My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Independent Publishers Group, Fulcrum Publishing for an advanced copy of this reissue of novel of historical fiction on the meeting of the New World with the people of the Old World.

The small town I was raised in used their high accreditation for schooling as the focal point for moving into our town. Which was always a surprise to me as I never thought we learned much in our schools. Especially history. Up until the 6th grade part of our class time around Thanksgiving was making paper mats and learning about gourds, not about the life of colonizers and the indigenous people. In fact years later when the schools lost their accreditation, I really wondered what took so long, and how bad the other schools around us were. I had always been a reader and had a better grasp of history than most, but that history was based on things I liked, or was interested in. So I found Taíno by José Barreiro a revelation. A novel that taught me more about history than I think I ever learned in school, and a book that has made me want to learn a lot more.

The book begins with Guaikán, a man who is considered old at the age of fifty-two is asked to write down his memories and history that he remembers by Don Bartolomé de Las Casas, head of the Dominican order that Guaikán has been living with. Guaikán is given paper and is asked to present the meeting of his people the Taíno with Christopher Columbus, a man and situation that Guaikán is familiar with as he was adopted by Columbus and taken away from his village at an early age. Don Bartolomé hopes to use Guaikán memories as a way of protecting the people from exploitation, thought the Don also wants to make it clear that God is present in all their lives, something that Guaikán does not want to be a part of. So Guaikán writes as true as he can about what he experiences and saw, from his father dying before the arrival of Columbus to what brings him to living with the Dominicans in 1532.

A book that reads beautifully and yet instructs in so much. There is a lot to take in and a lot to think about but Barreiro is a very skillful writer and never lets history overwhelm the story, nor does he let the story interfere with the history. Guaikán is a great chronicler, knowing that he can't really tell the truth as, well no on cares, but giving the truth a spin that will make his patron happy, while telling us what is real. Guaikán has gift for snark, sharing a tale in such a way that it is obvious what is happening, and yet not blaming colonizers outright. The descriptions to, the way the land smelled, the air, the food, and the many many atrocities Guaikán found himself amidst while travelling with Columbus. There is a real sense to what there was, and what was lost, and the book is both beautiful and very sad, as readers know things will only get worse as time passes.

This is a reissue, as the book was originally published in 1992, 500 years after Columbus. Some of the book has been revised with new information and a new introduction has been added. A wonderful book, full of great writing, and many disturbing passages. Recommended for readers who would like to know more, and have a better sense of the history that was here that has been lost for so long.

This novel spoke to my college-Latin-American-Studies-minor self in a way that no other has in recent years. Guaikán, or Diego Colón, was a Taíno man adopted by Christopher Columbus and narrates this richly detailed account of the colonization of their lands. His voice is so utterly real that I had to keep reminding myself that this was a novel and not simply a translation of historical documents. Guaikán reflects on the moment he first encountered the "covered men," and how he was entranced by them. His fascination led to him having a front row seat to the conquest and all the confusion and brutality that accompanied it. In particular, I loved the parts where he provided very matter-of-fact observations about the colonizers that read like digs. His anthropological curiosity with them flipped the typical narrative we are force-fed here in the US. José Barreiro gave us a treasure that is beautifully expressed, deeply human, and historically necessary.

I first read Taino by Jose Barreiro in graduate school and it was the first historical fiction account I read from the lens of an indigenous perspective. Taino, the novel, was originally published in 1992 during the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Caribbean. The author, Jose Barreiro, writes about feeling inspired by the story of resistors such as the legendary Cacique Hatuey and having to contribute a truer narrative about this brutal and unjust history. I am so glad the novel is being rereleased in 2023 and hope this story will reach new readers as a result.

In Taino, we read the story of the colonization of the Caribbean and slaughter of the Taino people from the lens of Guaikán whose Christian name in the Castilian language from the time of his adoption by Christopher Columbus is Diego or Dieguillo Colon. Guaikan is of the Loku Taino people and his mother was Nanache. When the admiral arrives in Guanahani he takes 12 year old Diego under his wing and trains him in the ways of Christianity. Due to his ability to read, write, and speak in both English and his native language, Diego is favored and serves as a translator between his people and the admiral. There are a serious of events that unfold as war and the enslavement of the indigenous and African people take place and as readers we go from witnessing these events through the eyes of Diego as a young boy to seeing the toll it takes on him as he comes of age and becomes a grown man.

I am so grateful that Jose followed the call of his spirit and ancestral intuition to study Diego's story and to put this book in the world. May it serve as continued truth telling of what truly happened and all that was lost and is still stolen by the legacy of colonialism, white supremacy, and systemic oppression.

Thank you to the publisher and author for the e-arc copy!