Diane Wilson (2)Reviews

When Rosalie's husband passes away, she hastily gathers a few important items from their farmhouse and drives through drifting snow to the rustic cabin that was once her childhood home. There, in her isolation with only the occasional company of a distant neighbor, she reflects on her life, experiences and choices she has made, straddling two worlds and two histories as a Dakhóta woman forced into foster care as a child who ended up marrying a white farmer.

This book is on its surface about Rosalie, but it is also about those who came before and their legacies, as well as our connection to the earth. The health of waterways hit home as I live right next to extremely polluted MN River. It would make a worthy book club selection, especially for Minnesotans — there is a lot to discuss and to chew on. It would also make a good (if depressing) pairing with The Omnivore's Dilemma. I selected this title to fulfill the Read Harder category "a book by an author with an upcoming event and then attend the event," and I look forward to hearing the author speak in Minneapolis in just a few weeks.

At times heartbreaking but always touching and a good read. Strongly recommended.
[Audiobook note: The reader is quite good.]

Didn't work for me as a novel, but that's ok. A lot of people are going to love this and really connect to it. I might enjoy her nonfiction work more. The need for real diversity in publishing is because we won't all connect to every book the same way, we need a plurality of voices from every community. I still encourage others to try this book and to learn about Dakota history in whatever format works for you.

Beautifully written, bittersweet.½

The opening poem and prologue were a perfect incentive to buy this book; they drew me in, showed me the strength of a knowledge keeper. There were parts of this full of wisdom that I will want to remind myself of many times. For this alone, I will hold on to this book.
The reason for my low rating is I had a hard time supporting the main character, the many times she was silent and did not explain herself, the times she gave in to the wishes of her husband instead of standing up for what she knew to be right. It's not that I didn't understand, given time to ponder this feeling. I can understand her history (personal and familial) of oppression, of the need to hide in order to persevere. I can understand her own strong need for a home, and willingness to do anything to avoid being hungry again. But it's not what I wanted to hear. I wanted her to do anything to maintain her connection with her son.
I'm left with the feeling of how poorly we humans are managing our lives, how damaging our actions are. The book is not quite hopeless--there is that last chance to make a change--but it is a desperate chance just the same.½

Excellent book. What a commentary on big ag and Indians

This novel focuses on a Native American Woman in white society in the latter part of the 20th century in southern Minnesota and her search to find her roots after her husband passes away; then, her challenge to come to grips with her findings.

Ms. Wilson's writing technique of inserting historical narrative chapters throughout the book, as well as flashbacks, adds perspective that would have been lost if the story had been told chronologically. Thus, the reader better understands the long-term impact of the 1862 Massacre and resettlement on the Native Americans and the lack of understanding by the European settlers.

Only in recent years has the plight of the children who were plucked from their homes by social workers and placed in group homes or foster homes surfaced. This book adds to that awareness.

Ms. Wilson uses the importance of seeds to the survival of the Natives as the basis for her story line and adds the impact of technology and especially genetically modified seeds as another antagonist.

Well-written, page-turner.

fiction audiobook (

As debut novels go, this is engaging, well written yet heart breaking. Inspired by a story Diane Wilson heard while participating in the Dakhota Commemorative March, it speaks miles for the value indigenous tribes hold for Nature's blessings and the sense of community, family and compassion.

Rosalie Iron Wing, born of a Dakhota mother suffering emotional trauma was raised by an aunt who taught her 'the ways' and heritage. Growing up in a poverty stricken Minnesota farming community, Rosie's life was far from perfect yet she managed to maintain a bright outlook. As she neared the age of 18 and in need of a stable environment, she proposed marriage to John, a farmer many years her senior and soon after gave birth to Thomas. The author weaves heart wrenching elements into the story fabric as we learn of the challenges John and Rosalie encountered. Toggling back and forth to 1860's memoirs of Rosie's great grandmother we learn of the the Dakhota community and their difficulties dealing with racial injustice. Devoted to the Spirit of Nature and appreciating its bounties, the Dakhota's pass indigenous corn seeds from one generation to the next along with the importance of living off the Earth. When the story toggles back to the present, we find Rosie and her best friend Gaby battling with corporate agriculture whose fertilizers poison the rivers, and technology genetically alters indigenous corn putting profits ahead of Nature. Torn between staying alive or going bankrupt, John caves in to corporate demands and farms the genetically altered corn which ultimately destroys their marriage. Toward the end, as her great aunt nears death, Rosie becomes the recipient of ancient indigenous corn seeds, hence the story's title.

Amidst the difficulties, bright spots in the form of compassion, family, love and joy gained from gardening balance the emotionally challenging story.

As I reflect on the reading experience, there were times when I stopped due to emotional struggle with the story. Regardless, this is a tribute to the importance love, understanding and compassion as well as the gifts of Nature.

I think this book is important as well as well-written. In addition to telling us some of what the Dakota people endured, it reminds us all of the sacredness of life that is found in a seed.

Raises in isolation and close to nature by her Dakota father, our main character is orphaned and then raised by white families in nearby Mankato. About to be aged out of foster care, she marries a local farmer and becomes further separated from her Dakota roots. She struggles with the mechanized farming methods her husband adopts and she sees the damage that it causes. after her husband dies she leaves the farm and moves into the house she was raised in just two hours away. With the help of a neighbor she discovers her remaining family and learns what became of her mother. The traditional seeds passed down from her family who were removed from the area in the wake of the Dakota War of 1862 ties her to her traditional land.

3.5-4 stars

After her father's unexpected death, Rosalie Iron Wing was taken from her extended family and tribe and put into foster care in Mankato. Her foster home is OK until she approaches her high school graduation. With intentions of going to college, she gets a job. And her foster mother then demands her money.

