Book Review: Dálvi by Laura Galloway

 

Not the type of non-fiction I usually read, but it looked interesting to me. 

After a difficult life in the States, author Laura Galloway finds herself discovering she may have Sámi blood. She ends up starting a relationship with a Sámi reindeer herder and moves to the tiny town of Kautokeino in northern Norway. From here on we follow her struggles and daily life as she survives for six years, mostly on her own, in the tiny village where she barely speaks the language and doesn't understand the cultural customs much.

A very interesting read. Not completely what I expected, but despite that it still had me hooked pretty much throughout the entirety. I was just really into learning about Galloway and wanted her to succeed in her life in Norway. Eventually she did end up moving back after six long years there, but despite the difficulties she also had her happy moments there.

Her relationship with the reindeer herder blows over pretty quick, but thereafter she finds her own ways to survive by studying and working certain jobs. She bonds with some of the villagers and later ends up taking care of a bunch of animals both her own and other people's, or even strays. I liked seeing her bonds with the people and animals around her. There are some pretty damn wholesome interactions in here, but also quite a few not-so-fun ones. 

My main "gripe" (if you could even call it that) is that I was expecting this book to be more about the Sámi as a people and less about the author herself. But it's not really a flaw, just my own expectations. The back of the book just made me expect this book to be a little bit more about the Sámi. More about their culture, how they do their reindeer herding, their beliefs and practices. But instead the book is really just the author's personal struggle in the North which is 100% fine and the book is great.

I just expected it to be a bit more about the Sámi when I saw that the premise was that the author was going to live with them in a village. And there's a little bit of that in the first third or so but after her boyfriend leaves her it really becomes more about her trying to survive and fit in than about the Sámi as a people. I don't know, I just would've loved to learn more about their culture rather than the brief knowledge the author provides. Again, not something I'm holding against the book at all, I just had slightly different expectations going in.

Overall this was a very interesting and sometimes emotional read. I do recommend it if you can stomach some of the darker contents such as child abuse.

Rating: 4/5