This is a haunting story of a Cherokee Indian family living in Oklahoma dealing with the aftermath (15 years later) of the death of Ray Ray who was shot and killed by police by what seems to be a hate crime. We get multiple POV in this story between Ray Rays mother Maria, who is severely depressed and dealing with keeping her family from falling apart. We also have Ernest, who is Ray rays father who is dealing with Alzheimer’s. Sonja, who is Ray rays sister falling into a deep obsession with the cop who killed her brothers son. And then we have Edgar who is Ray rays younger brother. Edgar is the most disturbing of the narrators in my opinion not only because in his grief he has fallen into a meth addiction but he also finds himself running away from his life and into an alternate reality. Lastly we have the narrator of Tsala, the Cherokee ancestor who imparts us with stories told down from generations. If you’ve been on my page for a while you know that I love reading about grief and the aftermath of death. This book is fantastic in showing what goes wrong, how different family members deal, the stories we can learn about life and death from nature and thoroughly confused me at times asking myself is this real? Or am I in an alternate reality #theremoved Thank you net galley for sending the advanced readers copy !

I unfortunately did not enjoy this novel. At about 30% I was checked out. I’m a firm believer that at this point if I’m not into it, it’s not going to happen. No Issues with the writing and in fact I love Native American Lit and folklore, but the story didn’t engage me. I think frankly, the writing was real but depressing and since I read for entertainment, I just couldn't get on board with this structure/thematics. I am very grateful for the opportunity to read this novel and I am sure that for the right mindset and person, this will be a successful novel. Cover and premise were great.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book! I will be posting my review on social media, to include Instagram, Amazon, Goodreads, and Storygraph!

Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco for this copy of The Removed by Brandon Hobson.

The Removed tells the story of a short period of time in one family's life. Each chapter alternates between the viewpoint of a member of the Echota family in the week leading up to the anniversary of the death of Ray-Ray Echota, who was killed in a police shooting fifteen years earlier. The intervening years have been long and difficult for all of the Echota family, pushing some into depression and others into drug use and dangerous relationships. Ray-Ray's absence is felt by everyone in their own way, The Removed is the story of just one week of those fifteen years.

I really enjoyed The Removed and devoured the last 2/3's of the book in one sitting. The humanity and grief that Hobson was able to capture in the lives of these people over the span of just one week was remarkable. The reader comes away with a real sense and vision of who the Echota's are and were before Ray-Ray's murder. I highly recommend this one.

The Removed tells a sad tale of loss and grief interwoven with generational memories of the Trail of Tears.

I have to admit I had trouble concentrating on the story at first. Once we’d met Ray-Ray and learned his fate, the switch to the current-day POV was a bit jarring. But I soon got absorbed and invested in this family’s dysfunction. Maria and Ernest, dealing with his Alzheimer’s and preparing to take in a foster child, anchor this story, and I looked forward to their chapters to see if they were going where I wanted them to. (Yes, I know, it’s akin to yelling at the TV when those characters don’t do what you want – and just as effective, lol!)

I didn’t quite get Sonja at first. She’s living her life with her own set of rules, but her obsession with Vin was a bit disturbing and stalker-ish. It wasn’t until we got towards the end that I realized the why behind her obsession, and then I felt so very sad for Ray-Ray’s sister. As for Edgar. Oh, Edgar. You break my heart for what you’ve put your family through, for what you’re putting yourself through. And it’s Edgar’s story where I most felt the blurred lines between reality and the otherworldly dream-state. It’s an uncomfortable feeling as a reader, but I think integral to the overall story in The Removed.

I picked up The Removed because I wanted to read more diverse authors and diverse stories, and it didn’t disappoint. While the family’s stories are current-day, the spirit-form Tsala’s are rooted in history and heartbreaking in its telling of the suffering when the soldiers came to roust his people from their homes and put them on the Trail of Tears. I’m now keeping an eye out for more Native/Indigenous stories and I’m curious to see what I’ll find.

PSA if you pick up The Removed – TW for suicide, drug use, abuse.

drey’s rating: Pick it up!

The Removed was an incredible story, with some really compelling moving parts. I could feel the ancestral and spiritual nature of Native American people through every word and every character. However, at times, I was left confused.

I loved learning Cherokee stories and myths. I loved hearing the experiences of Native American people in present day. I loved hearing the perspectives of all the characters - how they differed, how they were similar. I absolutely adored the character Wyatt and what he brought to the family. The book shined a real light on how families are still families, even when the members are fighting their own battles every day. Each character had their own demons, and each had their own way of fighting.

There were so many positives about this book, but to me, It felt almost a little unfinished. Connections were made that I didn't quite understand, and some storylines didn't fit or add value to me. I do, however, think the lessons and stories and representation that this book offers outshines any of those downfalls. i look forward to reaching more from Hobson.

