The Removed: A Novel, Brandon Hobson, author; Shaun Taylor-Corbett, DeLanna Studi, Katie Rich, Christopher Salazar, narrators.
Reading this short novel about a Cherokee family left me feeling conflicted. The plight of the Echotas, a Native American family, was horrifying. They had no recourse to protest the findings in the death of their son, shot by a policeman in a shopping mall where shots were fired. He appeared to be targeted as the gunman, though unarmed, because he was of Indian heritage. We never do find out if that was true or just supposition. It seems to be up to the reader to determine whether or not the policeman was cleared of charges of murder fairly, or unfairly, whether or not racism played a part in his actions. I was not convinced, either way, although I was totally committed and sensitive to the idea of the Native American’s lack of power. If this story is based in any way on reality, it screams for the reform that was absent.
The Echota family was devastated when their son and brother, Ray-Ray, was murdered at just 15 years old. He had a promising future, a winning personality, and was well liked and kind. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but could it have truly been a random murder? There was not enough evidence to prove Ray-Ray was a target because he was a Native American, but circumstantially, one could agree, it was odd that he was simply picked out of a group of people by a cop who was responding to a bulletin that said, “shots fired”! He didn’t see Ray-Ray do anything wrong. From that date forward, 15 years into the future, the family was in the throes of the trauma which changed all of their lives forever. They never stopped mourning the loss. They never got adequate closure. Since the parents were stable until this tragedy, one has to conclude that the event caused the dissolution of the family, the disintegration of their unit, and the loss of the beliefs and values that had guided their lives before. No one was held responsible for Ray-Ray’s murder.
Sonja became a bit wanton, used foul language, engaged in sex too freely, didn’t seem to respect herself or others. She sought out younger men, perhaps to replace her brother (only one year younger than she), who had died at age 15 and never aged further, or perhaps to punish those she believed were guilty or involved in his death in some way. She was pulled in many directions. She stalked and sought the affection of Vin, the son of the police officer who shot and killed her brother. Then she wanted to reject him, discovering she did not care for his personality after sleeping with him, but she did love his son. She feared he was violent as she believed his father was. At 31, she was childless and unmarried. She did not seem to have a very honorable character. She was adrift.
Edgar, 21, lost his purpose in life because of the effects of his brother’s death on his family, and he became a drug addict who was aimless and had no goals in life. Like his sister, secrets and lies were acceptable to him. His girlfriend was disgusted with him and was planning to leave him. He was involved with odd people and was adrift. He had odd visions and seemed to be irresponsible. He was ashamed of his life, but could do little to change it. Could these two siblings be saved, resurrected? I was not convinced.
Ray-Ray’s parents, Ernest, suffering from Alzheimer’s, and Maria who held a bonfire in Ray-Ray’s honor every year for the last decade, were the most stable persons in the family. They took in a bright, witty, wonderfully behaved and well-mannered 15 year old Cherokee foster child, Wyatt, who brought happiness into their lives once again and seemed to miraculously bring back Ernest’s memory, to boot. He seemed to be their son Ray-Ray returned in the body of another. Wyatt was also from the Cherokee Indian tribe.
The character’s told their stories in their own voices. One mystical character, Tsala, an ancestor, illustrated a good deal of Indian folklore, which I sometimes found hard to follow. However, the allusions to the “Trail of Tears” were very powerful and enlightening. The book inspires research into the plight of the Native American Indian and that makes it a fabulous choice to read. Anything that inspires learning and positive change is worthwhile.
The book is steeped in mystery, legends, the paranormal, otherworldly moments, the supernatural and even weirdly unpredictable and miraculous events. It is a short novel, with excellent narrators, although sometimes it is confusing in its scope, without a fully adequate explanation of events or choices. The trauma of losing a family member without justice prevailing, altered the Echota family’s course of history and changed their lives dramatically, in much the same way that “The Trail of Tears” changed the lives of all Native Americans. Their path forward was blocked.
The novel highlights the ways in which people can be “removed” or “cancelled” by a society, in natural and unnatural ways. Ray-Ray was completely “removed”, since he was taken out in what seemed to be a random act of murder; the Native American tribes were forcibly “removed” by the United States government with the “Trail of Tears”, which was the forced migration that systematically made them “disappear” between 1830-1850; Sonja’s childhood personality was “removed” when she could not find a way to process her brother’s death with any justified cause; Edgar was slowly being “removed” as his drug habit made it difficult for him to think and act; the man that Ernest was, is slowly being “removed” as his memory fades; and Maria’s sunny personality was “removed” when the trauma of losing her son completely devastated her. She did remain the strength in the family, however. These family members impacted each other but could not save each other from the devastating effects of Ray-Ray’s murder. There are many ways to “remove” someone from effectively living in society and this book highlights several of them.
In many ways today, this same removal culture, now called the “cancel culture”, is “removing” a segment of America’s history, and a segment of the population, as well. The political “left” no longer seems to want to allow any opposition to have a legitimate voice or place in their world. This “cancelling” of the political right, seems no less egregious to many Americans. America is at a crossroads that this author may have been unaware of as he wrote this book to highlight just one aspect of America’s “removal” system. However unintentionally, he also illuminates America’s hypocrisy from the left side of the political spectrum, he illuminates a fault in our government and our free society that will be a stain on society in much the same way as the “Trail of Tears”.