A Council of Dolls - Mona Susan Power - ★★★★.¼
AUTHOR: Mona Susan Power
GENRE: Historical Fiction
PUBLICATION DATE: November 5, 2024
RATING: 4.25 stars.
In a Nutshell: A powerful multi-timeline narrative detailing the horrors faced by the indigenous citizens of the USA. Character-driven, introspective, brutal, slow-paced. Great use of the titular “dolls”. A book to be savoured than to be zoomed through. Recommended!
Plot Preview:
Sissy ~ a second-grader in 1960s Chicago. Has a volatile mother and a doting father. Loves her Christmas present: a Black Thumbelina doll named Ethel, who always supports Sissy and offers advice during tough times.
Lillian ~ a child of the 1930s. Born at a time of turmoil and conflict. Her sister Blanche and her Shirley-Temple-lookalike doll named Mae are her biggest sources of support. When the sisters are forced to go to an “Indian school” run by nuns, Mae turns out to be Lillian’s guiding light during the dark days.
Cora ~ born in the 1900s during the “Indian Wars”. Faces challenges head-on when she is sent alone to a school “to be civilised.” Her new teachers burn her beloved doll: a handmade bead-and-buckskin creation named Winona, but Cora soon learns that Winona’s spirit is not tied to her body.
The story comes to us over four compartmentalised sections from the first-person perspective of these three Native American girls whose dolls are more than mere toys in their lives.
Over the years, there have been plenty of fictional novels narrating the brutality that Black people had to suffer historically and even contemporarily. Now is the turn of the original "Americans" to reveal the harsh truths of the torture they had to undergo because of the so-called “civilised” people. As expected, this OwnVoices work is powerful, and even in its fictional bits, you can see dollops of truth.
Bookish Yays:
🙌 The idea of having a child narrator for such a dark story – an interesting writing choice that creates a different impact on the reader. The children are mature for their age, as often happens to kids forced to live under tragic or traumatising circumstances. But there is also an innocence to their voice that generates all sort of protective feelings in us.
🙌 The important role that dolls have to play in each section. Each of the dolls is distinct in their make as well as features, but they all have a voice that speaks to, advises, and even reprimands their little owners. I love how the writing took this aspect much beyond the typical “child’s imagination” trope and made the dolls sound real and sometimes even more perceptive than the girls they belonged to. We learn the relevance of the title “A Council of Dolls” only in the final section, but once revealed, it makes perfect sense.
🙌 As the narrators are children, their observations aren’t restricted to themselves (as happens in YA novels) but also include their parents, teachers, and other adults they interact with. Though written in first person, their narration helps us get a good handle on the personality of the adults in their lives. I like that the book doesn’t have a typical good-mom-bad-dad portrayal. Sissy’s dad was among the best characters in the book, and the author achieved this without making him seem like a vulnerable or weak man.
🙌 Having four distinct sections from separate timelines, one section at a time, is much easier to follow than having alternating sections jumping across three different narrators/timelines.
🙌 Further to the above, the choice of writing the first three sections in reverse chronological order is intriguing. It means that we meet the characters in one section but in the next, we see them at a younger age and learn what made them that way in adulthood. The final section offers a culmination to all the arcs.
(PSA: As you might have guessed, you need to keep all key character names in mind as they pop up across sections.)
🙌 The multi-timeline-multi-character approach smartly shows us how both personal and inter-generational trauma works. Plus, it also depicts how trauma and discrimination affect individuals varyingly even when they have undergone common experiences.
🙌 Plenty of historical insights and facts about the lives of the indigenous people in the USA under the white supremacists. (I was disappointed to learn some unsavoury truths about Abraham Lincoln’s attitude towards the Native citizens. 😥)
🙌 Each section is true to its era. Even without constant reminders of the year, there is a strong sense of the period during which the scenes are taking place through the character behaviour and their social experiences. Every narration thus offers an immersive experience into the reality of that timeline.
🙌 Cora’s perspective in the third section is the only one that comes from a journal, and this is wonderfully done. The author never forgets that the content should sound like a personal diary and every sentence adheres to this tone. This is an art many writers need to master – most show diary/journal entries written like fictional novels!
🙌 The OwnVoices factor, which brings a great deal of honesty to the writing. The regular sprinkling of Dakhóta and Lakota words adds to the authenticity.
🙌 The author’s note at the end, clarifying the facts as well as the parts where she took fictional liberty. Excellent, helpful, and insightful.
Bookish Mixed Bags:
🤔 As a character-focussed narrative, the pacing is obviously a bit slower. The final section, however, went a tad too slow and meandering for me.
