Buffalo Solider by Tanya Landman

Author : Tanya Landman
Title : Buffalo Soldier
Published : 2014
Publisher : Walker Books
Genre : Young Adult / Historical Fiction
Pages : 368

     "What kind of a girl steals the clothes from a dead man's back and runs off to join the army? A desperate one. That's who." At the end of the American Civil War, Charley - a young African-American slave from the deep south - is ostensibly freed. But then her adopted mother is raped and lynched at the hands of a mob and Charley is left alone. In a terrifyingly lawless land, where the color of a person's skin can bring violent death, Charley disguises herself as a man and joins the army. Soon she's being sent to the prairies to fight a whole new war against the "savage Indians". Trapped in a world of injustice and inequality, it's only when Charley is posted to Apache territory that she begins to learn what it is to be truly free.

     The time period of this book is something I know very little about, while we covered it in school it was brief and a long time ago. American history is something barely covered in the English psyche while major events seep in through film and t.v. So when I first read about this book it truly piqued my interest. The book its self covers to chapters in history that I think for a lot of people the would rather forget. Through the first few chapters, we get to witness slavery and the effects it has on those born into it. With a brief skipping of the civil war, our heroine slips into the war against America indigenous people.  The author took me deep into to those African American that enlisted into the arm for a chance at a better life. For those that made this decision it seems their lives were barely better, but maybe it was enough to have hope. But for Charley it was more than that, it is a chance to escape the fate of many women in war, the thought of being raped forever at the back of her mind. 

     It is part of what goes to make up her story, the length she will go to, to mask who she truly is. Her story took me to the front lines of what it was like to fight a people who were grossly outgunned. The author lays bare on the page the true horrors that took place during this time. War is always a brutal thing and I think no one really comes out of it unscathed. What Charley goes through in her fight for freedom kept my eyes glued to the page. It is hard to read such events without being unaffected by them. This is a girl who is torn between many worlds, in the native Americans she sees echoes of what her own people have suffered through. So how could she do to them that what was done to her own? For me, this is a tough question to answer and an even harder one for her. I suppose at times we can be selfish when it comes to our own freedom how far would any of us be prepared to go. But don't miss understand me this is a girl how is torn apart by her actions all the while trying her best just to survive.

     The story while an act of fiction does draw from the real lives of people who made this decision. The author manages to pull those elements into her story and bind them with her characters. I found this book to be very captivating her characters grasp at something very deep that lives within all of us. All the while teaching me about events far from my purview. With each encounter, I was left wondering how long each of these new people would make it into the book. Not to mention the times I was left wondering if Charley would make it her self. This is a book full of tension and heart-wrenching choices.  A look into the abuse that African American soldiers suffered at the hands of there fellow white soldiers. Despite them joining the army of the north a supposedly enlighten force looking to free the slave and unite the union, they are treated with little more respect than animals. This may be somewhat naive of me but it did really open my eyes a lot to the fact there was little difference between those of the south and the north. 

     This book was a difficult read for me, so much that takes place is hard to wrap my head around. It is with books like this that push the young adult genre into another place. Anyone could read this book and take so much away from it. I can't recommend this book enough it tackles a very dark and sensitive subject with so much respect for those who really lived it. It has also spurred me on to look closer into this time period and expand my knowledge.