Crooked Hallelujah is a contemporary novel by Native-American author Kelli Jo Ford. It was published in 2020 by Grove Press. The novel explores the lives of Native-American women throughout multiple generations, as they strive to make life better for their families and the community at large.
The author deals with issues of abandonment, religion, and heritage, as these women struggle with their identity in an ever-changing world. Native-American reservations are constantly deprived of federal resources, which in turn leaves them in utter poverty. This forces many to escape the trappings of poverty for greener pastures elsewhere.
Most of the time, the people are conflicted by having to leave their families and heritage behind for the promise of the American dream in booming cities, which is not always the case. In these cities, they are often marginalized and discriminated upon.
Upon release, Crooked Hallelujah was critically acclaimed. It was long listed for a number of awards including the 2020 Center for Fiction Prize, 2020 Reading the West Award, 2021 PEN/Hemingway Award, and the 2021 Carnegie Medal for Excellence. The novel was also A New York Times Editor's Choice.
