Reviews and Comments

Ouch! Such a set of stories of ugly, grim lives. Painful, unhappy lives.

Normally, I place my read books in Little Free Libraries for others to enjoy. I'll be throwing this book in the trash with the hope the trash collector doesn't find it.

That said, it was a well written collection of stories, which is why I'm giving it 5 stars despite my personal distaste of the characters. As I tell myself every day, "They didn't wake up this morning and say, 'I want to be an addict and mess up the rest of my life!'"

Growing up in Minnesota, I was taught the European American perspective on America's westward expansion (Manifest Destiny) with little said about the Dakota other than Dakota War of 1862. After reading Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota, I have an entirely new perspective on their history and place in Minnesota.

Chapter Four - Drawing Lines on Sacred Land: The Dakota Treaties introduced me to the concept of master stories. The framework of conflicting master stories helped me to understand why the course of history for the Dakota went the way it did with the arrival of European Americans in Minnesota.

I am childless but often wondered, as I read this excellant book, what it means to raise a child. Would I make the same decisions as Rosie and Penn? What would I do differently?

"This It How It Always Is" is a wonderful story about traversing the waters of raising a transgender child.