Read Women discussion

Shutter by Diné writer and filmmaker, Ramona Emerson, is our November fiction selection. Shutter is a coming-of-age, paranormal crime thriller, and it sits in that space where it's not 100% genre, but not 100%LitFic.

Shutter

Our MC is Rita Todacheene, a NM crime scene photographer working for the Albuquerque police force and disturbed by her work. Todacheene not only sees but engages with the dead. She is also close to her grandmother and that relationship is key to the novel. Shutter is the first in an anticipated trilogy.

An excerpt if you want to try before you commit: https://www.ramonaemersonbooks.com/re...

A brief interview Emerson did with NPR. She discusses themes but not details. https://www.npr.org/2022/11/02/113345...

Ramona Emerson

In this YouTube vid, Emerson discusses Shutter with fellow author David Heska Wanbli Weiden (Winter Counts):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiO_J...

Her website: https://www.ramonaemersonbooks.com/

Ramona Emerson is a Diné writer and filmmaker originally from Tohatchi, NM. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. After starting in forensic videography, she embarked upon a career as a photographer, writer and editor.

Who plans to participate?

I have a copy from the library and plan to start it after my current fiction read.

I'm in. Listening to the NPR interview has me chuckling when she gets her cool torn jeans back from Grandma with patches on them.

I'm in for this read. Looking forward to the discussion

It’s November somewhere 😭

On page 22: On the reservation, nestled deep within the red canyons and forgotten communities, tattered trailers and the skeletons of long-abandoned hogans stood like teeth.

I looked up “hogan.” “a Navajo Indian dwelling usually made of logs and mud with a door traditionally facing east”

This artwork is really helpful:

https://merriam-webster.com/assets/mw...

I like the cadence of Emerson’s writing very much. Sometimes her choices, like “teeth” above, don’t work for me, but the rhythm of her sentences saves them.

I skipped most of that opening gory sequence about Erma Singleton’s body parts because it wasn’t necessary for me to get those images embedded in my brain. She’s tired. Got it.

I got to page 70 last night and it was effortless (after the initial scene). I was hooked the deeper we got into Rita's childhood experiences with ghosts, her Grandpa, playground bullies, etc. At this point, her adult self hasn't captured my heart, but it benefits from the fact that her childhood self has definitely done so.

On a non-substantive topic, I'm reading the hardback version and the font and margins are large (bordering on the large print standard) and easy on the eyes. I suspect that the end result is that it's a shorter book than it might first appear to be.

I’m with you Carol on skipping over the details of Irma’s body. In her interview Emerson’s view was that people watch lots of shows with graphic forensic scenes. I am not one of those viewers.
I love the relationship Rita has with her grandmother. I am finding myself very sympathetic for her.

Sophie wrote: "I’m with you Carol on skipping over the details of Irma’s body. In her interview Emerson’s view was that people watch lots of shows with graphic forensic scenes. I am not one of those viewers.
I l..."

You know what's funny? I don't mind graphic forensic scenes at all, but this one was long without additional learnings or purpose. I suspect this is an instance where someone who doesn't read this genre was persuaded to shoehorn her wonderful idea into its scaffolding, but I'm not thinking of this as a crime thriller at all, just accepting it as it unfolds.

Sophie - one thing I still don't understand or I'm unsure of. How does her grandma's camera, the first one she described way back in the beginning work? Is it a real camera? Maybe I was interpreting "box" too literally, and I know what a "box camera" is, but it stuck in mind as almost magic and not mechanical.

I have 60 or so pages to go and am fearful as I turn each page that her grandma might die and I so don't want her to. I'm also really puzzled as to why Rita stayed in her job for 5 years, saving up her money for some day, but why and for what? She's clearly so miserable.

I just started this last night. That opening scene sure was grim. I found the writing didn't flow great through this section, it was quite clunky. Maybe that's from trying to force herself into the genre like you said Carol. I'm looking forward to getting into Rita's backstory, for me these are often the best parts of books. Getting to know the psychology of each character. I enjoyed chapter 2 much more

Rita’s and her Grandmother’s back stories were the best part of the book for me as well.

Grandma’s story of being taken away from her family and sent to a missionary school as heartbreaking as it was had a better outcome than a lot of children who were removed from their homes. It was admirable that Grandma was able to retain her Navajo language after not speaking a word of it for 12 years. It’s something she must have had to silently work at constantly in her mind. Someone once told me that you have to make yourself dream in the language you want to remember. An interesting concept.

