Thirteen Moons [Paperback]

 

 

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The Frontier is a central concept in the American experience. While the most progress was usually made in the crowded cities of the East, the new American spirit, psychology, and perspective were born in the Frontier. Few can tell you much about Robert Fulton or Commodore Vanderbilt, but almost everyone can say something accurate about Davy Crockett.

In recent years, it has become popular to take the exalted view of the Frontier and to turn it into post-Modern ordinariness. Some do that with humor. Others do it by patching together wildly improbable events. I applaud those efforts because they bring balance back into something that has become too much of a myth.

Thirteen Moons is another shift in perspective, but one that's a shift aimed at creating a more normal view of the Frontier . . . one that escaped all but a few who actually lived in the Frontier. It's a perspective that views the Native American experience with the same validity and sympathy as the Frontiersmen's experiences. I found that refreshing.

So what's the story? Will Cooper, an orphan, is sold off as a bound apprentice to a trader and is to serve as the head of a trading post at the edge of the then-independent Cherokee Nation. Cooper's contacts are daily with the Native Americans and very rarely with those who resupply him. Not surprisingly, he grows up with a combined perspective that appreciates what "civilization" brings but honors and is uplifted by the real support he receives from Bear, the chief who adopts him into the tribe.

Cooper honors that relationship, even after the tide turns and the American government evicts the Cherokees. What's the plan? Cooper buys up enough of the unwanted high-altitude land to allow Bear's people to have a home without being moved further West.

But in some ways it's a lonely vigil because Cooper loses the love of his life.

As you read the story, you'll find it jumbled and stilted in places. That's not because Charles Frazier couldn't have told a smoother story, but because Mr. Frazier wanted you to know more about the history of those times than you probably know now. He wants you to know that some Native Americans were plantation owners and slave holders. He also wants you to know that the government didn't play fair with the Native Americans. Further, he wants you to see the senselessness of the sentiment against Native Americans. He also wants you to feel the intensity and challenge of trying to walk in both worlds . . . it cannot quite be done without selling your soul every so often.

If you are willing to be challenged into thinking what you would have done as Will Cooper, you'll adore the book. If you find yourself wanting more to be entertained, you won't like it as much. It'll seem like an average book to you.

The only serious flaw I saw was that the stories of Featherstone and Claire receive more attention than was necessary to accomplish the book's apparent purpose. As such, they distract and slow down what could have been a more compact, intense, and challenging book.

But if you are open to seeing the Frontier in a new way, you should read this book. It'll expand your horizons.

I found the book slow-moving. The storyline was okay. Descriptions of the countryside were excellent. You could feel yourself right in the place at the time. However, I could have stopped reading it before the end and not felt guilty.

It's been called "a powerhouse second act," and it is that. Pulitzer Prize winner Charles Frazier's much anticipated second novel,"Thirteen Moons" is another journey to 19th century America, rich in landscape portraits and vibrant pictures of a changing nation.

One more powerhouse act is delivered by voice performer Will Patton, a two time Obie Award winner for Best Actor. Patton artfully embodies the voice of narrator/hero Will Cooper from the twelve-year-old who is sent alone into an Appalachian wilderness to the mature Will who becomes a successful business man. Most poignant are the scenes in which Will thinks of the woman he loves, Claire. One can almost hear the ache in his voice as he longs for her. Later, his strength and determination are heard when he pleads a case for the Cherokee. A remarkable voice performance!

Due to economic necessity young Will is sold in service to a man who sends him to run a trading post near to the Cherokee nation. It is there that he meets Bear, an Indian chief who befriends the boy. The Cherokees are also accepting. He has learned to speak their language, is appreciative of their culture. In addition, he meets Clare, the love of his life.

Will is nothing if not clever and in manhood becomes a financially successful man, wealthy enough to buy land for the Cherokee people who have been ordered to leave their birthplace, and wise enough to become an advocate for them in Washington.

Once again, Frazier has crafted a stunning literary experience, a brilliant work of historical fiction. Don't miss it.

- Gail Cooke

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5.0 out of 5 stars An American Story. . .A love story
I must qualify my review by saying that cold Mountain was one of my favorite reads of the 1990s and I have patiently been waiting for Mr. Fraizer's sophomore effort. Read more

Published on Oct 3 2006 by Phil Gaston

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