2015 Reading Challenge
2. A book with more than 500 pages: Picture Maker by Penina Spinka
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| I took this picture, I want to redo it but I've finished my hot chocolate now and don't want another. Does the chocolate on the cup annoy anyone else or is that just me being nitpicky? Hah |
Picture Maker is the first book in Penina Spinka's Norse/Mohawk trilogy. I initially bought this book at a second-hand book store and mistakenly thought it was a Jean Auel book. I have been meaning to read her books for awhile. However, this book was from another author entirely, which I stupidly didn't realise from looking at the cover... I know, I know, don't judge. I was interested by the blurb on the back so after making sure it was the first book in the series I bought it and started another book journey. AKA it sat on my shelf for a couple of months, I then started reading it halfway through last year, read it haphazardly until this year when I focussed all my attention on it. You know, that kind of journey.
Spinka's Picture Maker documents the journey Gahrahstah or Picture Maker (Actually she has dozens of names throughout the story. She's given a new one at every new culture she meets.) takes after she is kidnapped by the Algonquin tribe, an enemy to her Ganeogaono tribe. Gahrahstah is the daughter of a powerful warrior and was given the name 'Picture Maker' because of her ability to foretell the future in her drawings. Gahrahstah's journey is a grand epic that shows her amazing ability to survive and adapt to new cultures but still holding onto her own tribal values. Picture Maker is set in North America and Greenland in roughly the 1300s, the dates aren't specific but Spinka's Author's Note suggests that date.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book but it did take a bit of effort to read. This book had great description of each culture you meet along the journey with Gahrahstah. Each culture was obviously thoroughly researched and I assume accurate. However, I am not the best judge of this as I have never studied North American history other than the Black Civil Rights movement. Spinka mention the research she undertook, so I'm assuming, if not a bit ignorantly; that it is accurate. That being said, I loved learning about each culture and Spinka did an excellent job of keeping the reader interested in each culture and the description. I have a terrible tendency to skim read long descriptive passages which is why I'm really struggling with Lord of the Rings but I didn't skim the descriptive passages in Picture Maker, I found it fascinating. I also enjoyed learning the differences between the different Native American tribes, I think there's this rather pervasive stereotype of Native Americans but in fact all the tribes were quite unique in their own way. Spinka illustrated this really well.
The plot of the story is really good, it rises and falls throughout, helping to depict a realistic journey. Various upsetting and happy things happy to Gahrahstah throughout her journey but she shows herself to be a strong protagonist but most importantly a survivor. She struggles so much on her journey but she keeps on moving forward and picking herself up. It's quite inspirational. This story is more plot based than character based. We learn a lot about Gahrahstah and a bit about the other characters but for the most part it is about the events and the journey. Usually I'm more of a fan of character based work but I really enjoyed this.
There's a part in the book I really want to discuss because I loved it but I can't because I would be ruining parts of the plot so I'm just going to leave it... *Sigh. Picture Maker was a fascinating book that had a great plot and depicted the cultures really well. However, I did struggle in keeping motivated to read it, that was probably down to my mood because it is quite an intense read and it was quite long. However, that is my main reason I am giving it a 4 out of 5 stars rather than 5. The book has to be crazy good to get a 5 out of me. I'm looking forward to reading Dream Weaver which is the second installment in the trilogy but I think I'll have a wee break first and save my pennies too.
Spinka's Picture Maker documents the journey Gahrahstah or Picture Maker (Actually she has dozens of names throughout the story. She's given a new one at every new culture she meets.) takes after she is kidnapped by the Algonquin tribe, an enemy to her Ganeogaono tribe. Gahrahstah is the daughter of a powerful warrior and was given the name 'Picture Maker' because of her ability to foretell the future in her drawings. Gahrahstah's journey is a grand epic that shows her amazing ability to survive and adapt to new cultures but still holding onto her own tribal values. Picture Maker is set in North America and Greenland in roughly the 1300s, the dates aren't specific but Spinka's Author's Note suggests that date.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book but it did take a bit of effort to read. This book had great description of each culture you meet along the journey with Gahrahstah. Each culture was obviously thoroughly researched and I assume accurate. However, I am not the best judge of this as I have never studied North American history other than the Black Civil Rights movement. Spinka mention the research she undertook, so I'm assuming, if not a bit ignorantly; that it is accurate. That being said, I loved learning about each culture and Spinka did an excellent job of keeping the reader interested in each culture and the description. I have a terrible tendency to skim read long descriptive passages which is why I'm really struggling with Lord of the Rings but I didn't skim the descriptive passages in Picture Maker, I found it fascinating. I also enjoyed learning the differences between the different Native American tribes, I think there's this rather pervasive stereotype of Native Americans but in fact all the tribes were quite unique in their own way. Spinka illustrated this really well.
The plot of the story is really good, it rises and falls throughout, helping to depict a realistic journey. Various upsetting and happy things happy to Gahrahstah throughout her journey but she shows herself to be a strong protagonist but most importantly a survivor. She struggles so much on her journey but she keeps on moving forward and picking herself up. It's quite inspirational. This story is more plot based than character based. We learn a lot about Gahrahstah and a bit about the other characters but for the most part it is about the events and the journey. Usually I'm more of a fan of character based work but I really enjoyed this.
There's a part in the book I really want to discuss because I loved it but I can't because I would be ruining parts of the plot so I'm just going to leave it... *Sigh. Picture Maker was a fascinating book that had a great plot and depicted the cultures really well. However, I did struggle in keeping motivated to read it, that was probably down to my mood because it is quite an intense read and it was quite long. However, that is my main reason I am giving it a 4 out of 5 stars rather than 5. The book has to be crazy good to get a 5 out of me. I'm looking forward to reading Dream Weaver which is the second installment in the trilogy but I think I'll have a wee break first and save my pennies too.
Thanks for reading, I hope you are still enjoying my wee book rambles.
Jenny
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