as previously mentioned- the community I was raised in insisted on a “stick to your own kind�/ white supremacy world view. [something I am actively working to eradicate from my brain.]) I decided that one of my goals for this year would be to read a book written by a BIPOC author every month. I can report that I have read well over the 12 book goal I set for myself.

I am so sad that I closed myself off to the inspiring, colorful, beautiful words of people that look different than me for so long. I am a firm believer now more than ever that the thing that will allow us to abolish racism and build empathy is to seek out stories created by people that look different from me. While I do have white privilege and cannot have the same experience as a BIPOC person, it further cements in my mind that aside from those (huge, important disadvantages/traumas etc) experiences, we are all humans that develop the same kinds of emotional wounds and fall in love and grieve and celebrate. There is much more that binds us than sets us apart.

Okay now to talk about the book.

This is truly such a beautiful, eerie, spiritual story about generational trauma and the pain it inflicts on every child it touches. While my struggles do not involve growing up on a reservation or forced to attend a school that insisted on abandonment of my entire identity along with general racism and other terrible things, it does involve a lot of hurt women that passed on that hurt to their daughters. The last hour of this book had me in tears. If you have any interest in reading this book, please, please do. It lost me for a minute in the middle, but just know that the pay off is massive and the story is so beautiful.

This healed me more in the 3 days I read it than like the last 3 years of therapy lol where my fellow mother wounded bbs at?

Also please don’t think I am patting myself on the back or thinking that I have solved racism. I still have SO much work to do. This is a life-long journey and even then, I will still probably die with some ignorant ideas. But this is really helping me to dig into these issues (both in regards to racism and my part in racism AND the traumas that I do share with these authors) and become a better person. Sentence by sentence."
]]>
Rating867601867 Sat, 14 Jun 2025 06:07:11 -0700 <![CDATA[Susan Power liked a review]]> /
A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power
"St. Kate's conversation with books

When I finished this book, I felt more aware of lives of Native Americans

Well written; various narrators; mainly Sissy (Jesse) tells about traditions, families, and hardships."
]]>
Rating866983744 Thu, 12 Jun 2025 04:44:22 -0700 <![CDATA[Susan Power liked a review]]> /
A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power
&ܴdz;*4.5⭐️

The way we follow these girls by going back in time is masterful. So many complex themes and messages are brought up, but the sensitive way generational trauma is depicted is hard to read but beautiful. Ultimately this is a story of resiliency and it is a treasure."
]]>
Review7612953895 Fri, 30 May 2025 11:43:06 -0700 <![CDATA[Susan added 'The Mires']]> /review/show/7612953895 The Mires by Tina Makereti Susan gave 5 stars to The Mires (Paperback) by Tina Makereti
]]>
Review7575526831 Fri, 16 May 2025 21:51:07 -0700 <![CDATA[Susan added 'Old School Indian']]> /review/show/7575526831 Old School Indian by Aaron John Curtis Susan gave 5 stars to Old School Indian (Hardcover) by Aaron John Curtis
]]>
Review7500718924 Sat, 19 Apr 2025 05:18:16 -0700 <![CDATA[Susan added 'If the Dead Belong Here']]> /review/show/7500718924 If the Dead Belong Here by Carson Faust Susan gave 5 stars to If the Dead Belong Here (Unknown Binding) by Carson Faust
]]>
Review7445629086 Sat, 29 Mar 2025 14:43:47 -0700 <![CDATA[Susan added 'Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology']]> /review/show/7445629086 Never Whistle at Night by Shane Hawk Susan gave 5 stars to Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology (Paperback) by Shane Hawk
]]>
Review7443399503 Fri, 28 Mar 2025 17:18:44 -0700 <![CDATA[Susan added 'Rules for Loving Right']]> /review/show/7443399503 Rules for Loving Right by Brian Baumgart Susan gave 5 stars to Rules for Loving Right (Kindle Edition) by Brian Baumgart
]]>
Review7443331047 Fri, 28 Mar 2025 16:45:00 -0700 <![CDATA[Susan added 'Verb Animate: Poetry and Prompts from Collaborative Acts']]> /review/show/7443331047 Verb Animate by Heid E. Erdrich Susan gave 5 stars to Verb Animate: Poetry and Prompts from Collaborative Acts (Paperback) by Heid E. Erdrich
]]>