White Dove, Tell Me, by Martin Etchart, APRIL 2024 LTER
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1LyndaInOregon
This slim novel is a loving and insightful look at one young man’s search for his arima – his soul, his hope, in the face of unspeakable tragedy.
Xabier Etxea’s life with his wife and baby on the family’s third-generation Arizona sheep ranch is changed in an instant, when an accident takes his father’s life and sends his grandfather into a deep depression from which he may never return. Life continues to pummel Xabier when it’s revealed that the ranch is in deep financial trouble, and when his ex-fiancée shows up with a shocking claim and an even more shocking demand. His struggles to find the right path and do the right thing are shadowed by family memories and the Basque culture that formed him.
Xabier at times seems reluctant to take up the burden that has been thrust on him, one moment fretting about the impossible list of chores needed simply to keep the keep the ranch functioning, and the next moment taking off like a teenager to drink beer and swim in a nearby pond with his buddies. On the other hand, his wife Idetta is as strong and unyielding as the earth beneath his feet. Stubborn, spirited, and wise, she’s easily the most interesting character in the book.
Etchart has chosen to set his story within a predominantly Basque community, providing insight into a culture little-known to much of mainstream America. Some readers will struggle with the vocabulary, and the brief glossary at the end isn’t really adequate. What really would have benefitted the typical Anglo reader is a pronouncing gazetteer. It’s all well and good to tell the reader that aitatxi means grandfather, but that information does little to keep an English-speaking brain from stuttering to a halt every time the word is used, tying itself in knots to try to come up with a mental pronunciation.
That’s a small quibble, really, for a well-paced story about a likeable group of people trying to muddle through a changed and charged emotional landscape with grace and honor.
Xabier Etxea’s life with his wife and baby on the family’s third-generation Arizona sheep ranch is changed in an instant, when an accident takes his father’s life and sends his grandfather into a deep depression from which he may never return. Life continues to pummel Xabier when it’s revealed that the ranch is in deep financial trouble, and when his ex-fiancée shows up with a shocking claim and an even more shocking demand. His struggles to find the right path and do the right thing are shadowed by family memories and the Basque culture that formed him.
Xabier at times seems reluctant to take up the burden that has been thrust on him, one moment fretting about the impossible list of chores needed simply to keep the keep the ranch functioning, and the next moment taking off like a teenager to drink beer and swim in a nearby pond with his buddies. On the other hand, his wife Idetta is as strong and unyielding as the earth beneath his feet. Stubborn, spirited, and wise, she’s easily the most interesting character in the book.
Etchart has chosen to set his story within a predominantly Basque community, providing insight into a culture little-known to much of mainstream America. Some readers will struggle with the vocabulary, and the brief glossary at the end isn’t really adequate. What really would have benefitted the typical Anglo reader is a pronouncing gazetteer. It’s all well and good to tell the reader that aitatxi means grandfather, but that information does little to keep an English-speaking brain from stuttering to a halt every time the word is used, tying itself in knots to try to come up with a mental pronunciation.
That’s a small quibble, really, for a well-paced story about a likeable group of people trying to muddle through a changed and charged emotional landscape with grace and honor.
