I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I really enjoyed reading it the plot was interesting and the characters made me want to know more about them. I highly recommend.

Gichigami Hearts starts by placing the reader in Duluth, Michigan and author Linda LeGarde Grover showing them The Point of Rocks. She tells the reader that the Point of Rocks had been blasted three times to no avail, a metaphor for indigeounus culture, of stories that last longer than anyone does on Earth. She doesn’t just describe the area, she takes the reader through the history as she knows it, as she was told it. Her intimacy with the land creates a sense of adoration and appreciation for what these landmarks mean to her, whether they are sacred places or a church/soup kitchen, each piece brings the reader closer to the Earth, to the people, to LeGarde Grover herself.

The tone throughout the book is intimate. LeGarde Grover is not only sharing her memories, her family’s stories, but also the stories of the Earth. She passes down wisdom in these stories—both her own and wisdom she’s learned from her elders. LeGarde Grover’s words are sometimes tinged with sadness when she tells stories of intertwining histories. The poetry and myths throughout this nonfiction add to the intimacy of the words, feeling like someone’s journal rather than a series of essays. The pictures LeGarde Grover included also add to this effect. Rather than be placed all together, like they would in a biography or autobiography, the photos are placed with the stories they belong with.

The book is a reminder that the past, the present, and the future, all come together not through one person but through many people. The stories also tell readers that the parts of the Earth we find sacred will be here long after we are gone.

I enjoyed this book. The author did a great job of weaving family stories, myths and legends together to form a collection that offers a strong sense of time, place and history centered on Ojibwe culture. Not only was this an engaging read, I feel that I truly learned from her writing.

Did you ever sit around listening to the older people in your life swapping stories? A big part of this book is like that. Except you dont know the places and aren't related to the people. There isn't anything to draw you in to these people.

So then you're that kid again, first looking around for a map or something to connect with, then flipping to the end of the book to see if it gets better, then wondering how long you have left for it to end so you can do something else.

It is mercifully short. The saving grace was the inclusion of folklore, which I love. The extra explanations could be useful for those completely unfamiliar with Ojibwe or other Indigenous worldview. If you are familiar, it comes across as too much telling and not enough showing. The telling vs showing is the major stumbling block of this book. There is one small moment where the folklore and family stories intertwine beautifully, and had that style worked throughout, then this could have been magnificent. Instead, I'd recommend reading this if you are from Duluth and want to hear stories from a family there, otherwise, get a good introductory folktale book.

Thank you to Linda LeGarde Grover, University of Minnesota Press, and Netgalley for an advanced ecopy in exchange for an honest review.

Interesting concept that I'm sure locals to the area described will enjoy. For me, this was hard to follow. The stories were few and far between and I didn't connect to the location. DNF'ed at around 45%.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/a7570abc-7a17-468c-b9b3-54910674c168

In Gichigami Hearts, Linda LeGarde Grover puts into writing the stories and traditions that have been passed down by generations of the Ojibwe people. This is part personal memoir and part cultural history with the land anchoring everything together. LeGarde Grover does a wonderful putting the reader in each story and maintaining the dignity of each person who's story she is sharing. The small complaint is that the transition from story to story was at times a little confusing and it could take me a couple paragraphs to re-acclimate. One thing I particularly liked was the inclusion of traditional Ojibwe words. This is a wonderful glimpse at a culture that most of us don't know much about in an approachable, personal way.

Thank you to Netgalley and University Of Minnesota Press for the ARC.

This is my first book by this author, and it was an amazing journey. This book provides vivid and beautiful descriptions of the landscape supported by the legends, stories and myths that have developed throughout the ages. I enjoyed the various descriptions as well as the wonderful writing. The statements that cause deep thinking, for example, how natives named places in terms of locative words, “American Indian names and words for places see to be descriptive of the notable natural area while so many America/English names for places ear a specific person’s name like Duluth”. The author provides a look into not only the Native past, American/English past but also her own families past which really makes the book.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an DRC.
#GichigamiHearts #NetGalley

I found this book to be extremely interesting and I learned a lot from it. In the beginning, I thought the reading was a little bit hard because the descriptions of the places were all very specific, using road names and distinctive geographical marks, I felt lost and I could not picture it clearly. Little by little the tone of the book changed and when more stories were incorporated I could not stop reading and I devoured the book in just a few hours. The way the author was able to connect the different parts of the book to create a greater image but in a very subtle way amazed me. I did not want it to end and every time I turned a page I was hoping it was not the last one. But when it was, I was satisfied because the closure was beautiful and showed the essence of the whole book.

Couldn't finish due to the eReader format. What I did read was good, descriptive, and gave a real sense of place. Look forward to trying to finish in a different format