Assessment:
Plot: Talk has a lot of promise, with an intriguing plot, mystery, an exploration of Indigenous roots, and lots of fascinating American history.
Prose: Dialogue features heavily in Talk. In fact, sometimes the dialogue goes on for paragraphs, without any descriptions of what the characters are doing or how they are reacting. This can make it very difficult to follow the plot of the story, or to fully connect with the characters. A few more cues for the readers to break up these passages may benefit the text overall.
Originality: It is not particularly common to find a book that centers on Indigenous history. Talk does just this, intertwining fascinating Indigenous cultural lore with imaginative fictional and true American history.
Character/Execution: Despite the intriguing characters, a number of interactions come across as unnatural with somewhat forced dialogue.
Date Submitted: May 23, 2022
V. Williams
VINE VOICE
5.0 out of 5 stars Sweet tale of the discovery of ancestral heritage
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2022
Minnesota was a very wild area at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Jesse James and Cole Younger terrorized the area with train and bank robberies. Talk is a story of a young woman whose ancestors came from this area and is descended from the Ojibwe people. Greg Peterson has woven an endearing tale of honesty and family heritage wrapped around a treasure hunt.
A classic love story starts with a car skidding off the roadway on a sharp turn. People watch out for each other and their properties in small rural America. The chance meeting of the two is well engineered.
The hints to find the treasure are hidden in an overgrown hundred acres not cultivated in nearly eighty years. Also, the discovery of the heroine, Addie’s, roots are engaging and endearing. Not all of the Younger offspring follow the path of their parental examples. Generations later there is much to be discovered.
An old family bible gives some of the information on the roots and family history. People often wonder about their ancestors and it was easy to identify with the young lady and her journey.
I recommend this book to anyone who can identify with family mysteries and the heritage and history they would like to find. 5 stars - CE Williams
