3.5
Wingshooters
ByPublisher Description
Michelle LeBeau, the child of a white American father and a Japanese mother, lives with her grandparents in Deerhorn, Wisconsin—a small town that had been entirely white before her arrival. Rejected and bullied, Michelle spends her time reading, avoiding fights, and roaming the countryside with her dog Brett. She idolizes her grandfather, Charlie LeBeau, an expert hunter and former minor league baseball player who is one of the town's most respected men. Charlie strongly disapproves of his son's marriage to Michelle's mother but dotes on his only grandchild.
This fragile peace is threatened when the expansion of the local clinic leads to the arrival of the Garretts, a young Black couple from Chicago. The Garretts' presence deeply upsets most of the residents of Deerhorn—when Mr. Garrett makes a controversial accusation against one of the town leaders, who is also Charlie LeBeau's best friend.
In the tradition of
,
, and
, Revoyr's new novel examines the effects of change on a small, isolated town, the strengths and limits of community, and the sometimes-conflicting loyalties of family and justice. Set in the expansive countryside of Central Wisconsin, against the backdrop of Vietnam and the post-civil rights era,
explores both connection and loss as well as the complex but enduring bonds of family.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesWingshooters Reviews
3.5
“Summary:
The story is mostly about the young protagonist's---Japanese on her mother's side, Caucasion on her father's---relationship with her white paternal grandfather during the 1970s.
She was abandoned by her parents and left in the care of her grandparents. Her grandparents live in a whiter-than-white town in rural Wisconson, and the townspeople don't take kindly to this strange Asian girl. Her grandfather becomes her protector and loves her dearly. The problem? He's the worst racist of them all. But, he learns to love her. Onto the subplot: A Black couple from Chicago moves in. The woman was invited by a doctor at the clinic and took occupation as a nurse, while the man took up an occupation as a teacher at the protagonist's school. Their arrival takes some of the heat away from the protagonist and gives the townspeople an excuse for outrageous racist behavour. Calamity ensues and lives lost. The grandfather, while not the perpentrator of terrible actions, is accountable. He was an instigator, and friend of the perpentrator. He died, perhaps of heartbreak.
The story strikes me as a more present-day To Kill a Mockingbird, for it is another novel about a child's growing realization of the intricacies and malignant power of racism. I enjoyed reading about the grandfather & granddaughter relationship, but it does nothing in face of the grandfather's bigoted actions.”
“This book was a slow start for me so I switched over to audio book. For the longest time I thought it was a story about the author growing up and the hard times she had but then I realized it says novel at the top of the cover.
Still really enjoyed this. Thought it was well written with likable characters.”
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