Character quiz

Harvey

When readers first meet Harvey, he is a rambunctious and heavy-drinking teen whose family is participating in the occupation of Alcatraz at the same time as Jacquie, Opal, and their mother, Vicky. Raped jacquie. Edwin blacks dad. He was an alcoholic and runs in Jacquie at an AA meeting and offers Jacquie a ride "Home". He wants to go find him and Jacquie's daughter.

Vicky

Jacquie and Opal's mother. She is a hard-drinking woman who brings the girls along as she decides to join the occupation of Alcatraz in the early 1970s.

Orvil red feather

A fourteen-year-old Native boy. Though he is Jacquie Red Feather's biological grandson, he and his younger brothers, Lony and Loother, are being raised by their great-aunt Opal after Jacquie found it too difficult and emotionally taxing to raise the boys her daughter Jamie left behind when she killed herself.14 years old. One of Jacquie's grandsons. Cheyenne who is deeply interested in his heritage and plans to dance at the powwow

Calvin Johnson

A native man on the powwow committee at the local Indian Center in Oakland. Calvin is living with his sister, Maggie, and his niece, Sonny, when his brother, Charles, comes to him for help—Charles is in over his head with some drug dealers, and hopes that getting Calvin involved will take the pressure off of him. A native young man. Stays with his sister maggie. He owes money to his brother Charles. Their dad disappeared and his mom is bi polar, charles is his brother who works for Octavio.

Octavio Gomez

An Oakland drug dealer whose intimidating, tough drugdealer demeanor masks a deep and fierce love for his family

Edwin Black

Edwin Black is an isolated, frustrated, and confused half-Native young man who lives at home with his mother and spends most of his life getting lost on the internet. After earning a master's degree in Native American literature and getting a promising start to his academic career, Edwin suddenly found himself floundering, unable to make a connection between the things he was studying and their reverberations in his own life. Bi racial, constipasted, over-weight, addicted to his computer, emotional, unemployed, unmotivated. He's stuck in a moment in time.

Jamie

Jacquie Red Feather's deceased daughter, an addict who committed suicide many years ago. Jamie was the mother of Orvil, Lony, and Loother, and gave them their distinctively spelled names. Jacquie's daughter who killed herself. She has three kids. She was in Jacquie for 6 months.

Daniel Gonzalez

Octavio's cousin, who is a young tech and coding whiz. In the basement of his mother's house, Daniel uses a 3-D printer to make the guns that Octavio, Charles, Carlos, Calvin, and Tony use during the robbery of the Big Oakland Powwow. Daniel has a drone, which he frequently flies around Oakland in order to see the city from a different point of view.

Josefina

Octavio's grandmother. She is a kind and caring half-Native woman who believes in the power of nontraditional medicine and ritual. Opals sister who gets pregnant

Sixto

Octavio's uncle, who is responsible for the deaths of Octavio's mother and brother when all three of them are in a car accident.

Opal

Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield's story begins when she is a girl of twelve, dragged along to the Native occupation of Alcatraz island by her freewheeling mother. A girl who moved to Alcatraz. Her mom died from cancer and her sister got pregnant. Her teddy bear is two shoes. Opal is taking care of Jamie's daughters. She still lives in Oakland. Very superstitious. She is a mailer

Bill Davis

The boyfriend of Edwin Black's mother, Karen. Bill, a Native man, works at the Oakland Coliseum. Though Edwin doesn't like Bill very much, Bill is nonetheless devoted to Karen and to Edwin as well. A man who is dating Karen, Edwins mother. He doesn't think highly of Edwin and wants to move in with Karen. He has a history of violence and went to jail for stabbing someone and he loves baseball. Tries to knock down a drone. Was a Vietnam vet.

Blue

The child of Jacquie Red Feather and Harvey, Blue was adopted at birth by a wealthy white family. Raised in a upscale suburb of Oakland, Blue grew up knowing she was Native American. Head of the powwow committee

Thomas frank

The janitor at the Indian Center in Oakland. He is fired from his job for drinking while at work, but feels redeemed by his love of music and rhythm when he joins a drum circle performing at the Big Oakland Powwow. Cheyenne drummer.

Ronald

The man with whom Opal and Jacquie live for a time after their mother Vicky's death. Whether he's a blood uncle or simply a friend of their mother's is unclear. The girls ultimately attack Ronald and clear out after he tries to assault a sleeping Jacquie in the middle of the night. Opal and Jacquies "uncle" that they stayed with after their mom died. Implies that he sexually assaults Opal or Jacquie or both.

Tony loneman

True to his name, Tony is something of a loner who has always been ostracized because of his strange face, disfigured due to fetal alcohol syndrome—which Tony calls "the Drome." He has an adversarial relationship

Jacquie red feather

When readers first meet Jacquie, she is an eighteen-year-old girl going wild on Alcatraz during the Native occupation of the island in the early 1970s. She drags her younger half-sister, Opal, along on her adventures, but the girls drift apart as Jacquie flirts with an older boy named Harvey. After Harvey turns a "no into a yes" and assaults Jacquie, she becomes pregnant with his child, and later gives the baby up for adoption. Opal's sister that gets raped by Harvey and becomes pregnant. She gave up the baby for adoption. She had another baby, Jamie, she killed herself. Jacquie is a grandmother of 3 grandchildren. A substance abuse counselor. Lives in Albuquerque. An alcoholic.

Dene oxendene

is a storyteller at heart, a man on a mission to collect the stories of Native Americans living in Oakland in order to continue on the project his uncle Lucas died before finishing. Early on in the novel, Dene successfully secures an arts grant which will allow him to pay the participants of his project, incentivizing participation within the Native community. A documentary film maker raised in Oakland. He is making a project for his uncle. He convinces Blue to interview Calvin. He gathers stories for his documentary at a booth at the powwow.