Reviews

Wild Song by Candy Gourlay

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lizzillia's review against another edition

4.25

Longlisted for the Yoto Carnegie Medal. Set in 1904, Luki is a member of the Bontoc tribe but she doesn't conform to the norm. Rather than preparing herself to be a wife and mother, Luki prefers to join her friend Samkad and go hunting - which she is quite good at. After being brought before the council of the Ancients again for disobeying the rules, Samkad tells her that the Ancients would bless their marriage and once she is his wife, she will be able to hunt - he will not stop her. This is a life that Luki does not want and so she signs up to join Truman Hunt and travel to America to the World's Fair and this book tells of her journey from the Philippines and her experiences at the Fair. What she doesn't really realise is that she and the others from various tribes - the Igorots as they are collectively referred to - are being taken to America to be exhibits. Rather than experience a new country, Luki and the others are expected to behave like the savages that the Americans believe them to be. Luki finds that life for a person of colour is hard. The exploitation and the racism that Loki endures is hard, but the author has based everything upon facts. I also liked that the author shows us that through the character of Sadie, American women's lives were just as restricted. Kuki learns a lot about herself and this is almost a story of growing up and realising that life is not all good and not all bad, of learning to make choices and sometimes learning to compromise. While Luki might be fictional, Truman Hunt is not - he did actually take a group of Igorots to the world Fair and he continued to exploit them and exhibit them across America after the Fair ended. At time this is quite a brutal read, but Luki is a character worth getting to know.

holly_daze_'s review

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adventurous challenging emotional informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Content Warnings

simplymegy's review

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adventurous dark informative reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

The year is 1904. The story begins in the Cordillera mountains of the Philippines, a tribe called Bontok. The fiercely independent and strong-willed girl Luki is now 15. She is the best hunter in their tribe, but they don’t know this because women are not allowed to hunt in the first place. When the secret is revealed, she enlists herself to go to America to participate in the World Fair. So she boards a ship and embarks on her journey..

Once again, Candy Gourlay delivers a captivating novel with “Wild Song.” Having admired Luki’s character in “Bone Talk,” I find myself even more enamored with her in this sequel. While a work of fiction, “Wild Song” sheds light on historical truths, offering a poignant portrayal of oppressed peoples. I am deeply moved by this beautifully written book. Thank you, Candy, for giving the indigenous people of the Philippines a voice.

maireadh's review

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emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

The characters were incredibly vibrant. The narrative was gripping and tense, often gut wrenching and always compelling. A beautifully written, sad and informative story.

Content Warnings

random_spider's review

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dark informative reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

------Stat Score------

Plot/Content: 7/10
Characters/POVs: 7/10
Prose/Style: 8/10
Themes/Messages: 9/10
Enjoyability/Impact: 7/10

OVERALL RATING: 7/10 (Good)

A similarly valorous, provoking sequel to Bone Talk, I think it's a smudge better than its predecessor.

"What are you going to do? Jump on a train? Go home?" I snapped. "The Americans are our hosts. Show some respect!"

"Show respect when they show us no respect —"

Synopsis and/or Premise:
Luki wanted to do more than the constraints and control of her Bontok people. So, when the opportunity arrived through Truman Hunt, she sailed to America to be a part of the World's Fair. This will be the change that's going give her freedom. To be out there. To experience the world. And she indeed experienced it.

The Good and The Bad:
This sequel continues to be one of the most thematic books I've ever read. The author was particularly fond of packing them with those relevant to its target audiences, as well as exploring rarely-touched histories. Themes such as Colonialism, Feminism, Racism/Discrimination/Prejudice, Personal Identity and Independence, Spirituality, Greed, etc., many of which were dark-toned. I mean, it's not the biggest surprise since true historical events were mostly f*cked up 😬. The narrative was particularly focused on the exploitation of various people around the globe for Westerners' entertainment, not an ounce of regard towards sensitivity just so to establish their superiority. Ever heard of the Human Zoo during the 1904 World's Fair in St. Luis? Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. All of this within the perspective of a Bontok character made the collective message much more stirring.

To my pleasant surprise, this book was incredibly balanced in terms of being a plot-driven and a character-driven story ⚖️. The plot had an overarching control of the direction, but our main characters (especially Luki) had capabilities to write their own stories. They had to grapple with their everyday decisions to survive and adapt. And because of this personal agency, it was an effective Young Adult (YA) fiction. Lastly, the pacing of the narrative was more stable comparatively to its antecedent. They all just fit snuggly together.

Again, the author published something with genuine intention of educating the readers to what happened in the pages of history 🧑‍🏫. This was evident, again, through the ending pages of the book. The section called 'What Happened Next' was a historical excerpt from the author explaining her inspirations (including their legitimate references.) There was also a Discussion Guide after it, encouraging groups of readers to share their thoughts comfortably (and perhaps learn a thing or two.) Such a great, well-researched Historical Fiction that checked all my criteria for the genre (see my he review for reference.) This is why I admire Candy Gourlay, further cementing herself to be my favorite Filipino author.

But like its predecessor, it had suffered some flaws that kept me from rating it much higher:

1. Forced scenes 😒 - There were a few scenes throughout the book that was forced...and it's embarrassing how obvious it was (as if the author was struggling on transition.) They also led into some questionable/random/odd scenarios for the characters.

2. Few derivative themes 🤷- There's nothing innately wrong with the themes (I scored them highest, even), but they were those that have been explored further on other modern novels. Thus, they felt not fresh enough. Also, how some themes were pushy rather than being subtly integrated doesn't help either.

3. Telling 🗣️ - This issue was connected to the prose, which was unique by the way. Luki consistently talking to his mom? IT'S DIFFERENT YET IT WORKS WELL. However, because of this format, there were unavoidable telling incidents where Luki simply narrated the event to her mom rather than the author simply showing the occurrence.

Final Thoughts:
Wild Song by Candy Gourlay is a YA, Historical Fiction novel about the 1904 World's Fair in the perspective of a young Bontok woman and her people. It's a sequel to the author's most recent work, Bone Talk, though I'm not 100% certain if this duology would soon become a trilogy. But I'm just glad she continued her utilization of superstitions/beliefs (like in all of her novels) as it was a large part of this series. There are some parts that I would like to be written differently, but that's just me. Now, I was constantly debating on who's character to side on, since the author made sure their actions and decisions stemmed from logic. They all had a solid point, and they left me ripped apart questioning myself. THAT'S WHY I LOVED IT!!! 😍

Thank you, Miss Bea for this Christmas Book Giveaway, 😁!!!

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Links to my ratings and reviews:
Goodreads reviews
The StoryGraph

bookish_fish's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

f33lthesun's review

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challenging emotional informative sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

meg0207's review

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

joydevivre's review

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adventurous emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

herials's review

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adventurous informative fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I did very much enjoy this and learned a lot about a period of history I’d never studied or heard much about - horrifying and shameful history.
I wasn’t awed by the structure of the book. It lacked the tension and drama that I expected it to have. That’s my biggest critique. But the characters were intriguing and pulled you through the story.

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