The Removed by Cherokee author Brandon Hobson focuses on a family and the grief they bear after losing a loved one from a police shooting. A powerful book that crosses through multiple character perspectives, the book leaves much to reflect on about loss and trauma, including the perspective of a character who lived before the Trail of Tears. The excellent writing really honed in on the meaning of grief, family, and home and there is much more to ruminate on after reading.

I was really excited about this book. It left me a little disappointed. Good plot, but disjointed writing/story telling let me sighing mentally and wondering if I should finish it. I am glad I did, and it was decent, just not what I thought it would be. Thankful for the ARC.

I love a book that is so special it is hard to really describe. This was so atmospheric and beautiful!

Brandon Hobson's The Removed is one of those books that is so original and so compelling, that I felt it feeling inarticulate. All I could say was "Wow. Just wow."

Of course, "Wow. Just wow." does not make for a satisfactory review, so let me try to pin down some of the things that make The Removed so remarkable. First off, there are the characters, members of a Cherokee family whose ancestors moved to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears, are a varied group: retired, social-worker mother; father gradually disappearing due to Alzheimer's; adult daughter who finds herself attracted to younger men; adult son, an addict who wants to make his family happy by quitting, but hasn't been able to do so. There are two more important characters: Ray-Ray a second son who has been dead for more than a decade, killed by a cop, and Wyatt, a short term foster placement with the family, preternaturally gifted and uncannily similar in way to Ray-Ray. The novel is thick with magical realism that truly is magic—in both the positive and negative sense of the word.

It's only March, but I am 100% confident that The Removed will be on my "Best of 2021" list. Give yourself the pleasure of reading this surprising and powerful novel soon.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher; the opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this book, and thought I knew where they were going with a lot of the plotlines, but I was wrong and the ending thoroughly confused me. I try not to read the synopsis before I read the book so I go in “blind,” and I was unaware that Edgar had attempted suicide so the whole “Darkening Land” part left me very perplexed. I enjoyed Maria’s chapters the most, and loved how much happiness Wyatt brought to her and Ernest. It was very beautifully written, but there was too much going on for me to follow.

Brandon Hobson pulls the reader into this story about a family through multiple narrators, including an ancestor, dreams, and stories based in Cherokee traditions. The Trail of Tears feels ever present alongside a son who was killed by police for no reason, and both anniversaries are coming up when the older couple welcome an emergency foster child into their home. The child seems to awaken the couple in more ways than one.

The writing is engaging for sure, and this is a quick read, but I was not satisfied by all the story lines. (Maybe a few less next time?) And the living brother's situation confused me as he seemed to be in some kind of non-living place unless that's just a huge metaphor or a meth spin.

This book is a quiet and haunting novel about how a Cherokee family copes with the wrongful death of their eldest son Ray-Ray.
It is a domestic examination of grief and the way that is marks us, shapes us, and affects the course of our lives. Each family member shares their own experience with the murder.
This novel is not an easy read, and it deals with some difficult emotionally complex themes.
But it is an important book for all of that. It is relevant both culturally and politically--and it manages to be important without being self-aware.

I have this book two stars. To be clear, the writing of this book was beautiful and very purposeful. You can tell the author has a clear purpose in their writing style. But I don’t think every reader will match with it, as I did not.

I felt very confused throughout the book. I did not understand the plot and felt the description was slightly misleading.

I think many people will love this book, but on a personal level, I did not.

Thrilled to see work focusing on the Native American experience, and was very intrigued by the storyline here. I felt it was a little hastily thrown together at the end, hence the one missing star.

What a great story. I'm excited to listen to Brandon talk during Roxane Gay's book club discussion. There's a lot to unpack with this story and I would love to gain more insight into the story and his characters. Out of the three, Maria's perspective was my favorite and the ending was perfection.

Have you ever had a book you wanted to love, but you just...didn’t? The Removed was that kind of book for me. It had all the makings of a book I love, but the connections weren’t there? I don’t know. Or, maybe I just wasn’t in the headspace to be there for the book.

The Removed by Brandon Hobson is a book grounded in Cherokee culture and myth. Those elements of the story were intriguing. And, for those wanting to read more literature by Indigenous authors, this is definitely a book to try. For me, there were just a bit too many narratives occurring without coming together.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

I would like to thank the publisher and #netgalley for providing me with an arc of the book, #TheRemived.
I think that the description is very accurate overview of the novel. I never read any kind of book like this before. The reading was pleasant in some parts and then a bit confusing to me when old voices were introduced and allegations. I did finish the book and almost feel like I have to read it again to fully appreciate it.

I would say, be adventurous and give this book a try!

3.5 stars for this beautifully-pieced story about a Cherokee family breaking apart and how they come together each at their own pace. A family shattered by a senseless police shooting but learning to rely on the strength of their ancestors to press onward. While there wasn’t a strong plot driver, it was the cast of characters that drove me to keep turning the page. I appreciated how Hobson gives each character depth and how the tales of the past keep coming back to redeem the situation at-hand. I typically don’t like magical realism but I think it worked really well in this book.

I didn’t love it. There were characters I enjoyed, but mostly this one was just too slow and it didn’t work for me.