I, very sadly, did not connect with this book. I understand that it was supposed to be a look at the legacy of a family through the lives of the women, but there really never felt like there was an actual story arc. It just started at one point and ended later. In the middle, there was no cohesion between events, and other than actually being related there didn't even seem to be any connection between the characters. Then the last chapter with the numbered list. I completely missed whatever that was supposed to be about. I've stated before my disdain for experimental fiction and I think a chapter of numbered vignettes qualifies. I had hoped for more about the Native American heritage and less of a disconnect between the characters, the story, and myself.

I enjoyed this book.  I would recommend it to others and I would like to read more from this author in the future.

In the running as one of my favorite novels I've read this year, Crooked Hallelujah stunned me with its characters, its writing, its setting - but most especially its portrayal of mother/daughter relationships, and how these ties bind the characters together so they can deal with any and everything the world throws at them. Portraying four generations of a Cherokee family, the story weaves in and out of each woman's life from the 1970s to the future, showing how each of their lives' affects the other. Granny, Lula, Justine and Reney are all fully fleshed out, giving us a sense of who they are as people, wives, and especially mothers and daughters. These relationships are what really stand out, especially as each woman explores the effects of their mother on how they've chosen to live their lives. Ford also ties in the landscape and its volatility with the story - I especially thought the ending was poignant in this way, showing the uncertainty of our future and that of Justine and Reney. This story relies on and evokes dusty landscapes, scars both seen and unseen, long skirts, late night car rides, sweaty horses, and running. Running away from a place, towards a man, towards a future where the old cycles of being forgotten or forced to follow old traditions die away. This is a lush, powerful debut that I could write more on, but needless to say - if you enjoy family sagas centered around women/mothers/daughters, *read this*.

Enjoyable read about four generations of a Cherokee family. The women are very different and yet very close and similar. While I enjoy books that move around in terms of characters and time period, in this book they were often abrupt and disjointed (chapter headings with voice and time period might have helped). I read a NetGallery review copy with a few sentences which took a number of reading to comprehend due to incorrect or missing words. But overall the story of the struggles, lives and survival of these women pulled me in and was interesting

This beautifully-written book will challenge you as a reader. It features four generations of Cherokee women in Oklahoma and Texas, and will force you to examine your preconceptions about what it means to be Native American in the 21st century.

Crooked Hallelujah will also require some patience, especially for those who need a linear story. If you've ever been annoyed by someone who's watching a film with you and keeps asking, "What's going on? What's that about?" and you tell them, "Wait and see"-- think of that as you come to a new chapter and it's narrated by by an entirely new character, and you don't know yet whether they will be central or peripheral to the lives of Granny, Lula, Justine or Reney.

Kelli Jo Ford's command of language is breathtaking, in a completely understated fashion. One online reviewer called it "dry as dirt" -- Yes! The dirt of Oklahoma and Texas! These four full-bodied characters are not the people for florid prose. The book's segments are disjointed, as are all their lives.

I recommend this novel, and will watch for future work from Ford.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for an advance readers copy.

Crooked Hallelujah is brave novel that sheds light on contemporary American life in surprising and meaningful ways. 

This novel is to be praised first and foremost for its complicated, heartbreaking examination of the limited and self-damaging choices women have when they live in poverty--especially when they are raising children in circumstances that offer very little hope. There are so few literary novels written from the perspective of poverty, when it's one of the existential crises of our age. The novel gives nuance and humanity to characters who are living on the bleeding edge. 

The novel is also to be cheered because it's a serious literary work that tackles head-on the sometimes-redemptive, frequently-damaging nature of religious conviction in modern life. Not since Jamie Quatro's FIRE SERMON have I seen the topic of religious faith dealt with so well in literary fiction (or at all, frankly). The outsized effect that religion has on American culture today is almost never given its proper weight in contemporary fiction, and I welcomed the insights Ford wrote into her story here. 

I know that "brave" is a word so overused in author blurbs that it might provoke cynicism in a review, but if you can remember the original meaning of "brave," that's what this novel is.

