Publishers Weekly
★ 10/24/2022
Onondaga, Eel Clan author Gansworth (Apple) traces the life of a Haudenosaunee 25-year-old from early childhood to adulthood in this heartfelt epic. The novel opens in 1992 with reporter Brian Waterson, the only Native person on the Niagara Cascade staff, struggling to persuade his editors to let him report on topics other than life on the Tuscarora reservation where he grew up. When the brother of his mother’s white boyfriend is hospitalized after a violent incident, Brian is drawn back to his childhood home. Thus begins a rewind to 1970, and—via six distinct parts—a forward chronology that delves further into Brian’s relationship with his family, his community, and himself. As the years pass, Brian navigates racism, toxic masculinity, and an increasing disconnect with his heritage. The author’s sketch-like, high-contrast artwork, featured throughout and rendered in b&w, uses Native imagery to impart eerie atmosphere, while rhythmic poem interstitials lend additional lyricism to the lush text. In this perceptive tome, Gansworth candidly offers a complex look at Brian’s efforts to cultivate his own sense of self while navigating two seemingly separate identities: his life growing up in Tuscarora and his life after leaving the reservation. Ages 14–up. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
[STAR] “This masterwork of historical fiction asks whether peaceably straddling the realms of White and Indigenous people is possible. Rich, luxuriant, densely layered prose immerses readers in heartbreaking scenes and poignant dialogue as complex characters explore the confines and joys of male friendship. Riveting, timeless, and indispensable.” —Kirkus Reviews
(starred)
"A rich exploration of father-son dynamics."—Booklist
"A triumph of storytelling." —Buffalo News
[STAR] ”Onondaga, Eel Clan author Gansworth (Apple) traces the life of a Haudenosaunee 25-year-old from early childhood to adulthood in this heartfelt epic.” —Publishers Weekly (starred)
“Eric Gansworth's new novel is a sprawling work, part commentary and chorus, part excavation of generational trauma, circling back and starting over as his protagonist stumbles toward adulthood. Brian is a cub reporter at an upstate New York newspaper, hired to cover the Tuscarora reservation and the poverty he's barely escaped. But he's constantly tugged home by acts of violence and rare moments of honesty as he tries to walk the "Two Rows" between Indigenous and white worlds. Gansworth drops gems of sharp dialogue as his story lurches toward big truths.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
"[STAR] “A novel about strong medicines and powerful treaties.”—BCCB (starred)
Best of the Year, Bank Street College
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2022-08-03
A Native son comes of age, tackling race, class, and masculinity.
It’s 1992, and 25-year-old Brian is the only Indigenous journalist on staff at the Niagara Cascade, a small city newspaper. After failing to successfully pitch an article on the Love Canal toxic waste dump, Brian is told to stick to his beat by writing stories about life on the Tuscarora Indian Reservation where he grew up. Pressured to report on crimes committed by Indigenous people, Brian hears via the police blotter about a man who was severely assaulted on Moon Road, the center of the Rez. Through Eee-ogg, or gossip, Brian learns that the victim was Tim, a White man who is the brother of Gihh-rhaggs, his mom’s old boyfriend. No one on the Rez could understand Brian’s relationship with Tim. Spanning over two decades, the novel flashes back to Brian as a boy navigating a fraught adolescence in a house without heat, electricity, or gas. Enhanced with art by Gansworth (Onondaga, Eel Clan) as well as poetry and Brian’s newspaper articles, this masterwork of historical fiction asks whether peaceably straddling the realms of White and Indigenous people is possible. Rich, luxuriant, densely layered prose immerses readers in heartbreaking scenes and poignant dialogue as complex characters explore the confines and joys of male friendship.
Riveting, timeless, and indispensable. (author’s note) (Historical fiction. 14-adult)
