This story is about a Cherokee family in Oklahoma, who fifteen yrs prior, lost their oldest son Ray-Ray when he was killed unjustly by a police officer.
The parents and two remaining adult children are planning to come together for a yearly bonfire where they share memories of him.
We see the grief of each family member, and how their lives have been since Ray-Ray’s death.
Quite a hauntingly beautiful book!



Thank you to Netgalley and Ecco for this ARC!

This book took me on such a journey - I finished it a few days ago and I am still processing! Full of deep exploration, symbolism, and emotion. Make sure you are ready to dive in and experience the story, this is not a light nor easy read. I truly enjoyed it and I'm sure I'll be still processing everything for days to come.

Well this book was just not for me. It was waaaay over my head and I just didn’t get it. I caught on to the symbolism but I just didn’t really understand where the story was taking us. It’s difficult to even describe what this one was about. Being from Oklahoma though, I did enjoy all the local references. I could see how this book could be intriguing for the right reader. But that unfortunately is not me. Thank you to Ecco and NetGalley for granting access to this book in exchange for an honest review. I will post this review tomorrow to my Bookstagram and companion Facebook page @thatreadingrealtor.

The best books are the kind that totally consume me, my emotions, thoughts and have me at my full attention. The Removed is one of those. This is one of the most unforgettable books that I have ever read. The story is filled with gut wrenching sadness and incredible joy.
I definitely see this being at least one, if not my top favorite book of 2021.

The writing is simply beautiful It flowed like a song with the most amazing poetry. This book is filled with Cherokee myths, legends, and history. The story is about a Grieving family, the parents lost a son and the two children lost their brother. It is told from the 4 different points of view, 3 from the family members and 1 from a Cherokee ancestor.
This book broke my heart in so many ways. The suffering this family and the native Americans have endured is unimaginable.

I feel this book has such an important story to tell and I will recommend it to anyone and everyone!

Many thanks to Netgalley, Brandon Hobson and the publisher for the advanced reader copy!

This story will take you on a journey with richly developed characters as they try to cope with tremendous loss.
At times, the reader will feel their sadness but as the story progresses you become so engrossed you live through their highs and lows. The right touch of spirituality and beliefs give a better understanding of the characters. The format also makes for easy reading. I highly recommend this book.

This was a hard one for me to get into. The story centers around a family that is grieving the loss of their son/brother, Ray-Ray, that was killed by the police..."accidently". While that in and of itself is a pertinent topic of choice with the current political climate, it was not the route the author chose to take. Instead, the author alternates POVs in each chapter for each family member as they prepare for their annual BBQ where they remember Ray-Ray.

So, the heavy subject matter wasn't what turned me off. It was the dialouge. It was too simplistic and choppy to the point where I actually thought the book may have been a translated copy. It's not.

This book wasn't for me, but I do encourage anyone that wants a light read on a heavy topic to try it out.

The Removed by Brandon Hobson
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The Echota family lost Ray-Ray 15 years ago in a police shooting. They are still struggling with the grief, each in different ways.
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This was a story about grief, but also a story filled with Cherokee legends. Mostly it is told in the present about the Echota family, but part of it is about the past and how the Cherokee people were forced to leave their lands and treated terribly.
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So I wanted to love this book but I struggled. I think a lot of this story went over my head and I just didn’t get what the author was trying to express. I was especially struggling with Edgar’s storyline. Edgar is a drug addict but a lot of his storyline felt like it was fantasy, or one big drug trip.
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My favorite part of the storyline was Maria’s part. Maria misses her son that she lost in death, but also grieves for how losing Ray-Ray has deeply hurt her surviving family members. She’s such a good mom with a heart of gold and I loved her and Ernest.
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Overall I didn’t love this book so I gave it 3⭐️⭐️⭐️ It was a pretty quick read, but I do wish I understood it a little bit more.
Thank you Netgalley for this digital copy to read and review.

My first full read of January was The Removed by Brandon Hobson.

This is a impactful read that deals with some heavy subject matter, yet also contains moments of such light. I found I couldn’t put it down and read it in just a few sittings.

As the 15 year anniversary of her teenage son’s wrongful death approaches, Maria Echota calls together her two remaining children for a bonfire in his memory. Each family member deals with the lasting grief in their own ways, and as the day approaches they all experience something remarkable: a blurring of the line between their daily reality and the spirit world, a joining of past and present.