I know nothing about Kelli Jo Ford, but I bet she had experience living in poverty. Fried bologna sandwiches and using wood-grained contact paper to update your home add dimension to this story of four generations of Cherokee women. She also speaks to the importance of strength in poor women and how something like getting a GED, which initially embarrassing proved to be the way to getting higher pay for menial work. At times, I had trouble deciding which woman’s life was being looked at and I still don’t understand why Mose, the mentally-disabled Mose and his friendship with the lesbian couple was introduced into the book, it took me into world with which I had no familiarity.  Once I realized these were interconnected stories as opposed to a novel with a storyline, I enjoyed the book more. Was I satisfied with the ending of the book? No. But if you are living in poverty, there is no satisfying ending.

Crooked Hallelujah is the story of a young woman growing up in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma in the 1970's.  Granny is the only one who can still speak the native language and is a comfort and wise advisor to her granddaughter Justine.  Justine's father abandoned the family when she was young.  Her mother, Lula turns to the Holiness Church, run by her brother, Justine's Uncle.  While Church gives Lula comfort and guidance, Justine finds herself less interested as she matures, then terrified when she makes a mistake that changes her life.  Fast forward a decade and Justine has fallen into a routine of drinking and dating unsuitable men.  Her daughter Reney has a lot to put up with for one so young.  When she realizes how dangerous her lifestyle has become, Justine marries a gentle jockey from Texas and moves with Reney to his home in Red River.  There they have to contend with the forces of nature along with the regular problems facing a mother and her teenage daughter.  Wildfires and tornadoes work hard along with everything else to tear down their relationships to each other and to home.  

Kelli Jo Ford writes an excellent book about mothers and daughters and the sacrifices these Cherokee women  must make for those they love, all the while dealing with the life, culture, and prejudice they were born in to.  This was a stirring, stunning story.  I enjoyed reading the ARC.

I think this story was incredibly important. It was own voices and gave me a powerful look into one perspective of living as part of the Cherokee Nation. I think this is important for everyone to read.

Crooked Hallelujah is Kelli Jo Ford’s debut novel journaling the lives and interpersonal relationships of four generations of Cherokee women. 

The story begins with, part-Cherokee, Justine relating her childhood growing up in a small home with her mother, Lula, and her grandmother, Granny. Justine rebels because of the strict rules imposed on her due to her mother and grandmother’s association with the Holiness Church. Reney, Justine’s daughter, is born into this dysfunctional household and continues the complicated, convoluted existence of women in difficult relationships with each other and impossible relationships with the men in their lives. 

The premise sounds promising and led me to read this book. The execution is less promising. I, incorrectly, assumed that Native traditions would play a prominent role in the storyline. Though the community living conditions are introduced in a vague manner, the novel really has nothing to do with Native traditions. The book is hard to follow due to unexpected, unclear shifts in time, perspective and voice with no apparent rhyme or reason. Characters and storylines are introduced but left incomplete. There is no clear plot, and the ending appears to have loose, or no, connection to the rest of the novel. The vivid depictions of the scenery in the various regions of the country visited throughout the novel, and it’s impact on the characters and story, along with the character development of the women, are redeeming qualities. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend Crooked Hallelujah due to the chaotic storylines and nonexistent plot and rate it 2 out of 5 stars. 

My thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. However the opinions expressed in this review are 100% mine and mine alone.

📱📖BOOK REVIEW⭐️⭐️⭐️

🌅This is a beautifully written #ownvoices story that follows about 4 generations of Cherokee Women. 

✨Each character shows stubbornness and strength, and stays true to who they are the entire novel.

📓I only wish I hadn’t read this on my kindle, at times I wanted to hop back to double check something and that was challenging to do. Nonetheless I am thankful to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for this ARC

➡️domestic violence, gun violence, homophobia, religion

Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford is a beautiful multi-generational story about three Cherokee women working to make a good life out of what they've been handed. It tells the story of Lula, her daughter Justine, and her daughter's daughter, Reney, as they grow up in Oklahoma and North Texas, navigating their incredibly difficult relationships with one another and the world around them. They grapple with their faith, their histories with men and violence, and the different paths they choose. The writing is beautiful but not overwrought, and Ford plays with format and timeline in subtle ways. The story felt powerful, and I appreciated the complexity of Ford's characters. Religion and rebellion play a big roll in Crooked Hallelujah, and I suspect that if you grew up in a very religious household you may relate in an interesting and meaningful way. I don't normally read books like this (literary fiction, family sagas), but I'm really happy I picked this one up! I look forward to what Ford writes next.

