Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle

Even As We Breathe is the story of Cowney Sequoyah, a nineteen-year-old Cherokee boy from Cherokee, NC during World War II. Cowney has a deformed foot that keeps him from joining the army. Instead he works at a resort in Asheville that is now being used to house the diplomats of Axis countries during the War. I enjoyed this story. It is of a different time and place than others I have read featuring Native American characters. It is a slow story, more of a character driven coming of age story than a plot driven book. Although the blurb mentions a mystery of a missing girl, that is only a small part of the story. It is a story about a boy becoming a man and figuring out who he is in the world. Overall, I would recommend this book to readers that enjoy character driven stories that want to read about a different aspect of growing up in an indigenous community.… (altro)

This could very well be the best book I've read for the whole year of 2022. I just couldn't help rooting for protagonist, Cowney Sequoyah, living his Cherokee life (both in his heritage and the name of the town he is from) as he tries to breakaway from his roots in the Smoky Mountains area of North Carolina soon after the start World War II. He has the handicap of a deformed foot, so he's not able to serve in the war. He goes off for the summer to Asheville to work as part of the landscape crew at a resort that's a temporary luxury-like internment home for Axis diplomats and their families. His experiences there, where he encounters prejudices he's not known before, and his acquaintance with a young woman (also Cherokee) along with his weekend trips back home change his life. There are twists and secrets aplenty. The pacing and intriguing characters is this well-written novel are, for me, just unforgettable. Such a worthwhile read.… (altro)

The core of Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle’s debut novel, Even As We Breathe, is a true story of captured Axis diplomats being housed at a resort in the North Carolina mountains during WWII. Cowney Sequoyah can’t fight in the war because of a club foot, and he gets a summer job working at the resort when he drops out of junior college. As a Cherokee, working there is difficult for Cowney, but he bonds with a native girl from his town who also works there, Essie. When tragedy strikes, Cowney realizes Essie may not be the friend he thought, and he needs to face some difficult truths about his family. Even As We Breathe examines some interesting themes of racism, and the dissolution of native culture that occurred throughout the 20th century. At times the plot thins and some characters never quite develop, but the novel takes a thought-provoking look at an unusual historical moment.… (altro)

This well-told story centers around Cowney Sequoyah, whose home is in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. It takes place during the beginning of WWII. Cowney is unable to enlist due to a club foot, but has a job doing outdoor maintenance at The Grove Park Inn when foreign diplomats were housed during there during the war. I have been to the Grove Park Inn several times, and knew that Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald had stayed there during the 1920s; however, I was unaware of the history surrounding the foreign diplomats with a military presence during WWII.

Cowney is enamored with Essie, another Cherokee resident working at the Grove Park Inn. They form a friendship that lasts a lifetime. Cowney's family history is explored with some surprises. This is an intriguing novel about Cowney's coming of age at a shameful time in American history when Indians were the brunt of racism.… (altro)