Elizabeth Santiago's The Moonlit Vine is a book to fall in love with--a work of fiction that has its roots in long buried truths--in the stories of a conquered and supposedly extinct people who had had to blend in with the colonizers to survive.
Taina is a current day high school student whose life seems to be falling apart. Although not divorced, her parents live separately. And now after her big brother, Alex, got suspended for getting into a fight her mother has kicked him out and sent him to live with his father.
School is a major problem. Taina herself has gotten sent to the principal for sticking up for as classmate. In her words:
"If you're Black, Brown, or speak with an accent, or are poor, you have to be perfect all of the time. There's no room for anything else. We can't be mad, we can't grieve,we can't be emotional, we can't share frustration, because if we do, we are told we are not being respectful or we're acting out."
Gang violence is another major problem. The fight has gotten Alex on the bad side of the Night Crawlers. They're demanding he return to the neighborhood to settle up. If he doesn't...they have ways of getting revenge.
When her beloved grandmother dies Taina feels that her problems are more than she can handle. But in passing her grandmother has given her a treasure: relics that have been handed down over hundreds of years by woman ancestors and that may make all the difference.
The story behind the book is also fascinating. Santiago grew up intrigued by but knowing little about her Taino ancestry. In fact "experts" believed them to be extinct. It wasn't until 2018 that DNA evidence proved them wrong.
"Something reawakened inside me--a need to honor my ancestors by digging deeper and learning more about how they had ensured their survival...And I felt strongly that my Taino ancestors had instilled in me, my family, and other people of Taino descent a deep-seated sense of survival based on love for one's family, land, and culture, and a profound respect for nature."
The Moonlit Vine is a powerful and engaging narrative and so much more. Reading it can be a truly transformative experience.
On a purrrsonal note, yesterday, even though it pretty much drizzled all day Eugene and I went on a road trip. The highlight for me was shopping at the Goodwills in Augusta and Bangor. I found great clothes including two cat shirts.
A great big shout out goes out to Elizabeth Santiago for all that she shared in her book. I very much hope to see more of her work in the near future.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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