Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Stuldur

Heftige omschrijvingen, maar wauw! Voor iemand die de cultuur niet kent is het ontzettend leerzaam en je voelt enorm mee met de personages en dieren in het boek. Elke keer was ik weer in 'awe' over hoe mensen toch prachtig in verbinding kunnen staan met de aarde, haar flora en fauna en al zo snel zien dat het klimaat naar de klote gaat. Ontzettend mooi!

Content Warnings

allikay14's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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ape's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

The way in which the MFC was essentially white knighted out of her own revenge by the ghost of a man really enraged me - but then I had to remember this isn’t the kind of fiction I’m used to.

Not an easy read, and the emotional weight was a lot. I do think it highlights well a lot of indigenous struggles with forced conformity and other plights, which impact tons of indigenous communities around the world… But the description to me meant more of an idealized story, or at the very least some more catharsis, and this didn’t really get there for me.

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ilolijiniie's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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cariboukai's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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esmeloa's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

What a story. I was drawn by the cover and its reindeer being cut in parts.
It's such a complex, intricate web of human relationships and feelings that it's hard to describe.
I never knew about the Sámi people before reading this book, and reading it prompted me to do some research and watch the movie ''Sámi blood" which was somewhat complementary to this book - the MC is a little girl who wants a different life, where the MC of Stolen is a little girl who wants nothing else than being a reindeer herder.
One small complaint with this book is that it felt a bit long and repetitive towards the second part,

with reindeer repetively being killer one after the other

, but I understood this narrative choice during the last chapters of the story. The ending had me crying in a way I really didn't expect - it was absolutely cathartic.

The scenes with Elsa talking to Ljungblad, finally revealing what she kept for 11 years (and 370 pages) and hearing him reply "yes, actually I do" when she asked if she believed them... just wow.

Another complaint, much more personal and probably missing the point, is how human centered the story felt at times. This is a story about humans so it makes sense - I just couldn't help feeling for the reindeers who are ultimately used by humans, whether as means to hurt the Sámi people or as means of survival for them. It was definitely a painful read as someone who does not eat meat and is strongly against animal cruelty.
Other than that I did find the book fantastic, very skillfully written and really informative.
I really liked the discourse on female roles within the community as well, and all female characters with their unique minds and ways to cope were rather well portrayed in my opinion - I actually felt for Anna-Stina,

especially when criticized by her mother, depicted as shallow for wanting the housewife life - although maybe that's her own way to cope. Because what about her grief? She's not been a great friend to Elsa perhaps, but I did feel like the story did not explore this character enough - the why and the what's going on inside her mind.

whose relationship with her mother was also really interesting to follow.
This book will definitely stay in my heart and in the person I become, and I'm very grateful for it.

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