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Saturday, November 5, 2022

Shutter by Ramona Emerson

This book is written by a Diné writer and cinematographer, telling a story about Diné culture, with a Navajo woman at the center of it. It was long listed for the National Book Award. Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer working for the Albuquerque police force. In her work she routinely comes in contact with death, which is something that she is culturally supposed to avoid. Her excellent photography skills have cracked many cases—she is almost supernaturally good at capturing details. In fact, there is a reason she is so good. Rita has been hiding a secret: she sees the ghosts of crime victims who point her toward the clues as to who killed them that other investigators overlook. As a lone portal back to the living for traumatized spirits, Rita is terrorized by nagging ghosts who won't let her sleep and who sabotage her personal life. Her taboo and psychologically harrowing ability was what drove her away from the Navajo reservation, where she was raised by her grandmother. She was marginalized as a child because of her odd behaviors, and when she reveals why she knows what she knows, it gets her in trouble at work as well. This is both good and different, and definitely well worth reading.

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