This Own Voices novel weaves Cherokee history and stories together with the narratives of Maria and her children Sonja and Edgar as they experience this shift and come to terms with their pasts and their futures. The way the author blurs the lines of reality is so well done; many scenes had this dreamlike quality that was subtle, yet really powerful. I was so drawn into these characters’ lives, their moments of sorrow and joy.

At its heart, The Removed is a novel that confronts racism, grief, colonialism and generational trauma. It’s a look at the power of family bonds, memory, and resolution.

Trigger Warnings: drug use, physical violence, police brutality, gun violence.

Thank you to Ecco books for the ebook. This one comes out February 2nd.

Thank you to Ecco Books and Brandon Hobson via NetGalley for my advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Removed is a story about how grief and loss can consume a family for years. We are following the Echota family who has tragically lost their son to gun violence. Despite losing their son, Ray-Ray early in the story, we are reminded of him throughout the memories of his family members. We often hear how death, grief, and loss impact folks in different ways and Hobson examines that throughout the story.

Despite this being a pretty easy read, I struggled with getting through this. It fell flat for me and was a little boring in some areas. It was also a little difficult to constantly swap between each of the characters; as soon as I got intrigued by one character we were moving on to someone completely different.

I was really looking forward to reading about Cherokee mythology and sadly, that was the only part I enjoyed in the story. I would love to read a story that explored Tsala more. While I don't necessarily think this was a terrible story, I just think it could've been a lot better.

Haunting story rambling through loss. I struggled with the NetGalley version, but as soon as I picked up a physical copy, I couldn’t put it down until I finished it. The alternating narrative device is particularly effective here.

Interesting book. It is about a Cherokee family in OK. Rae-Rae, the son of Maria and Ernest was shot by a cop 15 years prior. The remaining family members continue to struggle with their grief and the injustice of the killing. The youngest son has turned to drugs. Ernest, the father, has the beginning of Alzheimer's adding extra stress to Maria who is trying to cope with her own grief. The books alternates between each of the family members own perspectives and an ancestor Tsala., who was involved in the trail of tears.

The Removed could be a unique insight to grieving family members after the unwarranted shooting death of a fifteen year old Cherokee boy named Ray-Ray, but instead it just devolves into an incohesive mess. While I don't read a tremendous amount of indigenous fiction, what I have read makes me think part of the writing style is part of culture, but it's also just doesn't work for me. The story prologues the day of Ray-Ray's death and then transitions to (mostly) fifteen years in the future, told by his mother, his sister, his brother, and Cherokee spirit Tsalas. His mother Maria is planning their annual remembrance of Ray-Ray while dealing with husband Ernest, who is dealing with Alzheimer's, and Wyatt, a foster boy that seems to be channeling Ray-Ray that's temporarily been placed in her home in Oklahoma. Meanwhile Sonja's down the street pursuing cougarish endeavors by chasing after a younger man who has a young son that reminds her of Ray-Ray. At the end of this storyline her purposes for doing so seem to be a complete 180 from earlier in her story, giving the reader whiplash. Edgar is drugged out in Albuquerque, and after his girlfriend breaks up with him, somehow ends up by way of train in the Darkening Lands living with a former classmate that tells him he's necessary to creating a Jim Thorpe augmented reality game. Last but not least are the pieces of the story told by Tsala, a spirit reliving the tragedy his people were faced with when they were forcibly moved to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. I wish that I could say that this all culminated in an ending that miraculously pulled these storylines together, but it really didn't in my opinion.

I’m judging a 2021 fiction contest. It’d be generous to call what I’m doing upon my first cursory glance—reading. I also don’t take this task lightly. As a fellow writer and lover of words and books, I took this position—in hopes of being a good literary citizen. My heart aches for all the writers who have a debut at this time. What I can share now is the thing that held my attention and got this book from the perspective pile into the read further pile.

