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Summary: A Remarkable Feat!
Review: If you are looking for a book that is engaging and compelling, Susan Power's "The Grass Dancer" is it. Indeed, this book is at once exciting, poignant, and meaningful. I have to say that, among the numerous books that I have read since high school, this one ranks (at least) in the top 20. When I put down the book, I felt as though I had just awoken from a beautiful dream.
Power recreates the world of magic and spirituality in a tapestry of beautiful language and webs of stories. "The Grass Dancer" is about the traditions of the Dakota Indian people-both past and present-and the narrative switches from one narrator to another, giving us multiple perspectives into the lives of these characters. The chapters go back in time, so that events unfold in front of our eyes, making the present situation of these characters understandable. Each character seems to be finding a way to be complete, and at the end of almost each chapter, each one of them sprouts strong and resilient, like grass that is hard to pull out. Power brings us in a journey through time and space, illustrating the power of imagination, such as the possibility of walking on the moon.
Grass serves as a symbol of power, particularly Indian power. Dancing becomes a way in which an Indian keeps his or her hopes up, making it a dance that is imbued with a kind of survival energy. Power's message in this book can be summed up in this sentence, where she writes, "...look at the magic. There is still magic in the world."
This book is infused with humor to keep you interested, and spirituality to keep you inspired. The presence of love among characters is so moving that it will stir your emotions. All in all, Power hits every aspect of an Indian's life: the dichotomy between Indian and white culture, the problems that arise out of dual heritage, disease, spirits, magic, ancestral powers, religion, and love. I would re-read this book, whether it be for inspiration, or simply for pleasure. Perhaps you would find the same joy by reading this incredible story.
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Summary: An unforgettable mastery of visions and emotions
Review: Never before has the story of the modern Native American been expressed with such a unique flavor...Real yet beyond this world...I've read it several times and always find a new meaning with each reading...A transportation in time and place; a transformation in the human spirit. Looking forward to more from Power!
Rating:
Summary: An amazing, poetic read
Review: Susan Power has assembled a menagerie of characters who play out their lives with each other in Sioux country. The book has a wonderful feel. You slowly learn more about each character with each passing chapter, but not necessarily in chronological order. If you like Louise Erdrich, you will like Susan Power, too.
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Summary: A journey between past, present, and future...
Review: Susan Power's "The Grass Dancer" is marvelously enjoyable. It tells of people on a Sioux reservation whose lives intersect and intertwine, briefly, or over a lifetime, and how their relationships effect one another. We meet these people much as we most often do in real life, starting with the present and working backwards. The story slowly unravels the mystery of why the characters behave the way they do. Each chapter is told from the perspective of one character and charts the incidents which develop their personality. Ghosts of ancestors visit the present day characters and bring a sense of identity and purpose to them. It is a wonderful tale of the continuity and validity of the tribal culture and the interconnectivity between all the characters - past, present, and future. Using realism and mysticism, traditional Sioux and contemporary cultural elements, and above all, fluid, picturesque language, Ms. Powers has written a book which is wonderful on first reading and will develop more meaning with each successive one. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: A journey between past, present, and future...
