The novel begins with Professor Nancy Swiftfox, a single mother on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1972 during the American Indian Movement. Flashbacks to 1876 leading up to and including the Battle of Little Bighorn follow Nancy's ancestor, Cheyenne warrior Little Wolf, leading up to and including this catastrophic event in American Indian history. Nancy and Little Wolf's stories are told alongside General Custer's zealous pursuit of the native people of North America and explore the generational repercussions of this campaign of subjugation and extermination.

I was born in the 1970s, and Nancy's story feels particularly visceral and recent. Little Wolf's bravery and determination to preserve the land and her community in the face of such hostility is heartwrenching, as we all know how the battle ends and the ensuing fallout. Newell's weaving of the narratives from different points in time illustrates how the trauma of such an event carries through generations, and it is devastating.

The chapters from Custer's point of view were the most difficult for me even though I understood their importance. Whether it was due to the military and political minutiae or the fact that I just plain hated what he was doing is hard for me to distinguish, and I often had to push through those to get on with the story. But if reading about military strategy and battles is your jam, this shouldn't be an issue for you.

Historical fiction readers should pick this one up. It's an important and insightful own voices story of an unfortunate period in American Indian and colonial history that should not be forgotten.

All I See is Violence is a multigenerational look at how the American government inflicted and inflicts violence on Indigenous people by focusing on two women- Little Wolf leading up to Battle of Little Bighorn and Nancy Swiftfox trying to raise her sons in the 1970s and dealing with an incarcerated husband and an eldest son haunted by war. This book is pretty incredible in how visceral and engaging the writing is, as well as just the scope of it. The only complaint I had is I didn't find General Custer’s narration very engaging. Every time he butted in I kind of glazed over. Although I get you have to have an antagonist voice, but I just really loved both Nancy and Little Wolf’s POVs so much. Be warned, this novel is a massive bummer. It’s really raw and brutal and doesn’t pull back any punches when looking at how two women almost a century apart dealt with American oppression on the same land. A really powerful and well written book, but a pretty devastating one too.

I'll post my review on my Instagram @boozehoundbookclub

spoilers below, so approach with caution!

i think this book is very important and that everyone should read it. it gives insight into what native americans have had to go through and what we continue to go through to this day.

as someone who’s indigenous, having our stories shared is personal for me. what the native protags go through in this book are things that i have not personally experienced, but i am acquainted with them due to it having happened to the women in my own family. i think any native american could read this and understand the feelings being written here and i only wish i had more stories like these when i was younger (though this book is obviously not for children, considering the content).

i have a few qualms with the book (how “insta-lovey” some of the relationships feel, custer’s pov, how abruptly nancy’s story came to an end, some of the writing stylistic choices, everything being written in first person but having no indicator as to whose pov we were reading each chapter), but otherwise it was a very powerful, engaging read and it made me even prouder to be native american.

thank you to netgalley and greenleaf book group for the earc in exchange for an honest review.

Told through three perspectives, All I See if Violence provides a very interesting and deep look into the fight indigenous peoples have had in history and still to this day to maintain their culture and their land.

The book is dark and moving. I was left on multiple occasions needing to take a pause from what I was reading to process the pain that was written into the story.

The multiple perspectives provides and interesting take, allowing you to see the modern perspective, the indigenous perspective, and the perspective of the colonizer. This initially made the storyline hard to follow, but as the story continued the pieces come together quite nicely.

Overall, I am grateful that I've read this book. I think others could also benefit from the perspectives this provides. In that same vein though, the content of this book is heavy and I highly recommend checking for content warnings before you proceed.

Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into the book at this moment. I'm hoping to try it a bit later on, as I find the content interesting, however, I also found that the multiple perspectives just couldn't hold my interest right now.

Thank you to NG and the Publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review. I hope to revisit the book in the future.

This was an amazing book How the author tied things together through the past and the present.. The title says it all. The beginning of the book Nancy who lived on Pine Ridge reservation. It was raising four more inspire yourself because her husband was in jail. The oldest one went off to Vietnam and lost his arm and he became part of the Indian movement . They talk about wounded KNEE. In the seventies. She falls for a man who's not native America. This Brings problems to the family especially to her husband In jail. They go to a bar and they end up having a fight because she was Native american. The people did not want her in there and they were forced to leave. And then it went back to 1876 in the book. Cheyenne Warrior named Little Wolf Was a fighter because she did not want custard to kill her people because they refuse to go to the reservation. So be prepared to fight custard. They also talk about the calvary who are involved with this, and some of the native americans are also scouts for the army. And it was interesting how they had a really interesting society and how they were We're Prosecuted by army. They did their Sundance to get courage to fight. And this was really amazing because they were promised t Black hills. Maybe american government growth that treaty. So they decided to fight. To talk about the fort where the army was based. It's a really interesting book. Because then it goes back to the present and how everybody was dealing with different issues at that time. Nancy Move her boyfriend to the reservation. This cause trouble and the oldest son just stormed off. She was also pregnant just like Little wolf who ended up fighting With custards men. I I like how the author parallels these two women's lives through the century. I The violence is there throughout the book. But it's so subtle It's WAV. E! Through The book. The ending is kind of tragic

