This memoir made me cry while reading about the narrator's final choice to stay in the forest.
The Right Bank of the Erguna River: Reader Reviews & Ratings
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This memoir felt heavy yet hopeful as the narrator chooses to stay in the forest despite modern pressure to move to a town with better schools and hospitals.
Chi Zijian beautifully captures the Evenki woman's fierce refusal to leave the forest, making her choice to stay with her reindeer feel like a powerful, necessary stand against modern progress.
This book made me feel the deep bond between the people and the forest.
I felt sad seeing the narrator refuse to leave the forest despite the vote, choosing to stay alone instead.
This story felt very heavy but true about losing your home and culture forever.
The detail about the shaman Nihao sacrificing her own children to heal others while losing her own son made me weep and feel the heavy cost of tradition.
The 90-year-old narrator's refusal to leave the forest for a town with concrete roofs feels like a powerful, heartbreaking testament to how deeply our identity is tied to the land we call home.
The forest becomes a prison as outside forces take their land.
The ending with the white reindeer returning made my heart ache deeply.
Solid examples; much better than vague advice.
The return of Mukulian the white reindeer is a beautiful promise that the forest never truly lets go of us.
The narrator feels lost when the forest feels like a prison surrounded by forces that want to take their land and culture away from them as the trees that once provided safety and plenty begin to fall under the pressure of logging trucks and government policies pushing them toward a town.
Her choice to stay in the forest instead of moving to the town felt deeply powerful and true.
The white reindeer return, proving our bond with the forest never truly breaks.
The white reindeer returning home brings tears and hope for our shared land.
A beautiful story about staying true to the forest.
While the book beautifully describes the sacred bond between the Evenki people and their reindeer, I found the extended analysis comparing their struggles to Native American tribes in the US and Amazonian communities felt like it stretched beyond the memoir's actual narrative scope.
The story of the 90-year-old narrator choosing to stay in the forest instead of moving to the town with its concrete roofs and fenced reindeer pens is heartbreaking yet powerful.
The narrator tosses her birch bark vote into the fire to stay in the forest.