From Publishers Weekly
Composed in a spare style that is more folkloric than minimalist, this slim but powerful first collection of 15 short stories by Cook-Lynn focuses on Native Americans in various periods of the 20th century. Dominated by dysfunctional families, economic hardship and sudden violence, her characters struggle to survive and also to maintain their dignity--in some cases, merely to ask why their tribal culture is one in which "strange events were witnessed with inexplicable but characteristic tolerance." Whether writing of a young Vietnam veteran, of a family burying the violent head of its household or of a divorcee fighting for custody of her children, Cook-Lynn masterfully shows how Native Americans are caught in a double bind: trapped with white society in a relationship marked by a sense of betrayal and mistrust, and haunted by the symbolic forces of nature, with reservation lands generally seen as "repositories of sacred worlds unknown to all but the most ancient tenants." The author is a member of the Crow Creek Sioux tribe in South Dakota, and is an associate professor of English and Native American Studies at East Washington University.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
YA --This collection of short stories depicts native American reservation life in the twentieth century. Some of the stories read like folktales, as in the opening story in which an old woman walks with her grandchild as they experience the beauty of the sky. Other selections are contemporary stories of reservation life dealing with drinking, families, or relationships. These tales are realistic, often painful to read; they are sometimes humorous, but always poignant. This collection could be used to broaden one's sense of the native American culture when reading for pleasure or doing a research project. Those who enjoyed Michael Dorris' Yellow Raft in Blue Water (Holt, 1987) should also appreciate these short stories.
- Donna R. Deibel, Fairfax County Public Schools, VACopyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
