This was a tricky one. I loved the characters. They felt real and lived in. They had flaws yet were full of beauty at times. However the plot was often hard to make sense of. I feel like things really didn't come together until the last 1/5, and even then it was still very light. It was also sometimes difficult to keep track of the different character viewpoints. I wasn't always sure who the author was talking about or referring to. I understand difficult books, Infinite Jest is in my top 5, so I'm not entirely sure the fault is mine alone. The writing was amazing though, and I would definitely read something else by Verble. I think a good editor could fix most of the issues I have.

Delightful! And unexpected. I winced a bit each time there was a treatment of race (black or Indian/Native), but enjoyed the character development and the trajectory of the plot. Loved the ghost story, although the main ghost was a portrayed as a bit of a clown and that felt like a bit of a letdown.

Overall, would recommend this unusual story.

The clever title coupled with an interesting premise drew me to request this book. I had mixed opinions regarding certain aspects of the story, but for the most part I found it to be an absorbing read.

Verble's novel follows Two Feathers, a performer at the Glendale Park Zoo whose act involves diving into a pool – while riding on the back of a horse. I really liked her character, even though it was difficult to get a read on her at first: on one hand, we're shown that she enjoys the spotlight and knows her way around a crowd, but on the other we don't really see her speak all that often (at least, not directly). This would be because the author chooses to focus on Two's mind, her thoughts and feelings surrounding each situation she faces, rather than on the words she says out loud.

The book itself chooses to delve into the minds of all the characters given POVs. Character-driven to the extreme, you don't notice that there's a progressing plot until you're seventy percent of the way in and realise that the characters aren't in the same place as they were when you began reading. This isn't always a bad thing; in the case of When Two Feathers Fell from the Sky, I actually did not mind, in large part due to the fact that I liked most of the characters in it.

What I was mildly disappointed in was Two Feather's friendship with Crawford. Considering that a significant portion of the blurb was dedicated to telling the reader about it, I expected that it would be a major feature of the novel itself; however, that was not so. Their friendship existed, sure, and was given some screen time, but not as much as I had hoped for.

This novel's writing depends greatly on short, short sentences and half-sentences strung together. Often in the middle of reading, I'd get distracted by the writing style instead of immersed in the story, but I did grow accustomed to it eventually.

As a whole looking back, I really enjoyed this book. It took a little bit to get into the writing style of the author and understand the transitions between characters, but the history and underlying theme of how different races are/have been treated is relevant and discussion provoking. I originally picked this up because it was about horse diving and I have always been enamored with this attraction, but what I found was something much different. The horse diving was such a small bit of the book. It was more about people. Where people are from, how they made their way, who their family was, and what they believed. The book touches on so many topics that even though they happened many years ago, we are still trying to figure out how to move forward. I think Two said it best, “We get the world we have, not the one we want. But we can make this one better.” We can learn from the past and vow not to repeat mistakes, to see other cultures with an open mind, and value each person for the knowledge they bring from their ancestors.

A great bit of history to play with—Nashville amusement park in the 1920s—featuring a Cherokee woman who does a horse diving act, an unconventional murder mystery, and some of the best non-anthropomorphized animal characters I've come across in a while.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I liked it, but I didn't like it all the time.
To be honest, I nearly stopped reading after getting through the intro. It was difficult to read, and I was left wondering what it had to do with the plot. I'm glad that I kept reading, because there were parts of the story I enjoyed.
Two is a great character, but I felt like we didn't get a sense of her at all. We see little glimpses, but never enough to get a real sense of who she is. I think that this wasn't her story, perhaps it hasn't been developed yet. She deserves to be a very strong leading character.
The plot was slow, and a little scattered. I appreciated the other character stories, but they did nothing to further the plot in any way.
If I had to rate it, I'd give it about 2.75 stars.