I knew this was a must read for me the minute I heard about this book. An Indigenous historical "fiction" story parallel to a modern Indigenous experience--allowing the reader to literally read the effects of colonization, racism, and land stealing that persisted hundreds of years, and continue to persist today, this book was really well done. I really enjoyed the perspective of Little Wolf, a warrior who experienced the violence first hand and who battles with the notion of what is inevitable, and fighting anyway. Her journey was incredible, inspiring, and horrific. I also enjoyed the perspective of Nancy, a single mom of 4 sons living on the reservation in the 1970's. It seamlessly and devastatingly demonstrated the persisting effects of what was occurring in Little Wolf's life, and to Indigenous people, 100 years prior. The only point of view I did not enjoy was Custer's. I can see how his point of view demonstrated the theme of violence and the way that even the people perpetrating the violence, rape, and destruction are affected by it, and how differently they view what they are doing, but I found his sections difficult to get through. The way the book ends and ties the stories together is amazing, but completely heartbreaking. This book will stick with me for a long long time. I think anyone interested in historical fiction (although a lot of this is true in one way or another), Indigenous stories, and sociological literature should read this book. Fan's of Tommy Oranges "There, There" (a must read) should definitely pick it up. Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC!

Firstly I’d like to thank NetGalley and Greenleaf Publishing for allowing me to read this ahead of time as an ARC. This is a book that hits hard and repeatedly, emotionally – you will not catch a break. This is not a book for those who read for escapism, this is a book that is gut wrenching and poignant and terrifying and heart breaking.

It is a story of strength, of a people beaten down for generations by the oppressors. Their lands taken, their families threatened, their people slaughtered. And in the day and age we live now, with the political climate we have at this time, and the current events in the news we are bombarded with images that this book evokes despite years of different eras. Over a century has passed since the Battle of Greasy Grass, and yet we as a people have learned nothing it seems.

But all of this is regarding the general setting, the set up of the book was somewhat confusing for me at first until I got more immersed into it. There are three POVs, Little Wolf, our warrior from the Sioux / Cheyenne side of the battle, Custer from the US Army, and our more modern POV of Jane Swift Fox, descendant by marriage of Little Wolf. These POV’s are unlabeled and it takes a second to realise you’ve switched. Their written voice and thought voice is not entirely dissimilar, but there are incredibly nuances to each.

I did not initially understand the reasons behind including Custer as a POV, until we are described the story of Little Wolf. Her father and brother immediately murdered, her mother raped by Tom Custer and then killed. Yet in Custer’s POV he speaks fondly of Tom, his goodness, even at times his innocence. In combination with the allusions and descriptions of the Indian ‘wife’ Custer took and the son she bore him, it’s a fitting way to describe the relationship of the US to the lands they stole. They took it and they raped it. They killed the buffalo, they corrupted the lands, they polluted the water. To this day, approximately 48% of indigenous people’s homes do not have adequate water for sanitation and living. The Navajo people are 67 times more likely than the rest of the American population to not have access to running water. Over 75% of people living on Hopi lands are drinking contaminated water.

Again this is diverting slightly from the book, but it bears saying none the less.

Jane’s POV was my favourite, I loved her strength and her resilience, and also her distrust – and exhaustion. So often when we are given strong characters, they are diluted from their struggles, and Jane is a character defined so often by her struggles but also by her victories. She raises her four boys and helps take care of her father in law despite a bad relationship with her husband ( imprisoned at the time of the book ). And the way that the government continues to take from her, she drives over three hours a day to commute, she is unwelcome in the town and region despite being a professor at the university, she is highly educated and intelligent, yet bigotry colours her experiences and even causes doubts and fears as she pursues a new relationship. Her eldest son’s struggle with substances after returning from the war has his mental health in tatters and she is the target of it. And ultimately we don’t know how the story ends, we know where the book ends, but not the story. It is the singular thread of hope.

Little Wolf lives to bear her and her husband’s child ( Swift Fox the ancestor of Jane’s incarcerated husband ), but then after a while in the reservation she goes into the water and the book ends.

