WIND CATCHER

The authors sent me an autographed copy of their novel to review:

When I first started reading this father/daughter written novel, I was big time gung-ho. I love books involving Native American Indians. However the novel became somewhat mundane for me around page 180. Suddenly I wasn’t eager to know what “gift” Juliet had or what secret her grandfather Sicheii concealed from her. I think the problem is that the story took too long to develop. I’m not saying that this was an inferior novel, but this flaw stopped this tale from receiving my best accolades. The amount of main characters was in the acceptable range, but I felt some degree of apathy for most of them. This is not a good harbinger of things to come. Look, I know that it’s hard to write a popular novel, but one has to look at whether the story is dragging or accelerating before publication. The author obviously has outstanding credentials (just read the bio information on the back cover), but one still has to wonder why this novel had to be a duet. Is dad (Jeff Altabef) trying to get his daughter some literary credits, or did she (Erynn Altabef) contribute meaningful? Okay, enough! What is this story about?  

Sixteen year old Juliet (half Indian) hears voices in her head but can’t grasp their meaning or the actual articulation. She has a small “star” scar on her right foot. Her grandfather, Sicheii, says that he gave her the mark when she was born so she could be blessed by “The Great Wind Spirit”. Really? Grandfather is a art gallery owner and a medicine man. Juliet’s mom pulled her from public school and put her into Bartens, a private school. Juliet is having problems adjusting to her privileged co-students. They seem to object to a half-bred (excuse my dashes, it’s not my normal style) in their school. Anyway she stays in touch with her former classmates, Troy, Ella, and Marlon along with her new friend Katie (at Bartens). Juliet’s mom (a tax lawyer) goes on a business trip and tells Juliet that Sicheii will be coming over to watch over her. Juliet decides to skip school and go to Slippery River Park with her friend Troy, a full blood Indian. On their way back from the park, Troy and Juliet see the police racing down the highway. They follow on Troy’s motorcycle to the Reservation where they see that another medicine man named Roundtree has been brutally murdered. Roundtree has a tattoo of twisted arrows on his chest. Juliet knows that her grandfather has the same tattoo.

Another murder occurs. Juliet learns of a newspaper article written 26 years ago with a photograph “of a group of men around a campfire” (including her grandfather). The writer, John Dent, hints of a possible “Secret Native American Society.” Juliet and her friends go to see Mr. Dent and find out that he died. They go to the graveyard and notice that he died one day after the article was written. And guess what’s carved on his tombstone? You guessed it...the two twisted arrows. What’s going on? Juliet seeks out another of the Indian men in the newspaper picture. He is Joe Hunter, and he is leaving town quickly. Before he leaves, Hunter tells Juliet, ”You’ve been chosen.” What mysteries lie ahead? What is she chosen for? This inaugurates the seeming exciting story into a modus operandi, which it does for awhile. Then it stalls. Why, I don’t know. Maybe it was because there wasn’t enough character development that made me feel less interested in what happened next. The novel just became sluggish. Then the story picked up the necessary steam and ran to the finish line. So basically this YA novel had me on a roller coaster ride...it started well, stalled in the middle and then came to a roaring conclusion. It was a little too choppy for me, but I do recommend this novel to all the YA readers out there.

RATING: 3 out of 5 stars

Comment: I think my main problem with the above mentioned novel is that I really don’t like most YA or dystopian novels. I think the Young Adult genre is somewhat foggy. Traditionally, I think the reader age is between 16 years old to 25 years old, however I’ve seen lower ranges and higher ranges from different sources. Of course the novel shouldn’t have profanity, sex or violence. But most YA books have violence, so I’m not sure if violence is an ingredient anymore. If you read some of the “Best YA Novels” lists, there are four books on all the lists that I wouldn’t consider YA.

The first novel is Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960). An American classic for sure, but Harper Lee considered her book...A simple love story.
The second novel is Mark Twain’s, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). Some pundits consider the adventures of a boy in the Mississippi Valley... The great American novel. See my review of 12/17/2012.
The third book is J.D. Salinger’s, The Catcher in the Rye (1951). The classic story of sixteen year old Holden Caulfield’s venturesome few days traveling after being expelled from Prep School. See my review of 12/23/2012.
The fourth novel is J.R.R. Tolkien’s, The Hobbit (1937). The wonderful adventures of Bilbo Baggins in legendary Middle-Earth. See my review of 6/20/2013.

All the above novels are considered classic works, but don’t seem YA to me.