Uncategorized Archives - Worlds Between Words

by Alex Jennings

Book cover of The Ballad of Perilous Graves in front of a keyboard

The two things I splurge on are books and music, so a book based on the magical powers of music seemed right up my alley. The Ballad of Perilous Graves is centered in a fantastical world with connections to our own in which music and art are at the foundation.

The titular Perilous Graves is a young boy who goes by the name Perry and recently finished fifth grade. His younger sister is Brendy and a super-powered girl named Peaches is his best friend. They all live in Nola, which appears to be very much like our New Orleans. There are significant differences, however, such as flying trolley cars, a city of the dead, and everyday existence of magic. Musicians, like Doctor Professor, pop up out of thin air. But when Doctor Professor shows up in front of Perry’s house in the opening scene, it seems that something isn’t quite right.

In fact, something is very wrong. Nola is built on an album of songs, which keep the city humming. But someone – or something – is kidnapping the songs and destroying them, taking bits of the city with them. When Perry’s grandpa disappears too, Perry feels compelled to solve the mystery. Despite their youth, he, Brendy, and Peaches begin to scour the city, trying to knit together all the seeming disparate threads floating around them. Additionally, Perry must surmount the feelings of fear and inadequacy stemming from some unknown traumatic even earlier in his life.

The adventures in Nola would be enough for a book on its own, but there’s more! While Perry and his friends race around Nola searching for the missing songs, things are afoot in “our” New Orleans. Casey, who left New Orleans after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, has returned to his roots. He begins to reconnect with his cousin Jaylon and their shared history of street art. But New Orleans is at risk as well, and slowly, Casey and Perry draw together.

The Ballad of Perilous Graves tackles a lot. The magic of music and art permeates the entire story. In addition, Jennings explores the deep scars left by big storms. In Casey’s story, it’s Katrina, but Nola has endured its share and is gearing up for another possible killer. Race, gender, family, tourism, and gentrification are all wrapped up in here as well. In addition to our two settings, multiverses make an appearance and expand the settings even further.

At times, it’s a bit much and the story threatens to buckle under the weight. But Jennings’ love for New Orleans radiates through the pages and makes both version of the city characters in their own rights. I suspect that for people who have a connection to New Orleans, this book will hold a deeper meaning. Having unfortunately never been myself, I can’t speak to that with any authority, but if you have and read this book, let me know!

I struggled a bit with this one. I was completely lost on the connection between Nola and New Orleans for most of the book or whether there was supposed to be one or not, although I was ok with waiting to see where it went. It wasn’t always clear how Nola worked, but it was still a fun place to get lost in. Things started coming together a little after the halfway mark and then nearly came apart again. Yet Perry is a compelling character and I really wanted to know what was going to happen to him. I’m glad I stayed with it. Maybe at some point I’ll read it again – I have a feeling it’s the kind of book that you can get more out of with subsequent readings. And for a debut novel, it’s very impressive!

So as we come up on Mardi Gras and you’re looking for a magical New Orleans tale, check out The Ballad of Perilous Graves!

Find it here

by Louise Erdrich

Cover of The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, with a beaded cross necklace and a small howling wolf on either side.

In Louise Erdrich’s book The Sentence, one character tells another about a sentence believed to kill the reader. After thinking about it for a second she says, “I wish I could write a sentence like that.” So far, I haven’t died from reading her books, but Erdirch’s writing is powerful and moving. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse is a prime example of how her stories waft into your soul and make themselves at home for a time.

The story focuses on Father Damien, the lone priest at an Anishinaabe reservation in North Dakota called Little No Horse. Father Damien, however —

***POTENTIAL MINOR SPOILER ALERT IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE BOOK. THIS NEXT PIECE OF INFORMATION IS ON THE BACK BLURB OF THE BOOK AND REVEALED IN THE FIRST FEW PAGES. BUT IF YOU WANT TO GO IN COMPLETELY BLIND, CEASE READING THIS REVIEW, GO READ THE FIRST CHAPTER, AND THEN YOU CAN COME BACK. WHILE YOU GET THIS BOOK, YOU COULD ALSO CHECK OUT THESE BOOKS BY NATIVE AUTHORS THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY REVIEWED HERE. DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER THOUGH UNTIL YOU’RE READY.***

— is actually a woman named Agnes DeWitt. Agnes isn’t a trans character, but Erdrich does touch on indigenous beliefs and ideas regarding gender as Agnes navigates between herself and Father Damien.

The story bounces back and forth between Agnes/Father Damien’s beginning at Little No Horse in the early 1900s as a young priest and the present (roughly the 1990s). As Father Damien nears 100 years of age, the Vatican sends another priest to Little No Horse. His job is to determine whether one of the Native nuns, Pauline Puyat/Sister Leopolda, is eligible for canonization. This forces Father Damien to wrestle with his secrets and what he can or should share. Both story lines are intriguing, but I definitely enjoyed the earlier parts of Father Damien/Agnes DeWitt’s life more.

Erdrich weaves in a lot of themes and ideas throughout the book. Obviously, gender/gender identity plays a significant role. While Agnes embodies a male persona as Father Damien, she embraces her woman-ness as Agnes in the quiet, empty spaces of her life. But many of Father Damien’s Ojibwe friends recognize that there is something different about him; unlike Euro-Americans, however, they have a background and tradition that allows them to articulate and understand that difference.

Erdrich also gorgeously explores the mysteries of faith. Throughout his tenure at Little No Horse, Father Damien writes letter after letter to each Pope for nearly a century. Yet until the Vatican sends a priest to investigate the miracles of Sister Leopolda, he receives no answer. It suggested the very nature of prayer – petitions and questions and begging for guidance to which there is never an answer. Agnes/Father Damien have a few instances in which they feel to be in direct contact with the Divine – and yet, it is only a moment followed by decades of silence.

Despite his position as a missionary, ordered to bring the Word of God to the “heathens” of the reservation, Father Damien quickly finds himself accepting Anishinaabe beliefs. Often he finds those beliefs to be of greater value and comfort than Catholic dogma. While Catholicism remains a grounding system for Agnes and Father Damien alike, they see the value of Anishinaabe traditions and spirituality and see no reason why those should be cast aside. As other priests flit in and out of Little No Horse, they seem scandalized at Father Damien’s potential blasphemy. And yet, they also stand in awe of his faith.

Through all of this, Erdrich includes a variety of important historical events, from the 1918 flu pandemic to the horrific legacy of forced boarding schools for Native children to the starvation that regularly occurred on the reservations as a result of the U.S. failing to live up to its treaty obligations. It is an incredible story of how people continue to survive and thrive, despite all the trauma, all the pain, all the hurt. And not only do they survive, but they continue to love, to believe, to live. Yet the story does not downplay the very real, long-lasting effects of those traumas either. Each character must find a way to live with or drown in those hardships as well.

I cannot recommend Erdrich’s books enough. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse is a great place to start. Although my understanding is that some of her earlier books include some of the same characters, I have yet to read them. I never felt like I was missing something as I read this one though. Go and enjoy.

Find it online here.