This book left me with a heart ache and a million questions of what happened to these characters and how their families went on. But in an odd way, it felt fitting that the story ended there. Because we weren’t owed anymore.

One of the best books I’ve ever read, and one I’ll definitely remember for the rest of my life.

Every so often, a book comes along that is just amazing. The story takes place in two different timelines and follows three different perspectives. One is Nancy, an indigenous woman in the 1970s. She is a French Revolution historian teaching at a university, her husband is in prison, and she is raising her three sons alone on a reservation. Little Wolf is an indigenous woman in the late 1800s. Her family was massacred by US troops, and she is now alone and the only hunter for her community. Then, there is General Custard continuing the genocide project embarked on by the US government.

All three perspectives are strong and incredibly compelling. Yes, even Custard is written in a complete and compelling way. However, the brilliance comes from the depiction of the lives of Nancy and Little Wolf. The constraints on their lives and agency, but their determination to keep exercising that agency. Their stories are marked by violence but also a lot of love. So much love that we get the most romantic declaration of love that I have ever read. I say this as someone whose most read genre is romance.

There are layers of pain and beauty here that are too complex for this review but that I think will enrich every reader and will take many readings to unpack.

Many thanks to Net Galley for the advance reading copy of this fantastic eBook. This review may contain spoilers.

I would recommend this to people who love entwined narratives that show parallels through the echo of history, or anyone who finds that concept appealing. Historical fiction readers who are drawn to war narratives that deal with the complicated emotions war brings with a critical stance on violence, I think, would also enjoy this. The strongest aspect of the book to me is the vivid and emotionally evocative prose. The weakest aspect is in the flow, but I wouldn’t consider that element badly done so much as something that could use a little tweaking. All that being said, I think there’s a lot more that’s effective in this book than not and I’m interested in where Angie Elita Newell’s literary career goes from here.

The narrative is very meticulously crafted, each perspective thread tied together. It’s anchored to the history of the place we call South Dakota, and particularly the mountain range and sacred land known as the Black Hills, Pahá Sápa in Lakota. There are three perspectives within the book, one set in the 1970s, and two set a century earlier, in the 19th century Sioux Wars. The particular battle featured in the 19th century storyline was the battle of the Little Bighorn, and the 1970s storyline is happening around the same time as the occupation of Wounded Knee. Exposition was efficient and compelling: information is woven throughout the story first with allusion, leading the reader to conclusions on our own which are later cemented.

Newell’s stylistic voice is strong and shines throughout the novel. Word choice comes across as very deliberate and conscious, resulting in potent prose that brings to mind the Capote phrase “the music that words make”. Repetition here is an adeptly employed literary device. The use of description was not just evocative but incredibly rhythmic, with a natural cadence to it. The syntax is linear and sweeps the reader up into not only the action, but also the emotions at hand. This is particularly strong in the war scenes, which, in my opinion, are a perfect blend of visceral emotions entailed and the choreography of a battle.

The cast really sticks with me. Little Wolf and Nancy are both very lived in, immersive point of view characters, and the writing makes it incredibly easy to feel with them, to love the people they love, question what they question, and dread the things they dread. The bonds Little Wolf forms between the Sun Dance and the battle of the Little Bighorn, as well as her lived-in connections to Sha and her lost family (especially her brother) are very impactful. Most memorable to me are the two-spirit couple, Red Hawk and Shadows Fall, in the 1870s timeline, who left a strong impression, and two of Nancy’s sons in the 1970s timeline, Teddy and Timothy, who linger in my mind as heart-wrenching foils.

There’s a level of nuance and depth to the characters, making them feel authentic and as if they’re folks the author knew personally while relaying their stories to me. I think this is partially because of the real-life anchors and in part because of the vivid way Newell writes. There’s also a lot of empathy in Newell’s writing for complicated people (George, Timothy) and for complex emotions that we often wince away from. The dynamics between Nancy and her family feel very realistic and are also very touching to me: her complicated but loving relationships with her sons, the budding bond between her and George’s father, Eugene, who she also calls ‘Dad’. Eugene and George’s relationship also rings true in an aching way.

Least memorable in the cast, at least for me, would be the Custers, who as historical figures were United States Army officers partaking in the genocide of Indigenous people. I think the author succeeded in showing that the fact that the military officers participating in this were humans with free will choosing to do terrible things for a blood-soaked legacy of genocide in the name of so called “expansion” headed directly towards environmental disaster. That fact is ever-looming over their part in the story, as it should be. It’s worth noting that other fictionalizations in this book of real historical figures, such as Crazy Horse, are incredible, and I think it’s more of a me problem that I couldn’t get invested in the Custer-forward chapters.