I think Rita felt stuck in her job because she knew she didn’t stand a chance of getting any other job and benefits using her photography skills. Her intention was to someday fix up Grandma's house. There was always that guilt of being away from her grandmother but the need to be able to make a living.

You guys sure read fast! I'm really getting into this. I also like the close relationship between young Rita and her grandmother. I love the gentle way her grandpa's ghost spoke with her too. That was really touching. I don't understand box cameras at all! I remember being made to make them in school but I don't remember them ever working.

Does anybody know if there's anything to the technical camera words at the beginning of each chapter? They mean nothing to me.

I'm not feeling much connection to adult Rita yet although I do understand the pressure to stay in a job that's paying you even if you hate it and are struggling and miserable. I hope she quits soon, I don't particularly enjoy all these crime scene details

Sophie wrote: "Rita’s and her Grandmother’s back stories were the best part of the book for me as well.

Grandma’s story of being taken away from her family and sent to a missionary school as heartbreaking as it..."

That's right - thanks for reminding me that the $$ was being saved to fix Grandma's house. I loved the garage going on the wrong side of the house and it irritating Grandma to this day. That was one of the things I found really worked about Shutter - the authenticity of Grandma and Mr. Bitsilly. They were never caricatures because Emerson included the sort of quirks and remembered wrongs that differentiate aunties and relatives over 60, that make these 2 characters really real.

Hannah wrote: "You guys sure read fast! I'm really getting into this. I also like the close relationship between young Rita and her grandmother. I love the gentle way her grandpa's ghost spoke with her too. That ..."

I never did connect with adult Rita like I did younger Rita, but it's okay.

I finished Shutter and am so glad we are discussing it. I thought the first half was phenomenal, and everything l from the night of the party on maybe a little less successful, and the ending, meh, but not enough to diminish my overall enjoyment. Emerson's pacing was strong and consistent. For a debut in the mystery/thriller genre, Emerson got a lot more right than she got wrong. It's fine that Garcia's a stock character and his actions are too attention-getting for a corrupt cop in Albequerque who wants to continue to enjoy the benefits of his corruption beyond tomorrow. She gets it close enough to not annoy me as a genre fan.

I thought she also excelled at describing Rita's experience of ghosts throughout her life. I am not (generally) a fan of paranormal story lines and can easily be frustrated by them if an author uses them as a cop out to reveal information or cause humans to do things they otherwise wouldn't have done; however, in Shutter, Emerson made me believe every bit of it - even when (view spoiler)[Erma is the source of Rita's info (hide spoiler)] and understood the points of light, the preponderance of ghosts in the hospital, her experience of her grandfather and (view spoiler)[Gloria (hide spoiler)]. I didn't once think she was using the ghosts as a shortcut to advancing her plot. They were really real to me. (view spoiler)[The guy that gets killed at the party and looks at Rita and says, essentially, did you SEE THAT? Brilliant. (hide spoiler)]

I would like to have seen more character development of the adult Rita, including rethinking her job and life happiness. I wasn't sure - under the rules of the novel as their explained to us - why (view spoiler)[the ghosts go away at the end: is Erma THAT powerful? what about the judge and his dead family members? other ghosts in the ICU and elsewhere? Why would they all go away, or is this a mere temporary respite, which takes me back to, what is Rita doing with her life and doesn't this incident cause any self-reflection? Okay, I was let down with the ending because it seemed as though we're being set up for a series, and adult Rita deserved more right here in this novel in terms of a change in direction or self-awareness, or I don't know ... something. (hide spoiler)]

And I'm so glad that (view spoiler)[Grandma and Mr. Bitsilly are alive on the last page. Whew. Yay, for 3-book contracts. (hide spoiler)]

Carol wrote: "Hannah wrote: "You guys sure read fast! I'm really getting into this. I also like the close relationship between young Rita and her grandmother. I love the gentle way her grandpa's ghost spoke with..."

I've also finished this and think it is a very promising start for a debut writer. I loved the way she has woven the "flashback storyline" into the current story. It was very well connected to what had just happened in the present so that the flashback felt like a memory popping in her mind because of something that had just happened, or that she had seen.

