5.0 stars

I received a complimentary Kindle book from Book Club Girls via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. Thank you to Mona Susan Power, Book Club Girls, Mariner Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

OMG! Another 5-star book!!

This is a historical book by a FEMALE, NATIVE-AMERICAN author. I love this!! It is the story of three generations of women who tied together with their love for their dolls and each other.

This book is amazing as it is about three strong, Native American women who live in very turbulent times. It is difficult to read about some of the atrocities, but the author writes so beautifully that it makes it easier to read about the horrible times. It runs the gambit of Indian Boarding schools to massacres of Native Americans to Indian ghettos. So much to learn!

I did not learn much about Native American history. But, I am assuming that almost everything that I learned is inaccurate, wrong, or just biased. As a native Californian, we have gone from learning about the Missions and how great the Native Americans were treated (4th grade history) to now knowing it was SLAVERY plain and simple. The saddest part is that nothing has really changed. Horrific!

HIGHLY RECOMMEND this beautiful book

The story of three generations of Native American women, their dolls, and the harm they suffered, including forced assimilation.

Source: DRC via NetGalley (Mariner Books) in exchange for an honest review.
Publication Date: August 8, 2023
Synopsis: Goodreads
Purchase Link: Amazon

What to see what else I’m up to? Want to support me or my website?
Check out the benefits of being a patron of Angry Angel Books on Patreon!
Join the community in the Angry Angel Aviary Discord server!
You can find me at all around the internet via my LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/angryangel_03

Why did I choose to read this book?

Every single book I’ve read by indigenous/Native American authors ever has been an absolute banger. I want to read all the stories. If they show up on NetGalley, I’m requesting them 100%.

The fact that dolls were involved also made me think this one might be a little horror-esque, which apparently I am into now.

What is this book about?

This book centers around the damage done to Native American traditions, communities, and languages via the Indian boarding schools created to essentially steal, traumatize, and “reform” native children. Many children died at these schools as well, and as a minor trigger warning a child does die in this story.

It also tells generational stories. It begins with a little girl, then transitions to her mother’s story, then her grandmother’s story, then back to the original little girl but she’s all grown up for the conclusion.

At its heart, this book talk about how trauma is passed from person to person, and that it is crucially important to face that trauma head on, understand it, and manage its effects so that we do not hand it down to our children. It’s here that the story becomes universal.

What is notable about this story?

Mona Susan Power does NOT shy away from the horrifying events of native history. It’s essential that we understand what really happened and sugar coating/beating around the bush about any of it isn’t going to help anyone. These stories are raw and real and they HURT because they should.

The idea that the dolls come alive in a Toy Story kind of way and act as witnesses to these atrocities is so fucked up, but it’s such an interesting take. Like the trauma just bleeds onto everything we love and soaks into it.

Most notable was the focus on the women. There were a few cases where men were the abusers, but much of the violence and trauma was committed/borne by the women in the story. Thinking back about what I read, only the grandfather was abusive in any way and only sporadically when he was drinking, and you end up sympathizing with him once you see the grandmother’s story. He’s not just a “bad man,” he’s a guy that got fucked up by the system just like everyone else. I don’t want to say it was refreshing to read a story where the women fueled the perpetuation of violence and trauma instead of just being cowering victims, but it was notable and surprising.

Was anything not so great?

For me, it was the dolls. I’m not sure why, but something about it being dolls just felt off. They weren’t even creepy. This is not a critique of the book as a whole or even the story, I’m just saying for me the dolls didn’t hit. And in a book called “A Council of Dolls” it felt like it was worth a mention. But the story works fine even if the dolls don’t land for you so don’t let this comment stop you from buying or borrowing this book!

What’s the verdict?

Four stars on Goodreads. It’s a powerful story that we can all learn from, even if all we take away is that to truly break the cycle of trauma and damage, we first have to heal ourselves. Put your oxygen mask on first before helping others – it’s not just for plane emergencies!

Seriously though, please read this book. It’s important. Go get it.