Fantastic plotting… I’m here for it. “My son has an active imagination,” Ernest kept saying, which was true. Ray-Ray always carried with him a notebook in which he scribbled song lyrics and sketched strange creatures, beasts with fire shooting from their eyes and tongues hanging from their mouths, chubby old men with pig snouts instead of noses, and Uktena and Tlanuwa, the mythic hawks who carried away babies. Ernest and Maria encouraged his artistry, his drawings and impersonations, and also loved how he enjoyed searching outside near the lake for animal bones, bird bones, and feathers to make necklaces. How he wore certain shirts he said were for healing. How he was fascinated by the sky and would go lie down and watch the stars at night. How he mowed lawns and cleaned roof gutters for two summers until he earned enough money to buy his own 250cc Nighthawk, the motorcycle he would ride to the mall in Tulsa on September 6, the day he was shot by a police officer.”

The Removed Review


I've been craving a book like this - a book filled to the brim with Native lore. Aside from Ernest (whose perspective we never read from,) all of the characters are pretty well developed.

Edgar, the youngest sibling, is a drug addict. Drug usage isn’t romanticized and addiction is touched on in a very real way. It isn’t overly elaborate, but it’s enough to make it clear that addiction does not make you a bad person even if it causes bad choices.

Sonja, the eldest sister, is definitely a strong female character. She is unabashed about sexuality and has no desire to be in a committed relationship. She does have some creeper vibes that threw me off a little bit, but it’s acknowledged in the book.

Maria, the mother, has a lot of mental health issues that are brought up early on and addressed in a positive way. They are not hidden or romanticized.

Other things to note that are pretty obvious once you’ve read it - some gay rep that wasn’t overly prominent as a plot device, blatant racism against Natives (and brown skinned people as a whole,) and police violence. The racism is a hide part of the narrative and police violence plays into that. It’s the whole beginning of the trauma the Echota family experiences.

Overall, the writing was beautiful and easy to read. I found it compelling and every time I set this book down I couldn't stop thinking about it. There are so many layers to this story - mythology combined with present day. There were plot twists that I wasn't expecting and some that I did. I would absolutely read this again and I look forward to reading other works by Hobson.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

In the past, I have made the mistake of not prioritizing diversity when choosing books to read. I’m embarrassed to say that this is the first time in my life that I have ever read about a Cherokee family. I am regretful that I didn’t read this sooner, as it is such a brilliant story about folklore, myths, familial bonds, grief, and storytelling. Through this lens, the story is even more meaningful. The writing was brilliant, the storytelling was superb, and the character development sat with me. I have the most severe book hangover after reading this one. This exceeded my expectations in ways I cannot articulate. I have already recommended this book to my entire family. 5 stars!

What an impressive novel. I read this through in about 2 sittings and I was completely engaged with the mix of the everyday and the uncanny. The elements of magical realism in Edgar's story were really captivating and I loved trying to figure out exactly what was going on with him while he went through this interior journey. I found all of the characters realistic and complex. Overall I found this to be a very powerful story told in a masterful way. We will definitely be purchasing this title at my library and I'll be recommending it to all of our patrons who enjoy literary fiction and stories of families.

The Removed is a short but powerful book that explores the line between life and death and the indigenous (specifically Cherokee) lore surrounding this topic. I love a book based in magical realism, and this book does it so well - somehow, in 288 pages, there is significant character development, plot development, and an exploration of generational trauma and poverty.

This book is beautiful, and may very well be one of my favorites of the year. I tore through it and I am so looking forward to everyone else being able to read it.

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-reader ARC and to BOTM for the physical edition.

A beautiful blend of Cherokee legends, history, and contemporary fiction. A story of a grieving family as well as that of grieving ancestors. Both manage to continue despite their travesties. This book is storytelling at its best because it is actually telling multiple stories in one. At times it is like you are reading a contemporary novel and at times it is like listening to oral histories. It is hard to touch on the experience you may have while reading this but the story entered my dreams on occasion. It is that powerful and stirring. I look forward to discussing this book with friends. I found myself reading Cherokee stories and some of the history of the Trail of Tears while reading this. I think that helped deepen the book for me . This book is about pain, grieving, desperation but at the core it's a survival story. Survival that is rooted in history and in stories themselves.

THE REMOVED by Brandon Hobson is a sad novel about a Cherokee family still dealing with their tragic loss. I really loved reading about the Cherokee myths and folklore. I also liked how the point of view would switch between the different family members although I didn’t care for Edgar’s parts. It was interesting the blend of fantasy and reality in this story. It’s a novel on the shorter side and I was left wanting more.

A deeply scarred family and the secrets they carry with them will find their way right to your heart.