APPLE: SKIN TO THE CORE

APPLE: SKIN TO THE CORE by Eric Gansworth

Apple: Skin to the Core by Eric Gansworth is a book that caught my eye on my most recent trip to the bookstore. Flipping through it I discovered Gansworth is Native American and he is sharing his life story in free verse poetry. He begins by telling about his great-grandparents and their five children. One day a man comes offering them an "opportunity" to send their children 300 miles away to a boarding school for 5 years that would give them the ability to learn the white way of life.(What they actually learn is how to work for white people.) His great-grandparents agree to this, and the result is two children never return to the reservation, one who lives on the outskirts, and two that come back including Gansworth's Grandfather. What launches from there is the author's heartfelt words on being strung between two worlds, the Native American culture that is being lost and the white that is almost impossible to break into due to how a Native American is viewed. Gansworth shares his journey on the reservation where it can be difficult to fit in. His father is often absent. His small home is a revolving door to different siblings and family members needing a place to live. School on the reservation is lacking and then after 5th grade students from area schools join together at an integrated school. Gansworth continues sharing his journey into adulthood that takes him somewhat away from his people and the difficulty of that.

So what does the term "apple" mean? To the Native Americans the term apple means "red on the outside, white on the inside." Note that Gansworth's subtitle is "Skin to the Core."

Heads Up- There are a handful of words in the 323 pages including two F-bombs in quotes. He talks a couple of times about physical puberty changes. He has a friend later in life that poses nude for an art class, and he agrees to pose 1 time for a sculpture. He does mention towards the end of the book that " I've been writing a lot about reservation life, and being in love and my partner Larry, who is not the right age, or the right class or the right race or the right gender." This is not something that is discussed really past that.

I think what I appreciate the most about this book is the straightforward manner that the author speaks. He doesn't blast whites. He just tells his story and lets the reader decide how they will react. I found it very thought provoking.