I remember when I was a teen enjoying these Zebra Gothics. So when I found this one, I think it was at a thrift store, I bought it! Either I've changed, or this one was a dud (or it's both those things).
I didn't find this that suspenseful. Both Brianna and Gavin annoyed me. Brianna was too stubborn at times. Gavin was too bossy, authoritative. I had to scratch my head at their declaration of love. Huh? They really didn't talk or interact much. When they did, Gavin was condescending (IMO) towards Brianna. I really didn't learn much about either character. I could tell you Gavin was a doctor and Brianna a dedicated daughter to her father. But that's it. This was very superficial. I also didn't like that Gavin (supposedly) is engaged to Lynette and pursues Brianna.
This mentioned the different hotel dining rooms- 1 for guests, and 2 for the workers- 1 for white, 1 for colored. And that was it. Nothing else. 
Oh, and mental illness can be cured if someone cares enough for you.

And the title.  Gray Oaks is the sanitarium up north (Pennsylvania if memory serves) where Cassie was.  This book doesn't take place there at all.  It takes place in St Augustine, FL.  So, ????? 
I'm using this for the Southern Gothic square for Booklikes Halloween Bingo 2018.

"Nobody Cries At Bingo" is a memoir of Dawn Dumont's life from early childhood through to her early years in college. It's not an "I was born on a dark and stormy night" kind of read that goes from conception to emancipation in an order driven only by the logic of the calendar. It's much more interesting than that.

 

It's a series of episodes from Dawn's life, each one completely immersive and self-explanatory but which together build up layers of memory of people and events and relationships that better reflect how we remember our lives than any do-it-by-the-timeline history.

 

Dawn Dumont grew up in the Okanese First Nation in southern Saskatchewan. The life she is describing is far away from my own upbringing in an Irish-Catholic community in the NorthWest of England yet Dawn Dumont bridges that gap, showing me how similar large families from minority communities can be. She also shows me how unique her way of life and the history of her people is.

 

The thing that shone through all the episodes Dawn Dumont describes is that she grew up in a family where she knew she was loved and where people looked after one another. This isn't something she says directly. At a first glance, the sometimes nomadic life adopted by her mother in the face of her father's alcoholism, the racism in the school she attends, the stories of kids running wild in packs could be seen as a cry for intervention but that would be a fundamental misunderstanding. The starting point here is love. Love allows freedom, offers forgiveness and never walks away for good. That changes the context of the all the behaviour. It doesn't make it perfect, just different.

 

Dawn Dumont is a stand-up comic as well as an author and she describes incidents from her life in ways that made me want to smile even when they also made me want to cry.The nature of Dawn Dumont's humour is emblematic of the way of life she is describing: it is optimistic, unaggressive and deeply insightful. Dawn doesn't use sarcasm or get laughs by playing on or against stereotypes. She laughs at herself and her responses as much as she laughs at those who try to do her harm or those who are just part of the constant chaos that she takes for granted.  This is a humour that makes you laugh because laughter keeps you human.

 

I was completely ignorant of First Nation history in Canada. I hadn't realised that the same attempts at cultural annihilation where made there as in the US. I've been to the Navaho and the Hopi and Pueblo people's and heard their stories. Naively, I had expected better of Canada. Dawn Dumont makes tackles the history of her people in a matter of fact way that does not dismiss or minimise what was done to her parents and her grandparents or what continues to happen today, but which seems to say: "It happened. It was crap. But we're still here." I admire the strength of that.

 

"Nobody Cries At Bingo" is a personal narrative, not the history of a nation. Dawn rolls our her life and lets us look at it and smile at her remembered self. It's inclusive and funny and feels honest and intimate.

 

I wasn't able to find an audiobook version of "Nobody Cries At Bingo", which surprised me as Dawn Dumont is a narrator and her text would be perfect as an audiobook.

 

If you're looking to get a gentle, funny, honest look at a girl's remembered childhood, this is the book for you. Along the way, you may learn a thing or two about what it means to be Native in modern Canada.

 

Dawn Dumont's latest book "Rose's Run" is now in my TBR pile ( yet again only in ebook - doesn't anyone want to do First Nation audiobooks?).

 

 

Dawn Dumont is a stand-up comedian, actor, writer, TV host, speaker, and activist. She has appeared in comedy clubs across North America, is the author of  Nobody Cries at Bingo and Rose’s Run, has written plays for the stage and screen, and is a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines.

Dawn Dumont's Nobody Cries at Bingo (Saskatoon: Thistledown Press, 2011).

The story starts out with the murder of Minister of National Defense, Leland Warner. His wife become a suspect but the Corporal Danny Killian, an aboriginal police officer, is tasked with figuring out how she was able to not leave any clues. All fingers point to her, especially as the reader learns about her marriage and life as a mother of two son's. These son's were involved in a murder, suicide prior to the start of this story. What kind of a family were the Warner's, what kind of secrets were there to this obviously dysfunctional family? The reader slowly makes the way through the quagmire that this murder has left behind. I really did not care for Sally Warner at the beginning of the book, I felt that she was definitely a weak woman, but as the story went on, I changed my mind about her because she actually surprised me. Not that she was a suspect in her husbands murder but that her character seemed to get stronger as the story moved along. Even though this is the sequel to Broken but not Dead, which tells the story of the murder, suicide of the Warner son's, this book was very readable. The reader also learns about Corporal Killian's past, which includes the murder of his wife. So the two storylines are intertwined to tell a very interesting cultural tale of suspense. A definite pageturner. I really enjoyed it. This review is voluntary

Even Mummy Cries - Naomi Hunter **I received a ecopy in exchange for my honest review from the publisher**

Cover: Fitting
Rating: 4 stars
Overall: When a parent cries, it's often not the child's fault.
Characters: good
Plot: To help children when their mother is going through a dark time
Recommend: Yes
Source: Empowering Resources publisher

Short review:
I had mixed feeling on this one too. I agree with the message, when mothers cry, and more so when they are depressed, it's not the child's fault. I also feel though that it should encourage those suffering with depression to seek help. My mother suffers from depression, and I am bipolar, and I know what it's like to have your mother in that dark place. I feel it glosses over everything and acts like it just goes away. Sometimes though I think the children need to be told that it's not their fault, but that their mothers are sick, and I feel mental illness is hidden, or ignored too often. I think children have the right to know as much as anyone else. I enjoyed this book, but like many other things, they glossed over the mother's depression as if it isn't important, and I feel it's a missed opportunity to introduce children to depression, not in depth, but even to mention that it is common, and isn't something to be ashamed of.

Read the full review, and other book posts on my blog: Adventures Thru Wonderland
http://adventuresthruwonderland.blogspot.com/