I feel like adult Rita is quite closed-off and perhaps even a little lost but it seemed like a logical result of her upbringing. Even though her grandmother is wonderful with her, (view spoiler)[ she was abandoned by her mother and then her grandmother is always telling her that she can't stay there and that she needs to leave the Navajo reservation/town. As a child this must have felt like a rejection even though it was her grandmother wanting a better life for her. (hide spoiler)] I also feel that her job requires her to be an "observer" of life/crime scene rather than a participant or investigator. So her personality is probably connected to that idea of a person that is in the background and possibly not noticed by the investigators. Sort of like the way she described the uniform of a photographer working a party and wearing something so that they could move about unnoticed.

I don't know much about the size of Albequerque so I hadn't thought too much about Garcia's actions drawing attention to him. In a large city, that might go unnoticed. Also, people get quite caught up in their own work and don't pay attention to what others are doing even when it is right under their noses.

For me the way that Erma's ghost (view spoiler)[ was driving Rita to investigate worked because it linked with the way that her grandmother and Mr Bitsilly were worried about her seeing ghosts. It was part of that constant linking back to the past that really made the story work well. (hide spoiler)]

In some ways it was the Gloria part of the story that felt unnecessary to me, although it does explain why (view spoiler)[ her grandmother sends her back to her mother and also why she doesn't want her living there. (hide spoiler)]

I think the ending is a little open because it will provide the basis for more stories. I will be interested to see where she takes her story now.

I agree that the Gloria part of the story - and her grandmother making her live with Gloria - didn't work, at least for me. Everything else felt organic, but that seemed like something Emerson had to do in order for Rita to have the awful experiences she had during that period, and tee up the convoluted explanation for why Rita didn't go to college (then, but also in the 5 - 6 years since HS graduation). But I bought it. Emerson sold me on things that bug the daylights out of me in other debuts.

I'm definitely in for whatever she writes next, and will keep an eye out for other projects that aren't books, too.

I'll read everybody's comments once I've finished, I'm at about 40% now. Something that is striking me is that even at 6 years old Rita is under so much pressure to be something other than what she naturally is. Her grandma's worry, the Navajo women scorning her at the funeral, children shunning her and teachers scolding her. She is slowly being shrunk into a lesser version of herself. I think this is something we can all relate to to some degree.

Hannah wrote: "I'll read everybody's comments once I've finished, I'm at about 40% now. Something that is striking me is that even at 6 years old Rita is under so much pressure to be something other than what she..."

Great insight, Hannah. I agree and felt for her especially at this age. She learns she has to hide who she is to get minimum approval, and even then, she might not.

I just started last night so I also glazed over the last half of comments. Agreeing with everyone on the extra gory opening scene. I was like is this necessary? Young Rita and her experiences are very interesting to me. I’m wondering why she ultimately left grandmas house, that’s where I am right now. Just read about her cousin Gloria and it was sudden and sad.

Not sure about the chapter titles, I thought they were camera lenses or models but honestly no idea

Anita wrote: "...Not sure about the chapter titles, I thought they were camera lenses or models but honestly no idea"

Yeah they seem to describe the camera that she'll be using in that chapter: the box camera in some childhood chapters, the Polaroid in the chapter with cousin Gloria, fancier cameras in her current work chapters. My husband's reading this book aloud to me: I confess I gloss over after he mentions the brand name, but apparently the numbers mean a lot to camera people (lol) as he was evaluating the quality of the zoom or something based on yesterday's chapter's camera details. 📷

Hannah wrote: "I'll read everybody's comments once I've finished, I'm at about 40% now. Something that is striking me is that even at 6 years old Rita is under so much pressure to be something other than what she..."

Beautifully said, Hannah.

I was a little confused at the Gloria section until the end when I realized this is going to be a series. She introduces her cousin moving in with them as one of the most important/best things that happened so I was confused at how that played out. Now I can see it was a placeholder. I don’t normally read this type of story either. Neither paranormal or crime driven, but it was really good and I moved through it so quickly. I was also super stoked to see Grandma alive at the end.

My take on adult Rita is the same as all of yours, she’s been hiding her gift/curse for so long that she’s become a quiet and reserved person. I was only slightly disappointed with Mr. bitsilly’s reactions to it but I guess I naively thought there should be at least one person in her life who would embrace it for her sae. Maybe even help her learn how to manage it a little.

