Shutter by Ramona Emerson

Book review by Colleen Lutz Clemens

Ramona Emerson’s debut novel Shutter took me by surprise.  I am not usually a mystery or crime genre fan, but her interview with Terry Gross piqued my interest enough to request my library’s copy. Turns out Terry wasn’t the only person interested in this new writer—the novel was just honored by PEN America, who longlisted the novel for the PEN Open Book Award 

(to an exceptional book-length work of any literary genre by an author of color) and the PEN/HEMINGWAY Award For Debut Novel (to a debut novel of exceptional literary merit by an American author)—and longlisted for the National Book Award. All of this attention to Emerson (Diné) is very much deserved, as this debut novel engages the reader from the moment they start. 

In this first novel of a trilogy, Emerson tells the story of Rita Todacheene, whose vocation of photography is matrilineal and leads her to work as a forensic photographer. The first pages throw the reader into the grisly world Rita must document as evidence. It seems that she is documenting a suicide, but Rita notices enough details on the scene to feel suspicious about the story the police are spinning about the woman’s death.  Rita, gifted from birth with not only seeing but engaging with the dead—often to their surprise—is quickly approached by Erma who wants the truth about her death to be revealed so her daughter can receive insurance funds and her family can be at peace knowing Erma did not want to die. Erma harasses Rita, causing Rita physical harm as her vitality is drained; this depletion had always been the concern of the two adults who cared for Rita most of her life: her grandmother and the reservation’s medicine man.  (I appreciated the development of the backstory of Rita and her family, though reviews online are mixed about the amount of detail given to this character development.  It makes sense to me if we are going to read a few more novels featuring Rita, that, I imagine, will focus more on the story of the present and perhaps a little less of the past.) In the end, the ghosts of the many crimes scenes of the novel are satisfied, and Rita can rest for the time being.

My only quibble with the novel would be the use of a camera name in each chapter title.  It feels too clever and doesn’t inform the chapters as much it could have, so those subtitles become a distraction instead of an addition to the text.  With that as the book’s biggest “flaw,” it clearly is a solid read for anyone interested in a compelling crime novel that beautifully weaves together the past and present—I will definitely be reading the next novel to see where Rita’s ghosts take her next.

Colleen Lutz Clemens is a professor of English at Kutztown University where she also directs the Women’s, Gender, and Sexualities program. She is the mother of one and the teacher of many. Her musings and publications are housed at her blog.