In A Council of Dolls, we meet three young Indigenous girls and their dolls around the time that they are each 8-9 years old. Sissy and her doll Ethel in the late 1960s in Chicago, Lillian and her doll Mae in the mid 1930s on the Standing Rock Reservation, and Cora and her doll Winona in the early 1900s also on the Standing Rock Reservation. The story is from the later timeline and gradually moves backwards in time from Sissy to Lillian and then to Cora. Each girl is the daughter of the girl after her, and in this manner, we see the generational trauma inflicted on the daughter before we see what happened to the mother to cause her trauma.

The dolls speak only to the girls who own them, and in this way it is easy to assume they are imaginary, but they are much more powerful than that. These dolls provide a form of comfort to each girl as she grows older. Each doll is shown to protect their girl in a moment of stress and difficulty.

The writing, showing a young girl's point of view, was believable in how each girl perceives things that would be beyond the understanding of an 8/9 year old child. I also thought the regression of time from each girl to her mother's timeline before hers made the story flow in an interesting way that kept my interest. It's very clear that something bad happened to both Lillian and Cora while under the control of white schools, for Lillian, a Catholic boarding school in Bismarck, and for Cora, the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. There was certainly room for the author to portray the despicable conditions and trauma imparted on the children in a much more dramatic manner, but I felt the writer walked the line of matter of fact, and still imparted how horrific these schools were to young Indigenous people and their families in the early 20th Century.

The only flaw to my mind of this novel was the 4th part, from grown Jesse's (Sissy) point of view, as she rediscovers the dolls in her storage, and is able to tell their stories through a touch of magical realism. It just dragged on a little bit for me, although the catharsis and healing Jesse experienced through her encounter with the dolls left me hopeful for her future.

Thank you to Book Club Girl, Mariner Books, and NetGalley for the electronic ARC of this novel for review.

Overall, this was very well-written and deeply moving but was almost completely undone by the pseudo-therapy session ramble that took over the last 10% of the book.

“A Council of Dolls” by Mona Susan Power
A Powerfully Moving Novel
This is not an easy fun read, but a serious sharing of the horrors that can be delivered under the mask of “enlightening” others. Force rarely attains the goals those using force think are better, but ultimately cause more harm, pain, and sorrow than they ever live to acknowledge. Be sure to read the authors notes, acknowledgements, and about the author. This is a very worthy read. Happy Reading ! !
NOTE: This review expresses my honest opinion.
I received an ARC of this story from the publisher via NetGalley

This is a truly incredible and deeply emotional book that goes back through three generations of Native Americans showcasing the very real hardships they encountered.

I highly recommend reading the trigger warnings and preparing yourself for this read. There are quite a few moments/descriptions that are very realistically horrifying.

This is one of those books that just hits at a very deep level. Right now, I'm feeling somewhat grateful that I've had the opportunity to read this and kind of gather this understanding around me. These are experiences I will never have or be able to relate to as a white American, but I feel it is so very important to sit with this kind of knowledge and really respect this history. After all, I truly feel like many need this kind of knowledge and to feel this empathy so that we do not continue this harm in the future.

Out August 8, 2023.

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!

Dolls are trending now, more specifically Barbie, with the media’s buzz and hyperattention on all the layers of myth and and confusion that her upscale and somewhat aloof image presented to society and the legions of girls who owned one. But in her ingenious incandescent book Mona Susan Powers explores a different aspect of the doll/child connection. This magical mystic bond can be a bulwark against the uncertainty and sometimes menace of the adult world, the shifting alliances of others and the go-between to navigate the complexities of everyday life. For three Dakota girls, spanning three generations, their special dolls serve as protectors, sometimes magically so, and most important, they are a well of unconditional love. The girls and their families are stuck in the legacy of trauma from the government policy of removing Native America children from their families and sending them to Indian boarding schools, where all evidence of their culture, including their language, is suppressed or destroyed. Power’s writing is in top form; the three braided story lines with the POVs of each woman as a child are pulse-pounding, painful, and impossible to tear away from.