The narrative hones in on the lasting transgenerational consequences of not only colonization but also the collective trauma enforced on indigenous people throughout years of genocide and forced assimilation happening to this day. This emphasizes the book’s themes, not only through the stories of Little Wolf and Nancy, but also through the parallels between them. There’s a lot of sensory description and imagery at play in that process. One thing I found particularly striking was the semiotic linking of the houses on the reservation to the prison as both government-built through their sickly fluorescent green walls, a detail that is harkened back to much later in the book in the 1870s timeline by describing the body of an American soldier as having “a pallor of white tinged with green”. Similarly, the relationships between Little Wolf and Swift Fox and between Nancy and Joshua parallel one another while also standing distinct on their own; their relationships are less of a direct mirror of dynamic and more of an impactful rhyme in essence.

I thought the story was creative and meaningful, and the ending was especially jaw-dropping. I appreciate that this story exists and am glad I read it. That being said though, I do wish the writing itself had been a little better, more polished and better edited. This story had a lot of potential to be fantastic, but fell just a little short for me purely because of the writing/lack of good editing.
3.5 stars rounded up

One vicious, beautiful read about the ugliest part of
American History.
Three streams: The warriors that fought at Greasy Grass/
Little Big Horn. The hubris that decimated the Custer
family there. Nancy Swiftfox, direct descendant of the first
warrior Little Wolf in the time of the American Indian
Movement (AIM) at Wounded Knee.
Excellent read; don't miss this book!

Alternating PoV narratives are hard to pull off. A balancing act among three voices is even harder. What Author Newell sought to do, it seems to me, was done by giving the reader all the points of view that shore up her point: Fight for or against something, whichver you like, and you will still end up reinforcing the violence and the rage our world is swimming in. She does this best by presenting each character's story to us in the same first-person present tense.

To be sure, her Indigenous people's points of view are clearly presented as they are, the victims of an aggressive colonial project that requires them to die. The truth here is that women are not passive victims of this project, but use every tool available at the time they exist to fight against the dual prongs of racism and sexism.

Custer's PoV is, at first, an odd choice given the theme of the book. His perpetration of violence against Indigenous people did nor give me any clues about why he was included...until his (much shorter) sections led me to see that the story was about the violence committed, not about victimhood. Custer was part of an Imperial project, and a believer in it...through cluelessness, sociopathy, or an Eichmannesque just-following-orders soldier's ethos is an open question.

I landed on a four-star rating because I was not entirely convinced by the narrative inclusion of Custer...it jars with my expectations, and more to the point it is not prefigured or required in Little Wolf's contemporaneous narrative parts...and because I very much wanted more of Nancy Littlefox's family relationships. These lacunae were not fatal to my enjoyment of the read, obviously, but noticeably lessened my smooth sailing through it.

Cavils, really, concerning a read I was drawn to, and held within, for several pleasurable hours.

"I wonder why we need to prove we are worthy of our life to these people who have come from so far away" - Little Wolf

ALL I SEE IS VIOLENCE by @angieelitanewell is a brutal if not accurately told historical thriller/horror book that depicts the legacy of generational trauma, cultural loss, loss of a sense of place and connection to the land that the indigenous communities that lived here on Turtle Island before the European and then American occupation of what is now referred to as North America. TY to the author, @netgalley
and the publisher, @greenleafbookgr for the e-ARC.

Starting out somewhat slow but increasing in intensity, this set of dual-timeline stories taking place approximately 100 years apart (1876 - Little Big Horn and 1972 - Wounded Knee Protests by the American Indian Movement (AIM)) includes the three distinct POVs of Little Wolf and General Custer in 1876 and Nancy Swiftfox in 1972. Subtle differences in voice between Custer (entitled, ruthless, "my Indians", air of manifest destiny) and Little Wolf (unsure, confused, displaced) in the earlier timeline shows the juxtaposition of these two experiences as the American forces hunted down, corralled and displaced the multitude of tribes to steal their ancestral lands.

The latter timeline concerns Nancy Swiftfox, descendent of Little Wolf who struggles to raise her four boys, one being angry and radicalized by fighting in the Vietnam war and losing his arm only to come back home to reservation life and a government that shuns him. While Nancy tries to carve out a meaningful life amidst the chaos of her sometimes tumultuous, sometimes lonely life, she starts to learn of her Cheyenne ancestor, Little Wolf. I felt Nancy's frustration of being forgotten and marginalized but also the peace and calm that stability and knowing your roots can offer.

