Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - Das Leuchten der Rentiere

I had such high hopes for this book which I think is where I ran into issues. I wasn't expecting a multi-POV and I'm still undecided if some of them were necessary. The first part was quite slow and hard to get through, but picks up in the second and third parts. You can tell the author really went the extra mile to make sure you understood the Sami people from their language to their culture which was interesting to learn about. Even small details like the chapter titles being the number in Sami. There were some story aspects I was disappointed in, but overall I think the main story was good. There just seemed to be too many subplots partially because of the multi-POV.

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lauriej's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

A brilliant book about the Sami Reindeer herders and the difficulties and prejudices they face. It was a hard read because of the injustice and fear the people face on a daily basis, but an amazing book nonetheless

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abicaro17's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Elsa is only 9 years old when Robert threatens to kill her if she tells anyone he killed her reindeer. As a Sámi in Sweden, Elsa and her family face xenophobia all the time but it gets increasingly worse as they begin to report the reindeer poaching they experience. Starting when Elsa was 9, reindeer in her family's collective begin to show up decapitated, mutilated, and missing body parts. Their reports go unsolved and the tension causes rampant issues within their family and collective. I think this book was really interesting when it was focusing on the main points of the book but it often went off topic and droned on. Once the book hit 80% it ramped up and I really enjoyed it. Even when it was slow I was hooked.

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florajb2068_hy's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Elsa is a young woman of indigenous heritage struggling with the rise of xenophobia against her race, and culture. It's a coming of age story, and also reflects the tragic effect climate change is causing to their way of life.

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emilyb84's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative sad

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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haileyhardcover's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

August 9th is World Indigenous Peoples’ Day. In anticipation and observance of the holiday, I’ve been spending some time learning about the Sámi people. The only indigenous people of Europe, the Sámi’s ancestral lands are in an area known as Sápmi, spanning the north of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and part of the Kola Peninsula in Russia. During my research, I stumbled upon this book.

Stolen tells the story of Elsa, a young Sámi girl who witnesses the poaching of a beloved reindeer, Nástegallu. This traumatizing event is only the beginning for Elsa, as she grows up and continues to witness against racism and xenophobia, unchecked mental health struggles in her community, climate change, and ever-present threat to their reindeer and, thereby, their very ways of life.

Strong TW for animal torture and death. At several points, I had to just put this book down and cry after reading some of the descriptions; but I still think they were important to include. Though technically fictional, Stolen is inspired by real events, and these are horrific experiences that Sámi reindeer herders experience.

There is more than just trauma in these pages, though. While portraying the very real struggles that the Sámi experience, Laestadius, a Sámi woman herself, also clearly wrote this as a love letter to her culture and community. We get wonderful glimpses into culture, food, clothing, tradition. Though my Swedish didn’t come in handy very often, I enjoyed learning some new Sámi vocab words as well!

If you’re looking to broaden your knowledge of other cultures, I highly recommend Stolen. Before I was even halfway through, I pre-ordered Laestadius’ next book, Punished, which is also inspired by the true events of Sámi children taken from their families to state-mandated “nomad schools” - Scandinavian versions of the residential schools that Native American children were forced into in the US and Canada.

Netflix has adapted Stolen into a movie which was released in April of this year. I’ll be spending my afternoon watching the movie!

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lay_kone's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective slow-paced

4.5

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doreneemi's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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