There is 19th-century gentle but resilient Cora, who on the surface looks like and is paraded as a model of boarding school assimilation to the rigid Victorian standards but who aligns her fate to the most daring and rebellious student. Later the strong spirits of Cora’s beautiful fierce daughters, Lillian and Blanche are on a collision course with the heartless religious order running the school. Finally, Sissy, Lillian’s frightened daughter, lives with her parents in Chicago, long after the era of the Indian schools but who still lives out their heartache. The power of Power’s storytelling is that each voice and story line is so burnished and compelling that you do not want to relinquish the narrator, yet the next one is just as riveting and artful. The three stories are not in strict chronological order, so even though we know the outcome of certain events (though not all) they still explode with drama and surprise. And then there are the dolls: Winona, a small lovingly made buckskin Dakota Indian, Mae, a gently worn but still dashing 1930s Shirley Temple doll, and Ethel, a 1960s preternaturally wise black Thumbelina baby. They are the not so silent witnesses of the trauma that flows through family lines. The final section, which revisits one of the characters, does not have quite the same sense of urgency or pull of the others, but it is the reckoning that ties them all together-a tall order. How does an individual, a family, a culture, a community, a tribal nation heal from trauma? The first step is raising the questions and telling the stories. Mona Sue Powers has written a courageous and unforgettable book. There are moments and images from Cora’s, Sissy’s, and Lillian’s stories which, as the best fiction does, seem like memories of your own making. This is a literary high-water mark. A must read.

4.5 stars. Starting all the way back in 1888, this is a story spanning three generations of women: Cora, Lillian, and Sissy. And don't forget their beloved dolls: Winona, Mae, and Ethel. As expected, Indigenous women giving accounts of their first-hand experiences is absolutely gut-wrenching. Set in North and South Dakota mostly, these three women and the men in their lives are Lakȟóta, Dakhóta, or a combination of both. Though it does indeed detail horrible practices and impacts on Indigenous culture, this story also provides a hopeful reframing of how to heal and how to help.

Sissy's story absolutely broke my heart, but Lillian and Cora were not far behind. The first three sections of this novel are tough to get through, with absolutely vibrant characters and incredible emotive power. The last section, we return to Sissy and get to hear a bit about her life as an older woman and how she's dealt with her history and its trauma up to this point. Which is to say — not at all. But when she discovers an old friend that helps break her writer's block, Sissy will set herself (and the reader, let's be honest) on a path to healing.

This book is impactful, important, and gorgeous in its prose. I highly recommend it! Thank you to Mona Susan Power, Mariner Books, and NetGalley for my advance digital copy.

This was a mesmerizing story of three generations of Dakhota women who share part of their story and trauma. I thought the writing was amazing and made me wish for more. The use of the dolls to help tell the story was unique and it worked for this story. I think sharing the stories of these women and their experiences (especially in the boarding schools) is and important part of history to share. As the writer expressed the book was a healing process for her.

Any reader can find engagement and enlightment from this story. I don't feel it was meant for a particular audience. I am a diverse reader who likes all kinds of stories and genres. I do enjoy reading and learning about other cultures. I think many readers would enjoy this book. It is thought provoking and will make one feel a lot of different emotions.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

2.5/5. This was not for me, but clearly it's been popular with many reviewers so far on Goodreads, so I'm choosing not to post this on Goodreads or my other platforms since I still see the appeal and want this book to do well.

A Council of Dolls had its strong points, but I felt that it didn't completely live up to its potential. It was a heavy and important read, but I felt that it sometimes fumbled the subject matter with disjointed writing and inconsistent quality. Ultimately, I'm giving it a lower rating because I really had to push myself to keep reading and to keep picking it up, rather than the book doing that on its own with compelling storytelling.

Sissy's chapter had a strong, heartfelt narrative that pulled me in right away, painting a vivid family portrait. The prose itself felt ever so slightly stilted and repetitive, in part due to the fact that it's from a child's perspective. Even so, that part wasn't my cup of tea, nor were the magical realism components with the dolls. I found the dynamic between Sissy and her mother genuinely compelling, and I liked Lillian's chapter, too. An exploration of Lillian's childhood trauma built well on what we already knew about her as an adult, and the reverse chronological structure worked well. The chapter ended with a scene that was disturbing but incredibly moving - perhaps the novel's strongest point.

