Reviews with content warning for Colonisation - Stuldur

Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Stuldur by Ann-Helén Laestadius

11 reviews

corsetedfeminist's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

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

5.0

This book reminds me of an Appalachian ballad: filled with love of the land and culture, family, purposefully ineffective police, murder, and grief.
It details the coming of age of a Sami girl, beginning on the day she finds her reindeer butchered by a neighbor who is not a tribe member. The rest of the books shows her growing up, the changes in her family, and her ongoing battle to force the police to treat the slaughter of her tribe’s reindeer seriously.
It begins with a deeply traumatized little girl, and ends with an even more traumatized, but brave and determined woman. I think Elsa is one of the most honest characters I’ve read in awhile, which comes with the author’s comfort with showing a story that doesn’t have a happy ending. The police never really come to care about the concerns of the Sami, climate change is affecting the village they live in, her family is deeply dysfunctional and everyone in her family has mental health issues, and the future of the reindeer herds is still up in the air… but there she stands, strong, proud, and tragic.
This isn’t a story of overcoming trauma, it’s a story about how sometimes life is just messed up and we have to survive it.
Beyond the raw beauty of the portrayal of Elsa and her family and friends, the racism and oppression of the Sami people is in stark contrast to the deeply loving portrayal of Sami culture in a way that makes the descriptions of oppression hit even harder, such as the scenes where Elsa’s grandmother’s dementia causes her to relive her days in boarding school.
In short, this is a poignant story about Indigenous suffering and grief, but still balanced with strength and somehow not without hope.

Content Warnings

realityczar's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

willardbug's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

annasusan's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative slow-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

teenytardigrade's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes

4.75

Brilliant writing and storytelling about the lived experience of the Indigenous Samí, told from the (mostly) POV of a Samí girl/woman over her younger life. All Scandinavians should read this.

Content Warnings

vixenreader's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

As important as it is gripping, this book sums up what it means to advocate for yourself, your culture, your mental health, and your own land without wallowing into sentimentality.

Content Warnings

literarywreck's review against another edition

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challenging informative sad slow-paced

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

4.5

Review in Short:

Laestadius’ prose is remarkably moving and full of luscious description that immediately draws you into Elsa’s snow-covered world. From the start, the immersive story she spins grapples with themes of identity, trauma and injustice; the unique responses of each character reveal layers of Laestadius’ social commentary.

Full Review:

Stolen is written in simple prose that is littered with beautiful descriptions of nature and human emotion. As the majority of the book is filtered through the lens of a young protagonist, I understood the artistic decision to keep the writing fairly simple, however, I did find myself frequently longing for more of Laestadius’ stunning descriptive writing.

The beauty of Stolen lies in its thematic exploration of intergenerational trauma, systemic oppression and mental health. It took me a long time to wade through this novel because of how impactful it was; I frequently found myself needing to take breaks to process what I had just read.

In the Myth of Sisyphus, Camus wrote that the only serious philosophical question is whether or not to commit suicide; for several of Laestadius’ characters, this is not merely a philosophical quandary, but an unavoidable reality. Stolen clearly illuminates the struggle of the Sámi people, and the harsh reality that some people (and peoples) roll heavier stones.

In one of the most moving portrayals of depression and oppression—and, of course, the inextricable relationship between the two—I’ve read, Laestadius somehow manages to make the looming threat of mental health issues feel tangible. At times, mental health—depression, anxiety, and the question of whether life is worth living—takes the reins from the poaching villain Robert, personifying the general/abstract antagonist of oppression in his stead.

It’s not hard to see why Stolen is a best-seller: it tells a story that needs to be told, and it does so remarkably well. Get ready to have your heart broken, but in all the best ways.

Content Warnings

carinaantonia's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

bookishcori's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative mysterious sad medium-paced

5.0

Yep, it’s good. Worth the wait for it to release in the US.

Read the synopsis if you want to know what it’s about 😅. I was gripped from the beginning and it kept a tiny piece of my heart.

As I’ve read a couple other books by Sámi authors recently, the community and culture wasn’t entirely new [if it is to you, that’s okay, be prepared to google at times]. As with so many Indigenous peoples, their culture has been suppressed and subjected to colonization & xenophobia - this book is a small piece of reclaiming that heritage while also shining a light on the ways racism & climate destruction continue to threaten their community.

Content Warnings

majabernhard's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

A really important book to read if you live in the nordic countries. It tells a in-dept and honest story about issues you only briefly hear on the news. Really a change in perspective and enlightes your knowledge the sami people and what they have to endure when holding on to their rights.

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