Rowan Chase has found a skeleton in an outbuilding on her property and she is determined to find out how it got there. Life in Tulsa has been complicated for generations still, she could hardly have expected her investigations to lead to an intimate history of one boy, his family and their choices. Switching between two narratives - Rowan's modern life and William Tillman's life of the 1920s - Dreamland Burning is about two teenagers figuring out the world around them, about race and opportunity, and especially it is about the dark history of Tulsa and it's Greenwood District.
This is a solidly written and interestingly paced book. The audio production is really well done, I fell right into the narrative and loved when the sound got all old-timey and authentic. I liked the mystery aspect and I really was kept guessing through until near the end, I most particularly liked how much I learned about Tulsa and its history with both the Native population and Black population that made its home there. What didn't sit as well with me is the overlay of white saviorism in the historical sections, while there are definitely many evil-behaving white people, it was also surprisingly easy for our narrator to work out his own feelings. I also wanted there to be more about William's mother, who was Osage, or at least SEE more of his native heritage and culture in William but that's just something I think would've made the big a little stronger. It was still a really interesting read.
No comments:
Post a Comment