What I didn't like about the novel  In  Search of April Raintree

           Although I loved the novel  In Search of April Raintree by Beatrice Mosionier there were also some aspects of the novel that were a bit much for me. The novel is fairly explicit and raw. Which adds an amazing dynamic to the book. But when I read the portion in the novel about April's rape I was a bit disturbed. It is a given that this sort of situation would leave any reader with an unsettling feeling. But for me this scene was creating an image that was a bit too vivid, I felt that I didn't need to know some of those things. I wasn't prepared to come across something like that in the book and I was bit shocked after I read it. I don't think that portion of novel is something every reader can digest. Also as a reader of the novel I always envisioned Cheryl to be the stronger one of the two sisters. The one with faith in her people and where they could go in the future. So to read the novel and to end it off with Cheryl committing suicide was not the outcome I had hoped for. I understand that this was necessary in order for April to regain her lost identity. But I think Mosionier should have at least gave us more insight as to what Cheryl was thinking in  her final days or even what she thought before she actually jumped off the bridge. Lastly I felt that not allowing April to get there in time before Cheryl actually jumped was unfair. I think that allowing both sisters to have a final moment together would have left a lasting effect on the reader and would have given April much needed closure.I didn't like this ending also because I felt that April not getting there in time insinuated that Native people who fell of the wagon are always too late when it comes to turn their lives around, which diminishes their hope. Although this is true in some cases I feel that the vast majority of Natives today fight to survive and don't opt to suicide and alcoholism to end things. In fact today Native people are all around us and are prospering in many fields and using their hardships in a positive way through literature, poetry, and music.