True North

De: Gary Eller

Narrado por: Kevin Perkins

Life has always been difficult and dangerous for those living on and around the Turtle Mountain Reservation. Everyone has a story. Everyone has a secret. Everyone thinks they’re only connected to their neighbors by the isolated, peculiar town they share.

Orphaned Sioux Ida Florence Little Shay is determined to escape the life before her, but her course of action only draws her into a world of increasing conflict and deepening poverty.

Young Fawn Breen appears as if she is from a different century. With her primitive, animalistic father as her only companion, she is forced to look after herself when she is thrust into society.

Harold Peavey is an idealistic young man who finds his views of the world in severe conflict with those around him, facing ostracism by his community when he refuses to abandon his beliefs.

Enduring mistakes, tragedies, secrets, and long-held grudges spanning the 1930s-1960s that have permanently marked them, these three Great Plains farm families clash together as they struggle to survive and find their way in an ever-changing world.

©2021 Gary Eller & BHC Press (P)2024 Gary Eller & BHC Press

Looking through to the past

Transparent look at living and growing up in a small community next to an Indian reservation. The rawness of the content was present from the very beginning. Characters grew on me as the book progressed. Narration was sometimes distracting.

Captivating!

Turtle Mountain Reservation and the town nearby shared by all is host to a complex community with unique individuals and stories that blend in unexpected ways. Learn of Young Fawn Breen, Ida Florence Little Shay, Harold Peavey’s secrets, trials, and tribulations as they adapt and move into the ever-changing world of the 1930s-60s.

The author, Gary Eller, captures the essence of the Great Plains and small-town life accurately and vividly. Gary Eller is a skilled storyteller, weaving an intricate narrative that intertwines the lives of several individuals in a small rural area and showcasing their interconnectedness in a variety of ways. Each character undergoes thorough development which contributes to the progression of the narrative. His use of dialogue further enhances the connectivity of the characters and narrative authentically.

The narrator, Kevin Perkins, performance is once again captivating, breathing life into each character and situation with skillful voices that vividly and emotionally demonstrate their interconnectedness. Perkins maintained his consistent delivery, punctuating to keep the narrative moving forward at a solid pace. It is always a pleasure to hear Kevin Perkins perform as his ability to encapsulate the narrative and characters is outstanding.

This is a captivating, well-written audiobook performed by a wonderful voice actor and it is a must listen!

There were no issues with the quality or production of this audiobook.

Excellent Narrator

The narrative was enhanced by the multiple voices the narrator was able to perform, making the story much easier to follow.

True North

Life in mid-century rural America isn't romanticized in True North by Gary Eller. It's raw, bleak, unflinchingly honest and not in any rush. It lets decades spool out slowly, dropping in on small towns, farming families, and reservation life across the mid-1900s in rural North Dakota.

The setting is bleak more often than not, with hardship baked into the soil. Poor farmland handed down through false promises, whole crops destroyed by a single hailstorm, families scraping through lean years, and the quiet trauma that accumulates when alcohol, abuse, and neglect are treated as normal.

The story spans decades, tracing the lives of multiple families along with their troubles, their schemes, their attempts to get ahead or just survive. There's poverty, abuse, alcoholism, racial tension, and more than a few moments where people do things they probably shouldn't. That said, it's not all bleak though it certainly doesn't paint an altogether rosy picture of the time.

The bleakness is tempered by some understated humour in the way many of the characters try to outwit each other or concoct revenge scheme, or how kids get into trouble. For the most part, though, it's a portrait of hard lives lived under harder circumstances. Crops ruined by hail, young women trying and mostly failing at fending off lecherous men, and a community that seems to grind people down as much as it holds them together.

The narrative spans multiple families and communities, weaving together stories of farmers struggling on poor land, the lingering weight of trauma, and the ever-present tension between settler and Native communities.

Alcoholism, abuse (both physical and sexual), and deep-rooted prejudice cast long shadows over much of the book. But while it often leans bleak, it feels honest. And that honesty hits hard and at times I found myself staring into space, ruminating on a particular part.

That tone carries through most of the book. It never sugarcoats the hard stuff, but it doesn't outright wallow in it either. It's a quiet sort of sadness, grounded in place and character, and it stays with you and honestly makes you thankful for what you have.

Kevin Perkins narrates and is easy to listen to, giving each character a distinctive voice without going over the top. He uses regional accents thoughtfully, which helps ground the story's rural setting without becoming distracting or caricatured. That helps the audiobook keep a consistent feel across decades and scenes, which matters in a story that's all about long arcs and slow turns. I didn't notice any production issues or distracting edits, just clean work that lets the story speak for itself.

This isn't a plot-heavy listen, and it's not built for fast twists or big payoffs. It's more character driven and getting to know the people and their lives and their struggles. It has a kind of stillness and gentleness that works. The cruelty and quiet hope of the rural Midwest and reservation communities come through clearly. If that sounds like your kind of story, it's a well-told one and well worth a listen.