A Review By: Amelia
While writing a story in which I had an Apache character I
discovered I knew next to nothing about the Apache people and since I never
want to be a writer that includes a culture in a story without knowing anything
about them, I decided to do a whole bunch of research. That’s how I came upon
the book I Am Apache. It’s a
fictional account of a female Apache warrior but the insight and entertainment
it gave me was immense!
Put very simply, I Am
Apache is a tale about a teenage girl named Siki. When Siki’s brother is
viciously killed she shuns the usual life of an Apache woman and trains to
become a warrior to avenge him.
The author of I Am
Apache is Tanya Landman. She studied English literature and then worked in
a bookshop, an arts centre, and a zoo. For over twenty years she’s been a
writer, an administrator, and a performer for Storybox Theatre.
So, what’s the story about? After watching helplessly as
Mexican raiders brutally murder her little brother, fourteen-year-old Siki is
filled with a desire for vengeance and chooses to turn away from a woman’s path
to become a warrior of her Apache tribe. Siki describes her nineteenth-century
Apache life through the events of her teen years, from her young brother’s
death, through her work to become a full-fledged warrior, and to the death of
her mentor, Golahka. Interactions among Siki’s own people, including her rogue
peer who leaves the tribe rather than submit to its code of honor, and Siki’s
own acceptance as a female warrior, and those between the Apache, the Mexicans,
and the “White Eyes,” who destroy the old ways of the native peoples, are woven
skillfully into the action of traditional Apache sports, spontaneous
relationships, and retribution through warfare.
The main protagonist of the piece, as mentioned above, is a
teenage girl named Siki, who Landman used the tale of the woman that fought
alongside Geronimo as the kernel of inspiration for. She’s an outcast to start
with, not really being able to do traditional woman things like weaving and
clothes making and it really makes you feel for her as you watch her struggle
to find where she belongs within her tribe. When her little brother is
heartlessly slaughtered she turns away from a woman’s path completely and
trains to become a warrior of her mountain dwelling Apache tribe, which,
although uncommon, was acceptable for women to do. Siki struggles all through
the novel and ends up coming off a little self-centred and hasty but it makes
her a character with depth and you don’t end up holding her bad qualities
against her. Aside from Siki, there’s no other big protagonists, the antagonists
however are numerous. The Mexican’s that slaughtered her brother are the first
but are quickly dealt with and they become replaced with Keste, a jealous male
warrior that doesn’t want Siki training with him, and then the white colonialism
of the west (more or an abstract concept than a flesh and blood bad guy, but
you get the point), and then Siki’s own father and her identity become a major
harassing force. It was interesting to get so many threats throughout the story
instead of just one, it made it all varied and real feeling, since in the
nineteenth century this is what Apache tribes were living and dealing with.
When looking at the story overall, the fact that Landman
based Siki on a real woman who lived and fought alongside the mighty warrior
Geronimo makes everything feel very authentic. Some of the other characters in
the piece are a little lacking or one-dimensional but I didn’t find that it took
away from the overall story, especially since Landman has such an eloquent and
dignified voice through Siki’s first person and how she manages to raise a lot
of psychological and sociopolitical questions that create empathy and will
definitely improve your understanding of Apache culture.
My final thoughts on I
Am Apache are that it is an engaging book. This well-written novel will
appeal to, not only, historical fiction or western readers but all genre
readers. The main protagonist is interesting and her story is compelling and
will keep you reading until the end!
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