This book should be required reading in U.S. classrooms. All the emotions. So much history mixed with a beautiful, heart wrenching story.

Happy book birthday to this one! Get out there and get a copy!!

#bookreview #booknerd #bookish #bookbirthday
#netgalley #alliseeisviolence #indigenousauthors
#readmoreindigenouswriters #bibliophile #historicalhorror

Thank you Greenleaf Book Group, NetGalley, and Angie Elita Newell for the opportunity to read All I See Is Violence. This book is a multigenerational, own voices story retelling one woman’s family’s experiences from the time of the Battle of Little Bighorn all the way through until the early 70’s during the American Indian Movement. Little Wolf, a female warrior goes up against General Custer who is on a mission to kill anyone not willing to relocate to the Red Cloud Agency in South Dakota. 100 years later Little Wolf’s ancestor Nancy Swiftfox is trying to raise her four boys on the same reservation. The author did a good job of showing how much violence and intimidation and pain that the people involved went through. My only criticism was that sometimes in going back and forth between timelines it got confusing to me. It was a good book and addressed some issues that I felt like I needed to know more about. I’m glad to have read the book and learned more about what happened from the perspective of a family during a rather traumatic life experience. If you want to learn more about American history and how our government treated the Native Americans (honestly speaking it was not very nice) I recommend you read this book.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc. I really enjoyed learning about Little Wolf’s journey. Grief is such a delicate thing to navigate and I really appreciate that voice in the novel. I did enjoy the POVs. Having one in Custer who I didn’t care much for was still important in the story.

Overall, I did enjoy this work and would recommend

Initially, I felt there were too many narrations crammed into Angie Elita Newell's ALL I SEE IS VIOLENCE, and I didn't care for any of them except for Nancy's, with her brood, and with Joshua.

However, as I slogged through, I became more invested in Little Wolf's story; her grief, her pain, her journey with who she is and who she's expected to become by others. The battle scenes with her clan was stupendous; it felt as if you were there with her on the battlefield. On the other hand, couldn't care less about what happened to Custer, the last narrator, but I suppose his POV was essential in delivering the story.

Overall, I really enjoyed the POV of the two women—warriors in their own way.

I did enjoy reading this! Following from three POV’s of Nancy, Little Wolf and General Custer. Of course I can’t relate to General Custer and I actually enjoyed Little Wolf’s story more! To see how the legacy of Swift Foot into Nancy’s story ultimately had this cloud over them! My only issue is that I wish the chapters were titled with names of the characters we’re following.

All I See is Violence is a story told from three POV, and there is a generational link between the stories. One is set in the past during the battle of Bull Run and the other is their current day which is during Vietnam.

The third POV has had given me pause at first, it's the perspective of Custard, but the more I thought about the more I realized that within a retelling of the real history of this country we need all the players so we can take the hero out men and put that face and name where it belongs.

With that being said the last POV is Little Wolf and Swift Fox and you will be swept up in their lives and learn their stories and how they met and tried to fight to survive the never ending siege of their land.

It's 1972, we open in a kitchen with ugly green linoleum, we're on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Nancy is worried about her son Timothy, who has returned from Vietnam. Violence changes people. Timothy isn't ready to learn from his Grandpa's experiences in war. He is, however, ready for the American Indian Movement. From the occupation of Alcatraz to the occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973, Timothy knows how the world works for people like him.

We cut in time back to 1876 but we stay in the same area. Little Wolf, a Cheyenne warrior, is admiring her Spencer Carbine she got for 20 deer hides. She is interrupted by the presence of a large man. His name is Standing Bear and it fits. He is spreading the word that all Indians are to turn themselves in to the agency or they will be taken and starved. The White Chief wants the land, “You come in nice, and they'll give you bacon and sugar; you come in mean, and they'll give you blood.”

We shift again, this time to Custer himself. He's living what seems like a mostly normal life. It looks normal but it's smoke, screams, and blood that he remembers and thinks about. He was born for the fight, lives for the battlefield, normal isn't for him. Whatever ideas others have for him, he's the master of his own fate and he gets what he wants.

All I See Is Violence is a powerful exploration of what could be called The Indian Experience here on this continent. Angie Elita Newell masterfully weaves these three stories together as she leads us to a conclusion that leaves us breathless.

This is ultimately a story of being or becoming. Who we are and how we came to be who we are. I don't know how we are supposed to move forward but I think the book offers clues: sometimes we have to go backward to go forward.

Nobody can come out of this book unchanged. You should pick it up and see what it does to you.