Since its release the memoir has received favorable reviews from Booklist and Native American author Linda Hogan,[7] among others. Kirkus Reviews called it “A searing indictment of the ravages of the past and a hopeful look at the courage to confront and overcome them.”[11] For her memoir Miranda won a 2014 Independent Publisher Book Award gold medal in the Autobiography/Memoir category.[13] Additionally, Miranda won a 2015 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award[14] and was shortlisted for the 2014 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing.[7]
The memoir has also received reviews from other Indigenous women authors. Linda Hogan states that “...this book is groundbreaking not only as literature but as history” and Leslie Marmon Silko says “Miranda takes us on a journey to locate herself by way of the stories of her ancestors and others who come alive through her writing. It's such a fine book that a few words can't do it justice.”[7] Beverly Slapin also states that “Miranda has created an achingly beautiful mosaic out of the broken shards of her people and herself.”[15]