🤔 The first two sections were fabulous in every way. The third section seemed to shift a little in tone, with magical realism dominating over the realism. I am fond of magical realism in general, but somehow, it didn’t work for me in this section. The final section goes into realistic mode again, but feels a bit too expository.
🤔 As each of the four sections is in the first-person perspective, it takes some time at the start of each section to get used to the new narrator. Those who don't enjoy character-driven storylines might find this aspect difficult.
All in all, while the first half of the book worked better for me, I still found this character-driven novel a compelling work, unveiling the extent of indigenous oppression in the US. The OwnVoices factor plays a strong role in making the story even more impactful.
This is not an easy book to read, but read it, you must! No one should make similar mistakes in future under the guise of religious/racial supremacy. However, looking at how certain governments are operating at present – dividing their citizens by religion instead of uniting them under a singular national identity, it seems like many “leaders” still haven’t learned the importance of separating religion from politics. I wonder if Bible-spouting Christian leaders even recollect Matthew 7:12, the foundational principle of Christianity. Not that leaders from other religions fare better. There are quite a few such nincompoops in various positions of power in my own country, not to mention those in the extended South Asian and Middle-East Asian governments.
(Wow! Looks like the book infuriated me more than I realised! 😬 Better get back on track!)
Much recommended to literary fiction readers, OwnVoices fans, and historical fiction lovers. If you can handle the triggers, the book will offer you much to contemplate upon.
My thanks to Random Things Tours, Mariner Books, and author Mona Susan Power for a complimentary copy of 'A Council of Dolls', and for allowing me to be a part of this blog tour. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
Once you have read the book, read this article:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Blurb:
From the mid-century metropolis of Chicago to the windswept ancestral lands of the Dakota people to the bleak and brutal Indian boarding schools, A Council of Dolls is the story of three women, told in part through the stories of the dolls they carried.
Sissy, born 1961: Sissy’s relationship with her beautiful and volatile mother is difficult, even dangerous, but her life is also filled with beautiful things, including a new Christmas present, a doll called Ethel. Ethel whispers advice and kindness in Sissy’s ear, and in one especially terrifying moment, maybe even saves Sissy’s life.
Lillian, born 1925: Born in her ancestral lands in a time of terrible change, Lillian clings to her sister, Blanche, and her doll, Mae. When the sisters are forced to attend an “Indian school” far from their home, Blanche refuses to be cowed by the school’s abusive nuns. But when tragedy strikes the sisters, the doll Mae finds her way to defend the girls.
Cora, born 1888: Although she was born into the brutal legacy of the “Indian Wars,” Cora isn’t afraid of the white men who remove her to a school across the country to be “civilized.” When teachers burn her beloved buckskin and beaded doll Winona, Cora discovers that the spirit of Winona may not be entirely lost.
A modern masterpiece, A Council of Dolls is gorgeous, quietly devastating, and ultimately hopeful, shining a light on the echoing damage of Indian boarding schools, and the historical massacres of Indigenous people.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author Mona Susan Power:
.jpg)
Mona Susan Power is the author of four books of fiction, including The Grass Dancer (a National Bestseller awarded a PEN/Hemingway Prize), Roofwalker (a collection of stories and essays awarded the Milkweed National Fiction Prize), Sacred Wilderness (a novel which received the Electa Quinney Award), and A Council of Dolls (winner of the Minnesota Book Award and High Plains Book Award, longlisted for the National Book Award and the Carol Shields Prize). She's a graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Law School, and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She is also the recipient of several grants in support of her writing which include an Iowa Arts Fellowship, James Michener Fellowship, Radcliffe Bunting Institute Fellowship, Princeton Hodder Fellowship, USA Artists Fellowship, McKnight Fellowship, and Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Fellowship. Her short stories and essays have appeared in numerous publications and anthologies including The Best American Short Stories series, The Atlantic Monthly, The Paris Review, The Missouri Review, Ploughshares, and Granta.
Mona is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna Dakhóta), born and raised in Chicago. During her childhood she was a member of the Chicago Indian Village movement, a group organized to protest the conditions of Native people lured to urban areas with promises of secure jobs and good housing, that seldom materialized. In 1979, a documentary following the experiences of this group was nominated for an Academy Award. Mona attended the Oscar ceremonies that year as a guest of the director, Jerry Aronson.
She currently lives in Minnesota, where she's working on other novels, including 'The Year of Fury'.
Connect with her on:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Check out this book:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199550226-a-council-of-dollsPurchase from:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0063281104/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This has been a stop on the #ACouncilOfDolls blog tour conducted by Random Things Tours. (@RandomTTours on X/Twitter) Thanks for stopping by!
Comments
Post a Comment