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Rain Is Not My Indian Name |
Author: Cynthia Leitich Smith
Published: 2001-07-01 |
List price: $16.99
Our price: $13.59
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As of: December 01st, 2008 07:21:27 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Perfect Voice
Tender, moving, funny, touching...it's all there. Better still it's a teenage voice that actually sounds like a teenager.
A young adult novel with heart
This is a young adult novel with heart. The characters are real. Cynthia Leitich Smith deftly tackles such dominant society icons and artifacts as football mascots, fake dreamcatchers, Elvis, Anime, Pez, cigar-store Indians, and Barbie, as seen from a contemporary Indian cultural context. And there are no vision quests and no mixed-blood identity crises-"walking in two worlds"-that white authors love to write about. Cassidy Rain Berghoff is not troubled by who she is; rather, she's bothered by other people's perceptions of Indians:
"At school, the subject of Native Americans pretty much comes up just around Turkey Day, like those cardboard cutouts of the Pilgrims and the pumpkins and the squash taped to the windows at McDonald's. And the so-called Indians always look like bogeymen on the prairie, windblown cover boys selling paperback romances, or baby-faced refugees from the world of Precious Moments. I usually get through it by reading sci-fi fanzines behind my textbooks until we move on to Kwaanza."
Written in the first person, each chapter begins with a refreshingly non-linear journal entry. In both journal and narrative, we see Cassidy Rain, called "Rainy Day" by her mom, as a smart teenager with an acerbic wit. Like most teens, she's critical of her looks:
"Here I am, average height, average weight, with bottle-cap boobs and eyes pinched at the corners. Nobody's impressed that I can look out the window and get a tan."
But she's not obsessive:
"Being a mixed-blood girl is no big deal. Really. It seems weird to have to say this, but after a lifetime of experience, I'm used to being me. Dealing with the rest of the world and its ideas, now that makes me a little crazy sometimes."
Rain Is Not My Indian Name is about a mixed-blood 14-year-old coming to terms with the sudden death of her mother and more recently, with the sudden death of her best friend, her might-have-been boyfriend. In allowing herself to grieve, she comes to know the fragility of the life that we're given. "I reached down," she says, "and snapped off a spray of Queen Anne's lace, desperate to touch something pretty. Not even caring that it would kill the bloom."
"Back when I was seven," she writes in her journal, "I didn't have to think about what I believed and where I belonged. I just did." As a tiny spider scrambles over her bare foot and the sun brings long shadows, Cassidy Rain is growing into what she will become.
I hope young readers will see in Cassidy Rain's story the interconnectedness of life and death and a delicate sprig of flowers, the birth of babies and the harvesting of rice, believing and belonging, what it is to build bridges and cause them to fall. I hope young readers will see and relate to a very real young person, sometimes tentative and fragile, sometimes steadfast and tough, finding her place in the world, keeping her heart off the ground.
 Unsuccessful Book
Rain Berghoff is not a full-blooded Native American, but it seems her life is wrapped up in her identity as such. The story opens with Rain's contemplation of her first kiss, which she would like to share with her best friend, Galen. But that same night Galen is killed by a firetruck, and readers are left with unanswered questions throughout most of the book - about Galen; his relationship with Rain; both of their relationships with Queenie, an African American girl who also has Native American blood; Galen's strange mother; and many other loose ends.
This story never seemed to get off the ground. Rain's father is in the military and absent except for occasional phone calls. Rain's older brother has a live-in pregnant girlfriend. One of the main conflicts in the book is whether Rain will participate in an Indian summer camp run by her aunt. She refuses, mainly because she is still sorting out her feelings about Galen's death. She attends the camp through a photography assignment for her brother's girlfriend's newspaper, but then at the conclusion she identifies herself as an attendee, thus getting herself fired from the job.
Throughout, the chapters begin with a diary entry detailing some past event from Rain's life with her late mother or best friend. The entries are supposed to fill the reader in on Galen and mom, who have the disadvantage of being absent characters along with the father. I could not work up any warmth for any of these absent characters, one of the failings of this story.
Other characters, like Aunt Georgia, Dmitri and Marie, and others are sketchily drawn. I never got the feeling they were real people or the setting was a real place.
Though there was a good deal of writing devoted to Native American identity, it seemed hollow. It could have been because Rain's other ethnic lines are ignored: "I'm Muscogee Creek-Cherokee and Scots-Irish on Mom's side, Irish-German-Ojibway on Dad's." That being the case, why all the hand-wringing about Native American identity? Why not about her Irish blood? Is it because more people have Irish ancestry that Native American, and therefore it's trendy?
Rain is supposed to be a middle schooler who boys don't look at and have always disregarded, but the cover art depicts her as a cross between Brooke Shields and Angelina Jolie. This is irksome, misleading, and insulting to all the ordinary-looking young girls who will notice this irregularity and conclude that the world only cares about girls if they're attractive.
 Rain Is Not My Indian Name
Before I began this book I came onto amazon.com to see what other people thought of this, along with the reviews and summaries I was expecting something absolutely GREAT!!! Well, it wasn't as good as I thought. The author had so many chances to make it good, it just never had potential. I will admit it was a 4-star book, until I got to the ending. I got so confused at the ending. I had absolutely no clue! Since I live in OK I loved how it mentioned city names and places I am very familiar. I would suggest this book to someone who might like it, but just don't expect a whole lot out of it. Happy Reading!
Rain Resonates with this Reader
Cynthia Leitich Smith's Rain is Not My Indian Name is a refreshing, respectful examination of the issues that contemporary teens face. Smith gives such authentic voice to the heroine, Rain, that the character becomes real to this reader. The book courageously takes on real and complex issues that many teenagers face today, including death and single-parent households. Although there is enough action within it's pages to keep any teen interested, this is truly a book about individual characters. Smith captures the essence of her main character, Rain, by giving the reader a glimpse into her American Indian heritage. What is most impressive about Rain's character development is her proud heritage comes through, but does not solely define her. Smith has accomplished what few writers have. She develops her heroine's culture but not at the expense of her universal appeal to all teens, regardless of ethnicity. Rain illustrates the differences that make us special but also the similarities that unite us. I highly recommend this book for teens and parents alike for a thoughtful view of young middle-America. My only regret is that this type of book was not being written when I came of age.
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