Rez Life by David Treuer

Rez Life by David Treuer was our January 2013 Park Grove Library Book Club selection.  Those of us that were there had a lively discussion about our views we have seen in our life regarding Native Americans.  We shared that some of us had been to Indian Reservations in Northern Minnesota when they were younger and what they had seen, and another member who had been to several pow-wows.  Someone had family in Washington State that were Native American and their experiences with that.  Another member found out she has some Native American history and is exploring that. At Book Club, someone said Rez Life was "hard to read, and parts I didn't want to put down."  Someone said it was "hard to follow, jumps around different time periods." Although we felt there was a lot of material and it was hard to read, we felt that it was interesting.  Someone, who wasn't there, said "hope we're not quizzed on this," because of all the information that is in the book.  She told me she loved the book, and all the stories that were written in the book!

One member of Book Club wrote:  "I now feel I have an understanding of so many loose ends about our native population and the problems. The USA policy as dealing with Indians is appalling. Over and over again the US tried to exterminate, assimilate or make them go away. Imagine if the Indians were able to make money for themselves with their natural resources of land, oil and gas, minerals, timber, etc before the government took that away from most of the tribes. Imagine if there were never Indian schools designed to break up families and culture. Imagine if the Indians had not been cheated into moving into big cities for jobs that never materialized. Luckily some of the tribes are making money and using it wisely with gaming. I will look at their casinos with news eyes after this book."