Review: Susan Power's "The Grass Dancer" is marvelously enjoyable. It tells of people on a Sioux reservation whose lives intersect and intertwine, briefly, or over a lifetime, and how their relationships effect one another. We meet these people much as we most often do in real life, starting with the present and working backwards. The story slowly unravels the mystery of why the characters behave the way they do. Each chapter is told from the perspective of one character and charts the incidents which develop their personality. Ghosts of ancestors visit the present day characters and bring a sense of identity and purpose to them. It is a wonderful tale of the continuity and validity of the tribal culture and the interconnectivity between all the characters - past, present, and future. Using realism and mysticism, traditional Sioux and contemporary cultural elements, and above all, fluid, picturesque language, Ms. Powers has written a book which is wonderful on first reading and will develop more meaning with each successive one. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: a book of unforgettable images
Review: Susan Power's GD is a novel that is full of unforgettable and striking images, introducing a world that has never been fully exposed to mainstream readers. I read the book in a college class and was very touched by its portrayal of family, love, and magic. Although the novel does digress somewhat in its later sections, the ending does leave one satisfied and enriched with a new cultural perspective. This is a novel that would be of particualr interest to anyone who loved Toni Morrison's Beloved.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Glimpse into Dakota Culture
Review: Susan Power's novel The Grass Dancer is a wonderful look into the lives of the Dakota, a part of the Sioux. Her words are so rich and descriptions incredibly vivid about not only the grass dance itself from the beginning but also about the lives of the indivdual characters in the book. The organization of the book is what makes Power's novel stand out in my mind. She uniquely makes each chapter from a different person's perspective. This gives the reader a glimpse into the lives of so many people that make up the entire Native American community. Every aspect of the reservation is shown from the young Harley, Pumpkin and Charlene to the older Mercury Thunder and mythical Red Dress. So many tales and myths run through out the novel. Through the art of story telling Power's characters keep the history of their people alive for generations to come.
Power's novel was a rich glimpse into the lives of many many people who all lived together, working to live harmoniously in the same community.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful, lyrical, moving
Review: Susan Power's THE GRASS DANCER, although billed as a novel, is a series of tightly bound stories centered around the thematic core of a Sioux myth. Separately, these stories, many of which have been previously published in high-quality magazines such as The Atlantic and The Paris Review, are excellent, but read as a whole, one after the other, they form a powerful whole - a novel, if you will. The world Ms. Power creates it at once current and ancient, with legends and tales of ancestors so entwined with the present day that the Native American characters seem less like individuals and more like highlighted segments on a multi-branched and infinitely continuing time line. But that is not to say that Ms. Power creates simple characters. Her people are complex and often troubled, struggling with the magic that swirls around them.
The individual stories tell the larger one of Native Americans, in particular the Sioux, and their battles, both physical and metaphysical, with the white men who invaded their land. This is not a historical novel, however, but rather a lyrically psychological one, where myth becomes fact. The pivotal legend that embraces all the characters in The Grass Dancer is the one of Red Dress, a Sioux woman with breath the scent of plums and a spirit that guides a long line of women to their destinies, both tragic and exhilarating. Charlene, a direct descendent from Red Dress, is in love with Harley, a descendent of Red Dress's husband Ghost Horse. But Harley keeps in his heart the spirit of another woman. Charlene's grandmother, Mercury, uses Red Dress's magic to control men and to wrest Charlene from her mother. Lydia, who is mute by choice, survives her husband and son, dead because of her anger with the magic of Red Dress. The magic in this novel has such force that when Red Dress finally tells her own story, we cannot wait to see what kind of mortal she was that gave rise to such spiritual power. Sadly, the Red Dress story is the weakest of the book. Her motivation to lure white men to their deaths, ultimately bringing on her own, seems flimsy. However, Red Dress as a spirit has become so poignant through the other stories that her final appearance in the novel is perhaps one of the most moving passages.
Susan Power is an extraordinarily gifted writer with a taste for language that makes a reader want to linger over her words. Her imagination is so precise that it is difficult to accept that her characters do not exist beyond the pages.
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Summary: Practically Lyrical
Review: The editorial and other customer reviews do a good job of covering the characters and basic plot, so I won't go into that.
This has to be the best book I've read in months. It's practically lyrical, the sentences are so pretty. The dust jacket is more than a little off on the plot, so don't read that. It's a collection of self contained stories about a messed up family living on a reservation in North Dakota.
Each story is narrated by a different person and takes place a random number of years before the last one. The effect is that each new chapter gives you a different understanding of the events in the previous chapters, until you get back to the "present" time from the first chapter, where you have a completely new take on everyone involved.
It's unusual to find a short story collection this good from such a new author. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: LUMINOUS AND HAUNTING!
Review: This book is so fine, I can't believe it is a first novel for Ms. Power. The rhythm of the words was mesmerizing. I loved every character - so vividly drawn, so deeply human with their flaws and attributes. A wonderful book!
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