Crooked Hallelujah is a debut novel by Kelli Jo Ford, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. The book mainly follows Justine and her daughter Reney as they navigate life and their relationships. But it also includes Lula (mother of Justine) and Granny (Lula's mother) and really focuses on these women's relationships with each other and their survival through generational trauma.
The writing is excellent. In the first few chapters I had already laughed to myself and teared up. The sense of place really comes through as the characters go back and forth between Oklahoma and Texas. The chapters are non-linear but give the reader clear hints within the first paragraph so they can understand who is telling the story and when it is set. I was especially impressed by the author's writing from the perspective of children. 

I can't quote from an uncorrected proof but her writing was so evocative about love, forgiveness, death, motherhood... that I really enjoyed it while also feeling like my heart was being ripped open. 

I didn't write this review immediately after finishing the book, and I'm glad I didn't because while I laid awake last night I realized that separation was an underlying theme of the novel. Forced separation from loved ones and from your own culture. Chosen separation from abusive partners or relatives. Physical separation caused by distance, boundaries, and vigilantes. And difficult separations from loved ones due to health, religious choices, and other circumstances that the characters really grappled with. It's just so good! Thanks for reading my review and I highly recommend the book.

In 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘏𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘭𝘶𝘫𝘢𝘩, Kelli Jo Ford depicts a matriarchal Cherokee family headed by Granny, a quiet, stalwart presence, and her daughter, Lula, who joined the Holiness Church—a denomination that rejects modern clothing, hairstyles, and entertainment—when her husband and father of her three daughters left the family. Justine, the youngest daughter, tries to be dutiful, but chafes under the strict rules of the church and her mother’s mercurial temperament. 

With her daughter Reney, Justine runs from her Oklahoma home into the arms of wrong men, finally landing in North Texas where she can never quite commit but can also never seem to leave. Reney inherits her mother’s beauty, stubbornness, and sense of isolation.

The women are beset by an oppressive society, poverty, an unforgiving natural environment, and a knack for poor choices, and the discrimination and abuse they suffer resurfaces each generations. Still, the love among them never wavers and gives them the strength to hope for something better.

While I found Justine and Reney interesting characters, I had a difficult time finding the rhythm of the book. The timeline was never fully clear to me, with chapters jumping forward without much transition. Furthermore, three chapters felt out of place and didn’t advance the plot or develop the characters. One was a journal entry written by Granny, one about a character who wasn’t mentioned before or after he appeared in his chapter, and one from the perspective of Justine’s father-in-law. The remaining chapters were told in a mix of first and third person that didn’t have a logic to me.

As always, though, I have a fondness for novels set in Oklahoma, and I thought Ford’s language was lovely with a powerful use of details to depict scenes. Aspects of the book haunt me, depress me, vex me, and anger me. I suspect I will be thinking about it for awhile.

Thank you so much to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for providing me with a free early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Crooked Hallelujah is now available. 

2.75 stars.

Somewhere between an interconnected short story collection and a very episodic novel, Kelli Jo' Ford's debut follows three generations of Cherokee women living in Oklahoma and Texas from the 1970s until the present day. In exploring the lives of Lula, Justine, and Reney, Ford explores themes such as religious fundamentalism, intergenerational poverty, tumultuous and abusive relationships, and motherhood. Unfortunately for me, this book's lack of cohesion really ended up making this a disappointing read. Aside from Bonita, my favorite chapter/story, the chapters did not hold up to me as individual pieces of short fiction, nor did they provide enough nuanced character development and growth to be considered chapters of a larger work. I also think this could have benefitted from a similar narrative style to Bryan Washington's Lot, wherein Washington interspersed the connected short story thread with completely unrelated stories. Crooked Hallelujah had two stories that featured peripheral characters, but since they were the only ones of their kind they ended up feeling out of place (despite the fact that the one story about the lesbian couple was quite interesting). I also found the last story's use of the apocalypse to be fairly undeveloped and somewhat random, and I may have liked Crooked Hallelujah as a whole had it ended with the penultimate chapter. 

