Book Review of The Jaguar's Roar by Micheliny Verunschk (trans Juliana Barbassa)

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Type of book: Brazil, Indigenous populations, 1871, children,  prepubescents, Germany, royalty, diaries, cultures, tales, connections, contemporary, pictures, 

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Summary:

Characters:

Its definitely interesting to note that if one was to ask me the powerful aspect of the book, they wouldn't be the characters. The characters are there, such as Ina-e, a young woman who is twelve and is all too happy to live within her tribe. She is also a twin (strange because I am certain that in Indigenous Tribes twins are seen as a curse?) and is seen as powerful because a panther has looked after her when she got lost from her family. There is also the Indigenous boy who comes from a rival tribe and was captured and also given to the German scientists who is older than Ina-e. There are the German scientists, one a weak but kind-hearted man while another is more adventurous and best described as greedy. And yes a jaguar/panther who marked the girl as her own and has shown her the truth of the world. 

Theme:

There is no such thing as powerlessness

Plot:

The story is in third person narrative, primarily from Ina-e's point of view and begins with Ina-e and an Indigenous boy who is a captive being given/sold to two German men. scientists, who take them away to Germany for Queen and other nobility to show them off. While it sounds simple, the plot is anything but because there is also Ina-e's mysterious guardian, a panther who has made a mark on her and who seeks to help the young woman as well as the modern day story of  Josefa who is struggling to reconcile her heritage and why Ina-e's picture resonates so much with her. What is also most heartbreaking though, is how little if at all situation has changed for Indigenous populations in Brazil and elsewhere. 

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Opinion:

A little sidenote, but to get the feeling and emotion of the book, I would highly recommend listening to Deep Forest's Sweet Lullaby which contains the feelings that the novel exposes. It is a lot like THE REST IS MEMORY by Lily Tuck, a story that dealt with memory and displacement as well as staggering statistics of Holocaust and eventual death, but at the same time there are differences such as the fact that THE JAGUAR'S ROAR is more fantasy oriented and it relies a lot on the stories of Brazilian Indigenous Population as well as idea of revenge, or that there is no such thing as powerlessness. While I found it a bit confusing, especially between multiple timelines and possible plots, I did highly enjoy reading it and would recommend it to others. 

This was given for review

4 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)