Anita wrote: "I was a little confused at the Gloria section until the end when I realized this is going to be a series. She introduces her cousin moving in with them as one of the most important/best things that..."

You're totally right that not even her peer friends help her, although they put less guilt on her than Mr. Bitsilly and Grandma. I kept thinking about Harry Potter and the direct connection to Voldemort, and the adults in his world just saying, "yeah, you gotta figure out how to cut that connection off. If he keeps connecting with you, it's because you didn't work hard enough to do what we told you to do." Here, Erma's making your life awful because you are .. what .. acknowledging by making eye contact that she is screaming at you?

I don't know much about Navajo culture but I feel like the reason Grandma and Mr Bitsilly don't want her to encourage the apparitions is something to do with their culture. Or maybe it is just that they understand that not all ghosts are going to be lovely visitors like Grandpa.

It all ended reasonably well but Erma was not really a nice person in real life and kind of mean as a ghost.

Liesl wrote: "I don't know much about Navajo culture but I feel like the reason Grandma and Mr Bitsilly don't want her to encourage the apparitions is something to do with their culture. Or maybe it is just that..."

As I understand it, Navajo believe that people are contaminated by ghosts who are called chindi. Navajo aren't even supposed to mention the names of dead people.

What protagonist Rita does is also at odds with being a Navajo due to her contact with the dead. She would need to go through a ritual to get rid of her contamination.

I read this book in September of 2022, a month after it was released.
You can read my review at https://wwwbookbabe.blogspot.com/2022...

Shomeret wrote: "As I understand it, Navajo believe that people are contaminated by ghosts who are called chindi. Navajo aren't even supposed to mention the names of dead people...."

Thanks Shomeret.

I have been looking into to it a little and I read something quite interesting. It seems that it is not just a ghost left behind after someone dies but it is everything that was bad about the person. So, even the ghosts that we have assumed to be good, such as the grandfather, are lingering because of their bad elements. I had actually thought that the grandfather looking over the family was a loving act but now I am wondering if it was really meant to reflect something else. Perhaps he was possessive of the grandmother?

From the reading, it also seems that the ghosts linger around their bones or possessions which is why the Navajo destroy the possessions of their loved ones when they die. This is also interesting because Rita continues to use her mother's camera after she dies. Yet, her mother doesn't linger. Perhaps we have to assume that at the time she died, her mother has her life in order and does not have bad elements that remain.

One final thing that I read was about their preference for dying outdoors to allow the chindi to disperse. If a person dies in a house or hogan, it is abandoned. I wonder if that house where Rita was locked as a child was abandoned for that reason. It was odd that she felt she had to go back and burn it because Gloria didn't die in that house.

Anita wrote: "My take on adult Rita is the same as all of yours, she’s been hiding her gift/curse for so long that she’s become a quiet and reserved person. I was only slightly disappointed with Mr. bitsilly’s reactions to it but I guess I naively thought there should be at least one person in her life who would embrace it for her sae. Maybe even help her learn how to manage it a little."
I thought the same Anita. Rita seemed so isolated and alone with only her occasional good memories.

Those are very interesting insights about Navajo culture and beliefs Liesl and Shomeret. Thanks for sharing.

The information about Navajo beliefs about the dead is very interesting and I wish I'd know that when I started reading (I'm about 75 percent of the way through the book).

A character (I forget who) does say something to Rita about Navajo fearing dead people but it didn't make as much sense when I read it as it does now.

Understanding that cultural belief around death and ghosts makes the characters’ reactions to Rita and her gift/curse very much more realistic and authentic. This also makes more sense as to why grandma moved her out and to her mom. I also wish I knew this before, but it would only have added to my enjoyment, not knowing didn’t ruin the book for me. I thought it was a great read outside of my normal type of book.

Liesl wrote: "Perhaps we have to assume that at the time she died, her mother has her life in order and does not have bad elements that remain"

Thanks for sharing this cultural info Liesl. There are hints of this in the book but not a full explicit explanation, which would have taken away from the narrative. It does help to explain why the grandmother and Mr Bitsilly are so afraid for Rita. In regards to the mother, the grandma does say something along the lines of 'she must have been at peace' when Rita asks why she can't see her ghost so that makes sense. The grandfather was lovely with young Rita but I think he was there for the grandma, to hold on to her and stop her from moving on. Rita asks him to leave so that grandma can stop being sad.