I am interested in reading more of Kelli Jo Ford's work, as she definitely explores a lot of unique themes, but this particular book did not really work for me.

4 stars 

This book made me long for my home, where my mother is, for the many places I have always believed I was supposed to run further away as possible. In the current quarantine world, I wish I could cross the ocean and give my mom a big hug and tell her how much she matters to me. This book was phenomenal. 

 To be perfectly honest, I felt that this was the right book for most of the reading experience, but the wrong time. A multi-generational story full of brave women of color is my wheelhouse, but I wasn't prepared for the emotional turns this book took in many ways. 

In the beginning, I felt a bit scattered, but as soon as the two main characters Justine and Reeney both started to narrate the story became as vivid as the light of day in my mind. Even if slow at times, the prose was continuously beautiful, and many passages just stuck with me. But most importantly, the ending was phenomenal! If you are in the middle of the book and still undecided if you would like to continue, I can tell you 100% you must read this one until the end. 

The narrative shifts, and even the shift in style makes the book a memorable piece of literature.  

That being said, I did not give it full five stars because some characters and narratives were introduced in the middle of the book to no end. More specifically, I became eager to go back to Justine and Reeney when they suddenly fell off the page. The story gave way to two separate characters/narrators that did not play any real role in the overall story. But that nonetheless did contribute to some world-building, in hindsight. 

I am fascinated to see what Kelli Jo Ford will write next and cannot wait to recommend to anyone who will listen.

"Crooked Hallelujah" tells the story of four generations of Cherokee women through a series of vignettes occurring in the 197o's and 1980's. It is an interesting exploration of the effects of generational poverty and strict religious restrictions on a family. The prose is straightforward but effective, and the characters are well developed. Ultimately, though the story itself takes a hopeful turn in later generations, I found the finished collection to be bleak.

I was kindly provided a copy of this book by the publisher to review through Netgalley. 
I rate this book a 3.5 stars out of 5 and would recommend this book to others. It was a gripping narrative that follows multiple characters over their lifetime and how through hardship, despair, love and discovery the roots of these lives intertwine and will always bring them home.  Home is not only a single house or town in this case but a state of being. It can also be said that "home" in the book's context is an emotion.  Home as in finding it in one's self, belonging as a whole and fitting in. The lives outlined in this book have had difficult circumstances and the sometimes brutal depictions of these trying moments in time can be triggering for some. I did get attached to these characters and found it easy to keep turning the pages.

A unique family saga that will appeal to fans of literary fiction.  Ford uses four women- Granny, Justine, Lulu, and Reney- to look at poverty, violence against women, identity, the environment, and unreliable men.  It's not a happy story and, to be honest, it's one that you might put down because it is quite bleak in spots.  Those hoping for a great novel set on the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma might be disappointed; these are Cherokee women but it's not the foremost theme of the novel.  That said, Ford has tapped into important issues and you'll definitely feel the pain of these women.  Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.  A good debut.

"Can I love anything the way that I used to love the mystery of my mother, her strength in suffering?"

This novel follows four generations of Cherokee women from the 1970s into the near future, mostly focusing on their relationships with each other. One mother, Justine, leaves the comfort of her family to try to make a better living in Texas with her daughter Reney, and those two are largely the focus.

There is a thread of Pentecostalism throughout as Justine's mother attends a Holiness church, meaning long dresses and speaking in tongues and a lot of rules. That sets the stage for quite a bit of rebellion and subterfuge.

I've seen so many reviews from readers complaining there are "not enough" native elements, so disappointed these strong women are not "being more Cherokee" and how it is "really just about poor people." I don't even know where to start with readers who punish a book for their own lack of understanding. Others were upset over having to work to figure out the narrator in new sections. Please ignore those reviews if you are interested in the lives of strong women with a lot working against them, in a bleak landscape like Oklahoma and Texas, and if you're not afraid of a little work on the reader's part.