Where the Dead Sit Talking

By: Brandon Hobson

Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer

With his single mother in jail, Sequoyah, a 15-year-old Cherokee boy, is placed in foster care with the Troutt family. Literally and figuratively scarred by his unstable upbringing, Sequoyah has spent years mostly keeping to himself, living with his emotions pressed deep below the surface - that is, until he meets the 17-year-old Rosemary, another youth staying with the Troutts.

Sequoyah and Rosemary bond over their shared Native American backgrounds and tumultuous paths through the foster care system, but as Sequoyah's feelings toward Rosemary deepen, the precariousness of their lives and the scars of their pasts threaten to undo them both.

©2018 Brandon Hobson (P)2018 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Weird

It was an unusual book, and the storyline seemed a bit unconventional. The book presented an unusual and somewhat unconventional storyline. It did not fully capture my interest.

Pure Story

Loved this book. It was pure story throughout. Sometimes literary novels get sidetracked with self-absorbed ego driven narration (like Alexie). Not here. We get a novel about a young Cherokee boy navigating the foster care system and struggles with identity around his Native ancestry, but also gender and sexuality. It's a refreshing Native novel that has genuine similarities to Erdrich's focus on story. Hobson doesn't beat you over the head with culture and victimhood. He tells a story about a human being being human. This gives the story a universal appeal. He does great with character development as well as lining out his plot to keep the reader interested. It's somewhat nonlinear, but mostly told in a linear format. The nonlinear aspects are used for foreshadowing the end and helps pull the reader through the plot. It's not Marquezian, but more Munro. Great audio book. The performance by Summerer is okay. Not amazing in any way, but you'll be able to get through the narration. It's worth the buy.

Meh

I will always support Indigenous authors. This had some great parts and there was potential but it was not my favorite and not one I would read/listen to again.

Indigeneity fell short

The good parts of this book included the imagery and intensity of tone. However, there were some misrepresentations when coming to the Cherokee elements of this novel. I grew up in a Cherokee community (I am ᎠᏂᎩᏚᏩᎩ) in Oklahoma, near Cherokee County. One issue I had was saying that Sequoyah means “sparrow.” Tsisquaya (ji-s-qua-ya) means real bird/sparrow, according to traditional Keetoowah-Cherokee author Robert J. Conley. I grew up learning that Sequoyah means “pig foot or pig-like” because he had a limp when he walked. This leads me to another Cherokee issue I had in the first chapter when it says Sequoyah developed the Cherokee language. Sequoyah developed the syllabary/alphabet, not the language. We had language before him. Lastly, the teepee at the end made me a little sad because Cherokees never used teepees.
The forced spirituality felt uncomfortable and awkward, and seemed like it was meant for non-Natives. It felt like this novel wasn’t targeting me as its audience, even with the use of pan-Indian elements (spirit quest & dreamcatchers). It was nice to see N. Scott Momaday mentioned.
One of my worries is that it could perpetuate stereotypes of Natives being drunks/druggies. And I wonder why the author didn’t include ICWA, since it’s a big issue in Indian Country.
Looking past some of the misinformation/representation part of the novel, it’s very interesting and makes the bleak look vivid.

great read. riveting story. the author made me fee

the author made me feel like I was part of the story. very good book