Our recent thread comments about cultural beliefs around death and ghosts reminds me that -- I think it's in the youtube video - Emerson mentions being disturbed that Tony Hillerman had a Navajo source explaining culture to him, and that it was wrong to have disclosed some of those details to a non-Navajo. Which then made me think, but - wait - if you don't want non-Navajos to understand your beliefs, priorities, what is sacred to you, why you make the choices you make, what makes you you, then how do we get to a better place in terms of the divide in understanding? That's not a criticism, I would love to hear more exploration from her of where the line is in encouraging understanding but not too much and philosophically what troubles her about non-Navajo allies or wannabe allies learning and understanding Navajo beliefs. I can guess, but my guess has zero value.

I finished this over the weekend and liked it but didn't love it.

I really enjoyed Rita's relationship with her grandmother and learning about her life growing up. I also liked how the spirits were described and that Rita's experience with them was like a portal or a door that she could sometimes close and other times not. The descriptions of this were very vivid for me. (Once the information about Navajo beliefs was shared in this thread, the anger and hatred Rita felt from the spirits made even more sense.) I want to know more about how Gloria is the best thing that ever happened to Rita and her grandmother, but I guess I'll have to wait for another book for that given the foreshadowing at the end!

What I didn't think worked as well: the part of the novel that functioned as a mystery/suspense. I thought the pacing there was quite poor and the plot meandered for a loooong time. By the time the action picked up, I didn't care much about how things were going to resolve. I didn't mind the gory opening and based on that had been expecting something much more gritty than what this book actually turned out to be.

So, a mixed review from me but I'm glad this author was brought to my attention through this group read.

I agree Susan I'm about 75% of the way through now and the mystery and older Rita's timeline are starting to irritate me. It's seeming quite convoluted. I just didn't buy her showing up at the retired detective Armenta's house and him just telling her his incredibly self incriminating story so easily. Now some guy called Philip (who I think I'm supposed to know) has just shown up and given her an incredibly convenient job where I'm sure she's going to happen overhear some more dirty dealings that are also going to be linked with Erma's murder. I'm feeling the need to skim through these parts so I can get back to younger Rita and Grandma's story which I love.

Carol - I've heard before of it being taboo to digress details about traditional ceremonies in certain native cultures. Other books I've read such as Ceremony just skip over the details of what happens once they go inside the hogan/sweat lodge. Although I'm curious, I have to respect the wish to keep their culture sacred and safe from cultural appropriation

Hannah wrote: "I agree Susan I'm about 75% of the way through now and the mystery and older Rita's timeline are starting to irritate me. It's seeming quite convoluted. I just didn't buy her showing up at the reti..."

Hahahaha. Yes, Arminetta and Philip are proper devices, although Philip at least is built into the story as a friend. This is the thing that's bugging me about publishers getting authors to write into the mystery space - they tend to disappoint actual mystery readers. I"m still okay with this one, but only because she did just an interesting job with the ghosts and made me fall in love with grandma and young Rita. : )

Thanks for reminding me that it's the ceremony details that are most closely protected, although Emerson didn't put any boundaries around the category of disclosures, if I"m recalling the interview accurately. Not that she owes the listener more than she offered. I respect that limit, I agree; am only pushing back on the more general - don't tell them anything about anything pov.

I found this really interesting youtube discussion hosted by Red Power Hour Book Club. The one co-host, Elena Ortiz, is Dine. The other, Melanie Yazzie, is not, but is an ally. They start to discuss the book in detail around the 13 minute mark, including this topic of what is and isn't appropriate to discuss. Ortiz says, "you're not supposed to talk about death." It's unclear if she means Dine authors shouldn't talk about how Dine culture views death, or, you, as a Dine woman shouldn't be focused on death because it's risky, which is a totally different issue. (includes spoilers).

One of the early points they make that explains some of what I felt during the book, and is part of why I enjoyed young Rita so much more than "older" Rita is that the concept of light and dark is important in Dine culture. When we're on the rez, we're in the light. When we're out in Albuquerque, we're in a very dark place. Yazzie talks about Albequerque in ways that really helped me imagine the culture and landscape better, too. Recommend!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHdfb...