American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
Future Reflections Fall 2019 REVIEW
My Father's Blood
by Amy Krout-Horn
Reviewed by Donna W. Hill
My Father’s Blood
By Amy Krout-Horn
All Things That Matter Press, 2011, 177 pages
ISBN: 9780984639298
Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/My-Fathers-Blood-Amy-Krout-
Horn/dp/0984639292/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320090381&sr=1-1
Available in accessible formats at www.bookshare.org
From the Editor: Donna W. Hill is the author of the young-adult novel The Heart of Applebutter Hill.
If you aren't familiar with author Amy Krout-Horn, you don't know what you've been missing! I gave My Father's Blood five stars on Amazon because it wasn't possible to give it ten. Krout-Horn writes with feeling about her Native American heritage—Lakota—and about the Type 1 diabetes that runs in her family and led to her blindness at age twenty-two.
I have read many excellent novels and memoirs, but something sets Krout-Horn's autobiographical novel apart. She has a riveting story to tell, and she parses it out in ways that captivate the reader. But what truly makes this book stand out is the author's use of language. Her language is stunning without being flowery, raw without being hopeless. It is a beautiful platform that lifts the story with love.
My Father's Blood is the story of a family, a community, and a nation, seen through the perspective of a child and later a young woman. Most of the story is set in rural Iowa, where the author grew up with both sets of grandparents nearby. We also get a look at other areas of the Midwest, including Minnesota and South Dakota, and we visit a wonderful bit of Florida as well.
Even as a child in her mother's arms, Krout-Horn is keenly observant. She has a pure spirituality and is at one with the natural world. The Aurora Borealis, the lone tree on the lake, and the Lakota language itself hold multiple meanings. They stay with the reader for their beauty; they are signposts inviting us to go deeper.
Part of the power of this book is the way it portrays the Native American experience as one family, seemingly white and average, deals with the impact of assimilation over the generations. Krout-Horn's dreams and her waking glimpses of the Lakota world draw her toward a part of her heritage that others would have her deny.
Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age six, Krout-Horn follows her father down another road of being different, in addition to her Lakota heritage. As a child she deals with the physical complications and the social and emotional impacts of the disease. Classmates shun her on the playground, afraid that diabetes is contagious. In one poignant scene she hides under her hospital bed in an attempt to avoid having her blood drawn.
The protagonist of My Father's Blood is a bright, inquisitive girl who displays the full range of emotions and reactions. Krout-Horn is not reluctant to express bitterness, resentment, or guilt through her young heroine. Her issues aren't once and done. They resolve and resurface as she matures. To survive, she must pick herself up again and again.
When diabetic retinopathy leaves Krout-Horn totally blind, she experiences a period of intense depression. She drops out of college and retreats to her room. Eventually, with the love, support, and gentle humor of her extended family, she emerges determined to rebuild her life. Her journey leads her to BLIND, Inc. (Blindness: Living in New Dimensions), the NFB’s training center in Minneapolis. Krout-Horn describes her initial terror of crossing streets independently and the camaraderie among the students and staff members at the center. With the unflagging support of the BLIND, Inc., community, she grows in confidence and gains critical new skills. After a year of training Krout-Horn returns to college and becomes immersed in studying the Lakota language.
I've read My Father's Blood several times, and each time I notice something I missed before. This truly is a magnificent book!
You can learn more about Amy Krout-Horn's life and work at https://nativeearthwords.wordpress.com/amy/
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