Last Karankawas

“The Last of the Karankawas” is beautiful, impactful, and everything about it feels deeply personal. I love that the author chose to write a series of stories that create this overarching narrative about natural disaster, family, home, displacement, and belonging. I fell in love with Carly -and practically everyone connected to her- or, more accurately, I fell in love with the complexity and believability of each member of the author’s cast of characters. Kimberly Garza has the incredible and unique ability of being able to create dynamic characters with a detail and precision that really bring them to life, as if they have their own free will versus being manipulated or designed by an author. Beyond this, the language of the novel is beautiful. I could feel the atmosphere of the gulf coast and imagine the pain of watching my grandmother’s mental capacities deteriorate as I read passages like, “the seething sounds of the winds work their way into her fitful dreams, become her grandmother around a bonfire on the beach”, or “in the living room, the window AC rumbles to a stop; instantly the air becomes heavy, losing the cool of the conditioning, swelling again with the weight of the Gulf. Her grandmother seems to swell with it, too”. The whole novel had a rhythm and energy that pushed me from one story to the next, as I dove deeper into the minds and lives of these unforgettable characters, and their unforgettable community. This novel paints an insightful, moving portrait of a community that I would have otherwise, tragically, known nothing about. I loved the incorporation of multiple languages, how the actions and people in the novel mirror the storm brewing in the background, and I love how the author was unafraid to tackle heavy, complex, broad issues through the lens and experience of a very specific group of people. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone: it’s beautiful from start to finish.

I would recommend "The Last Karankawas" to everyone and anyone. Not only did I learn so much about culture, family, baseball, immigration, and community from this novel, but it’s impossible to not appreciate Kimberly Garza’s impressive prose and style. She wrote this novel in multiple perspectives, telling several characters’ stories all at once. This feeds the general theme of community by sharing everyone’s background of how they got to Galveston, sharing their dreams and goals, and tuning into their emotions of if they want to stay or leave. With this structure, you’re bound to see yourself in at least one character, and I certainly was able to see myself when reading about Carly and Mercedes. I was able to see my family and close friends in my life in these characters as well. For example, I felt so much nostalgia when reading Magdalena’s story because she reminded me of my own grandma who passed away several years ago who had a similar attitude and personality. I love stories like this because I feel like it brought to life the town of Galveston and makes the reader feel like they are a part of this strong and resilient community. Additionally, Kimberly Garza does a fantastic job helping the readers visualize her narrative in "The Last Karankawas". I truly felt like I was on the oyster boat with Jess, watching a baseball game with Mercedes, and bracing for the hurricane with Ike. Again, creating a sense that the reader is a part of this community. This was genuinely an immersive novel.

Being from Galveston, and knowing some of its History, I was highly anticipating this book…but found it an extremely hard read. Characters were bouncing around in book. Facts were hard to digest. Just disappointing.

I really dug this! It uses the texture of Galveston/Houston to great effect as it creates a collage of intersecting lives grappling with what it means to love each other, to find dignity and purpose, and to keep going through the damage. Yeah, I cried a little, so what?