Unfortunately, I felt like Cora's and Jesse's chapters were weaker. Cora's chapter, in my opinion, lacked the interesting interpersonal dynamics of the others, and what we already knew about Jack eclipsed the tenderness of Cora and Jack's connection. Jesse's chapter was extremely dry and lackluster and ultimately just served to rehash several of the earlier plot points. Her friendship with Izzy, in my opinion, fell flat and seemed inauthentic and stilted.

I'm glad that A Council of Dolls seems to be doing well with reviewers thus far on Goodreads and I'm wishing it the utmost success! Ultimately just didn't land for me.

A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power follows three generations of Yanktonai Dakota women and their dolls in three different settings. The story was told from the point of view of each young lady and also her doll.

Sissy and her doll, Ethel, live in Chicago with a volatile mother and a dependable father. Lillian brings her doll, Mae, when she is forced to attend a boarding school for Native American children. Cora is also sent to a school following what I believe was the Wounded Knee Massacre. Unfortunately, Cora’s doll, Winona, was burned by the school teachers. The only thing that survived was a heartlike stone and the doll’s spirit.

Sissy doesn’t always have anyone to protect her from her mother. Her father buys her a doll, later named Ethel. Whether it is a child’s imagination or not, Ethel provides comfort and kindness to Sissy. The doll may even have saved Sissy from her mother’s uncontrollable rage.

Lillian and her sister, Blanche, move to the boarding school where the nuns abuse the children on a daily basis. After one of the nuns takes the abuse too far, Mae does everything in her power to haunt and avenge the brutality. It was interesting to see the changes in Lillian, who was a sweet kid but not so sweet as an adult.

Cora loves Winona, her doll made of bucksin and beads. Both of them survived so much tragedy in such a short time. Even after Winona is burned, her spirit is still with Cora.

When Sissy is an adult, she takes all of the dolls – Ethel, Mae and Winona plus a few new ones- out of storage and puts them on display. She calls the collection “A Council of Dolls.” The council is key to helping Sissy deal with her past trauma and also generational trauma.

My kids think that having my doll collection will lead to having a haunted house. I disagree. As long as a person is kind to the doll, their spirit, and the owner, there should not be problems or hauntings.

Recommendation
If you are interested in historical fiction, Native American fiction, or dolls with some spirit, then you will enjoy this book.

If you are an abusive nun or abusive person in general, then you may not like abusers facing the consequences. Most people won’t feel bad for the abusive nun. Her actions had consequences. Sorry, not sorry Sister.

I received this ebook from NetGalley. This is my honest review. All opinions are my own. Obviously.

Stunning, heartbreaking, and beautifully written. I love the title and how the dolls played such an important part.
Many thanks to Mariner Books and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Wow. Power's A Council of Dolls puts her in the company of Louise Erdrich, one of my favorite authors. In this novel, Power tells the stories of several generations in a Native American family, through the girls whose dolls talk with them. From the girls forced to go to boarding school and the horrifying things that happen there, through the mental health effects that last for generations, to the descendant who has inherited the dolls and tells their stories, Power gives them all voices. The language is beautiful, and, while it can be difficult to read sometimes, white people cannot look away.

“A Council of Dolls” by Mona Susan Power ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Genre: Magical Realism Historical Fiction. Location: North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Minnesota, USA. Time: 1888-2010s.

This is the story of 3 generations of Dakhóta/Lakhóta women, told in part through the stories of their dolls.

Sissy (born 1961): In 1969, Sissy is in 2nd grade, living a sensitive, anxious life in Chicago. She narrates the story of her erratic, destructive, Indian boarding school survivor mother, and of good things in their lives. Her doll named Ethel whispers advice and kindness in Sissy’s ear, and maybe even saves her life. Sissy, now known as Jesse, rejoins us at age 50 with updates on the dolls, her life, and lessons in forgiveness and healing.

Lillian (born 1925): In the mid-1930s, young Lillian shares her story of summers at home with damaged Indian boarding school survivor parents, and the abusive Bismarck Indian Boarding School she attended with her sister Blanche. When tragedy strikes, Lillian’s doll Mae is with her in spirit. 

