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    Wingshooters
    Wingshooters
    Wingshooters
    Audiobook6 hours

    Wingshooters

    Written by Nina Revoyr

    Narrated by Johanna Parker

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    The author of a Book Sense 76 pick and Los Angeles Times Best Book, Nina Revoyr is a writer of rare voice and distinct talent. Wingshooters is the tale of an isolated, all-white community torn apart by prejudice after the arrival of a half-Japanese girl and a young black couple. "Revoyr continues her unique and affecting exploration of American racism in a concentrated novel that draws breathtaking contrasts between all that is beautiful in life and the malignancy of hate."-Booklist, starred review
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateNov 25, 2011
    ISBN9781461847465
    Author

    Nina Revoyr

    Nina Revoyr is the author of four previous novels, including The Age of Dreaming, which was nominated for the LA Times Book Prize; Southland, a Los Angeles Times best seller and "Best Book" of 2003; and Wingshooters, which won an Indie Booksellers' Choice Award and was selected by O, The Oprah Magazine as one of "10 Titles to Pick Up Now." Revoyr lives and works in Los Angeles. Lost Canyon is her latest novel.

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    Reviews for Wingshooters

    3.5/5

    44 ratings8 reviews

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    • 3/5
      For me, the heart-wrenching story of this book was too blatant. I don't need all the pains of racism and discrimination laid out so plainly in front of me to understand the hurts they can cause. It was as if the author was telling us about racism rather than showing us. I also felt that the main character and narrator was not that believable at times. I know it was supposed to be an adult looking back on her childhood, but at times she showed more insight than seemed realistic.
    • 2/5
      (Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)While it's easy to see what former Lambda Award winner Nina Revoyr was going for in Wingshooters, the latest from our friends at Akashic Books -- namely, to revisit the territory covered by Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, but this time from the perspective of 1970s Wisconsin instead of 1930s Alabama -- I have to plainly confess that I found just a whole series of badly handled details along the way, none of which are necessarily that bad on their own, but that add up by the end to a real mess. For example, I never could figure out why Revoyr made her own little-girl narrator half-Japanese, a fact that endlessly distracts you from the central conflict regarding a picked-on black family who moves in down the street from her; and while Lee balanced the preachy side of her "RACISM IS BAD!!!" diatribe with a healthy dose of creepy and poetic Southern Gothic goodness, Revoyr attempts no such juggling (save for a few half-hearted odes to country baseball and wheat fields that feel tacked on even coming off the page), leaving behind almost nothing but a big giant sermon, one so heavy-handed that I actually felt sore by the time I was done, from all the times the author had beaten me over the head with her points, not helped at all by the change in date and setting, which has the effect of morphing the nature of all the racists from complex products of their times (like in Mockingbird) to cartoonish monsters. Maybe it's because I see so many of these kinds of manuscripts, because of being a left-leaning urban arts administrator, but I confess that I have a particularly low tolerance for overly obvious morality tales, especially when they preach a hackneyed message to people who already believe in that message; and while usually I feel only ambivalent about the Akashic titles I don't care for, I have to admit that I find myself with an active dislike for this one, a pedantic book whose stylistic flourishes distracted me from a storyline I found non-compelling to begin with. It does not come recommended today.Out of 10: 5.4
    • 5/5
      This is one of those books where due to the elements within you KNOW it's leading up to something terrible but it is well written so despite the looming doom you stick with it and it is worth it.

      It's the story of a young girl - half Japanese -growing up in rural Wisconsin in the mid-70s. Her town is pretty intolerant and the grandfather who loves her is no exception - despite his devotion to his granddaughter.

    • 5/5
      I absolutely love this book. I remember the time period and it is so accurate from my experience as far as peoples attitudes and treatment of others. Doesn't excuse some of what happens but still realistic. I felt like I was right there during parts and really wanted to be there during other parts. Not a happily ever after book. Extremely well written.
    • 4/5
      “Wingshooters” is grim reminder that hatred and bigotry have no place in a civilized world. Michelle LeBeau, the nine year old daughter of a white American father and Japanese mother, has come to live with her American grandparents in Deerhorn, Wisconsin. It’s the early 1970’s and Deerhorn has remained virtually unchanged for the past 30 years. Michelle, or “Mike”, as her grandfather likes to call her, is the first non-Caucasian person many residents have ever seen. No one is very happy that she has come to live in their town. Mike’s grandfather, Charlie, who is well respected in town, is torn between his love for his granddaughter and the shame of his son’s marriage. Michelle is tormented and bullied by her schoolmates but finds comfort spending time outside with her dog Brett. When an African American couple comes to live and work in town, Michelle sees just how ignorant, bigoted and hateful her neighbors, and her grandfather, really are. This is a powerful, brutal and disturbing story that will leave you shaking your head at the senseless violence and utter disregard for life portrayed within its pages. A great choice for book clubs, this wonderfully written novel will linger in your thoughts well after the last page is turned.
    • 5/5
      Another terrific book I read in just 2 days! Imagine yourself as a 9 yr old child in a small midwestern town in the mid 1970's, the brunt of everyone's wrath and ignorance because you are a mixed race child. But then a new couple moves in, who are more hated than you. How do you make sense of you beloved grandfather's prejudice & scorn for this new couple while he defends you and protects you above all else? How do you reconcile these mixed feelings? This is the story of a little girl who has to come to terms with the real grandfather and the choices he makes. Marvelous ending...one of the most satisfying books I've read in awhile.
    • 4/5
      As a native Southerner with our history of Jim Crow laws, I only imagine extreme bigotry existing here in the South. But in Nina Revoyr's new novel Wingshooters, ingrained hate thrives in 1970's smalltown Wisconsin. The novel is told through the point of view of 9-year-old Michelle. Michelle, rejected because of her Japanese mother, is treated cruelly by townsfolks and her peers when she is abandoned by her parents and left to live with her grandparents in Deerhorn. Yet the turmoil she causes is nothing compared to the anger felt by the town with the arrival of an African-American couple to their community. The novel's real strength lies in the complex character of the grandfather and his relationship with his granddaughter. Charlie LeBeau is richly drawn and most intriguing. The author has some interesting things to say about prejudice and the struggle to accept change in smalltown America.
    • 4/5
      In the early 1970s, Deerhorn, Wisconsin, was pretty homogeneous. It caused quite a stir when 9 year old, half Japanese, Michelle went to live with her grandparents. She was teased, taunted, and bullied by her schoolmates who didn't care that her grandpa Charlie was one of the most respected men in town. Mikey was still fair game. And then a young professional black couple, a nurse and a teacher, moved to town, and folks kind of forgot about Michelle. They had bigger fish to fry now. Mikey treasured the moments she spent with her Grandpa Charlie and his dog Brett. She felt safe in his love--knew that in spite of his bigotry, when he looked at her, he saw only his beloved granddaughter. Then the situation begins to spin out of control, and Mikey, Charlie and his buddies, and the black couple are caught up in a maelstrom of hatred. Could there be any resolution?This is a quiet story that packs a huge emotional punch!