With her plans out the door, she makes do. 20-odd years later she returns to her childhood home and reconnects with a childhood friend and the tribe.

This book is thoughtful and timely. Maybe a little too perfect, but sometimes things really do work out in unexpected ways.

I read this book the same month as Shutter (Ramona Emerson) and The Rabbit Hutch (Tess McGunty), and am considering making a Venn diagram of these three books, there are many similarities but they are also very different. All three focus on a female main character whose college plans are derailed.

Excellent narration by Kyla Garcia.

I feel such sorrow for the natives’ loss of culture and the way we treated them. This story is a testament to the goodness and longevity of their way of life in the Minnesota area. knowing about seeds and learning more about what was done to them and the hold Chemical companies had(have?) on farmers is awful. The story itself is realistic. We’ll-written and informative.½

Beautiful, sad book. It always makes me sad when I read about the history of the Native Americans and this book is no exception. I loved the focus on the seeds and the importance that they played throughout the history of the Native Americans lives. Well developed characters and sense of place. Recommend this book.

I really appreciate these short biographies of important Indigenous leaders. They pack a lot into a small package, and this one in particular is great at presenting Ella Cara Deloria through the lens of her Dakota background. The storytelling emphasizes the cultural importance of relationships and that theme is echoed throughout. It also plainly illustrates the additional strain that poverty puts on any kind of preservation work -- the moment when Deloria's research, and thus an entire language, was lost due to a late storage fee is just heartbreaking. And it vividly illustrates the critical importance of having representatives from a culture advocate for it against the mainstream -- while I'm sure the Dakota way of life means many things to the individuals who are part of it, an outsider will never have the insight to represent it the way someone who grew up within it can.

The main take away for me is a deeper understanding of generational trauma. I had a general understanding of the term, but events in this book and how the author tells describes characters and incidents opened my eyes to what generational trauma really means. Especially in the Native American experience. Thank you to Diane Wilson for enlightening me.

[The Seed Keeper] is a beautiful novel that follows the life of a young woman of Dakhóta Native American descent, Rosalie Iron Wing, who is put into foster care after her parents die. Her journey to discovering her past and the past of her people is at the heart of the novel. Entwined with this, as in most of the Indigenous writing that I've read, is a respect and knowledge of the earth that we have unfortunately all but lost. Rosalie's memories of her father are predominantly of the Indigenous knowledge that he passed to her. As an adult, she learns more and more about gardening and farming and how to take only what you need from the earth. This relationship is complicated by her marriage to a white farmer, who she loves, but whose world view is very different from hers.

The book is framed with Rosalie's present day experiences and a flashback to her high school years leading up to middle age. There is also a voice of her great, great grandmother who tells the story of a battle between the Dakhótas and the white settlers. Her family story continues with the stealing of the children to go to a school for Indian children and describes all the ways these traumas have affective their communities. An additional voice of Rosalie's friend Gaby is included. Gaby is also a Dakhóta, but has a contrasting relationship with her heritage to Rosalie.

These competing timelines and voices are the only reason I'll knock a half star off of this book that I absolutely loved. I'm not sure Gaby's first person voice was totally necessary. And I'm not sure the Rosalie's story needed to be told in flashback. I did like the earlier story that was told alongside Rosalie's - that was very effective.

I'm so glad I read [Braiding Sweetgrass] early in the year because it really paved the way for me to understand more deeply what I've been reading this year from Indigenous authors. [The Seed Keeper] is a really wonderful book that addresses important history. It is emotional but not overly-sentimental, something that always turns me off. I highly recommend it and thank Beth, BLBera, for the recommendation.½

A richly evocative meditation on the connections between people, their land, and the cultural practices that can either cooperate with nature or, all too often, exploit it. This was a very different book than [b:Pastoral Song|55004160|Pastoral Song|James Rebanks|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1619418036l/55004160._SY75_.jpg|92910934], which I recently read, but it felt like the two works were very much in conversation with each other, making many of the same points, from quite different perspectives. I enjoyed this book quite a lot, both in the native American characters and themes, and in the frequent name-checking of native plant species and their traditional uses as food and medicine.

I love Native American history and read a lot of nonfiction about it, so when I saw The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson I knew it was for me. A classically structured historical fiction novel, Wilson tells a multi-generational story about Native women through a number of voices, but the central character is Rosalie Iron Wing. A Dakhota from Minnesota, Rosalie faces many challenges in life, and we follow her through different periods of time--from her childhood in the woods to married life and back to her roots. “Maybe we all carry that instinct to return home, to the horizon line that formed us, to the place where we first knew the world.” The Seed Keeper is a beautiful book about the pull of family history, strong women, farming and gardening, and the brutal treatment of Native Americans by our country and our government. Highly recommended to readers of historical fiction, American history, and family sagas. A huge bonus--Wilson is an indigenous (Dakhota) author and the book is published by a small, independent press (Milkweed).

Children are at the center of this novel about healing from a past of traumatic ethnic cleansing. Stories told by Gabrielle Tateyuskanskan, Clifford Canku, Alameda Rocha, Delores Brunelle and Harley and Sue Eagle illuminate the genius of children.

A woman begins the healing of her family's troubled past by researching and reclaiming her Native American roots.

The city where I live chose this book as their annual City Reads event. I appreciate the opportunity to read a local author's story about Minnesota and South Dakota history that is not well known. The cities and landmarks Wilson mentions are places I've been to numerous times but have never been aware of the tragic events that took place. Wilson beautifully combines her journey to discover her family's history with the grim facts of the 1862 Dakota War. This book is inspirational to reflect more on family ancestry and where we come from. After reading this book I decide to learn more about the Dakota War.½