Cora (born 1888): In the early 1900s, Cora is sent to the bleak Carlisle, Pennsylvania Indian Boarding School. Teachers burn her doll Winona, but Cora keeps Winona’s pebble heart alive. Starting on her 13th birthday, she journals the death of Lalá (Sitting Bull) and other atrocities, and her time at the Indian boarding school.

Author Power divides her narrative into the voices of children living at home with traumatized parents, and the voices of children being traumatized at Indian Boarding Schools. She paints a grim portrait of the process of colonization, and the damage to generations of Indigenous people by the brutal Indian boarding schools. Power’s prose is beautiful and evocative: (“She stared at Jack with indigo eyes that painted everything twilight.”) Her book is graceful, moving, saddening, ultimately forgiving, told in an unusual and powerful format. I could not put it down, and it’s 5 stars from me! Thank you NetGalley, Mariner Books, and Mona Susan Power for this early copy. Publishes 8/8/2023.

A Council of Dolls is one of the most important books that I have ever read. In telling the stories of three generations of Dakota girls and their dolls, Mona Susan Power showcases the utter brutality that was inflicted on the Dakota people and the horrors that indigenous children faced in Indian boarding schools. This is a part of history that people have tried to erase and hide, but with stories like Powers' , which shed light on the truth, it can't be. Sissy's, Lillian's, and Cora's stories highlight different eras of oppression, spanning from the 1890s to the 1970s. But the story doesn't end there. It ends in the present, where power is given back to those Dakota women, and through them, all Dakota people. Mona Susan Powers creates a story not only about oppression, but about strength, and hope, courage, and reclaiming your power. This is a book I recommend that everyone should read.

This story covers the lives of three generations of young Dakhóta and Lakhóta women, girls, with their individual stories that connect them, as well as the eras that separate them.

This begins in Chicago during the 1960’s with Sissy’s story and her doll, Ethel. The Mayor has no interest in helping any of the people whose skin is a shade other than white. Sissy is in second grade, and is aware of the prejudice that they are surrounded by. Her mother is from North Dakota and is Dakhóta tall, and her father is Lakhota, and Lakhóta tall.

Lily’s story is set in the 1930’s and Lily’s doll is a Shirley Temple doll that she names Mae. Lily’s doll shares her thoughts with Lily, and Lily shares her thoughts, fears and wishes in return.

Cora’s story is set at the start of the century, her doll is Winona, who is made of deer hide.

What these three dolls have in common is each seems to have the ability to speak, at least to the girl to whom they are attached. They become the repository of the words of these young girls.

As the story nears the end, Sissy, whose has changed her name to Jesse, is writing a story, her story, which also includes the stories of her ancestors.

There’s more to this story, the boarding schools they are forced to attend, the abuse they - or others - are forced to endure. The cruel and inhumane treatment that takes the lives of others, as well. And how the loss of the lives of their friends and/or family members affect them.

A story of trauma inflicted intentionally upon these people, as well as others, the impact it has on them, as well as their families and their futures.


Pub Date: 08 Aug 2023

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Mariner Books

Well crafted series of tales, told through three women of Native American descent and the dolls they loved. Moving back through the generations, from the 1970s to the 1950s to the early 1900's, each woman deals with the biases and challenges of being a Native American in our society, and each relates to the doll lwhe cherished the traumas of her life and of her upbringing. Enjoyable and challenging read.

Thank you for allowing me to read this novel by Mona Susan Power. I find reading about the harsh treatment of indigenous peoples in the US to be quite disturbing.

This novel spans the three generation of Lakota women and the harsh treatment of industrial schools to try to mold these people into European whites. The particular story of Jack seems very recognizable of what I have read in a previous novel - not by this author.

I found this book to be very disjointed. Sorry, but I cannot recommend this novel.

The story of three generations of Dahkota women told with the aid of the dolls that offered comfort in their lives. The impact of the Indian schools that two were forced to attend had a major impact on their lives and thus influenced the way the third was raised. Heart-breaking to read what Indigenous children went through as
the government sought to erase their culture.
 #ACouncilofDolls #NetGalley