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Summary: Review of Grass Dancer
Review: This book weaves a myriad of folk motifs into the fabric of reality, creating a vibrant tale about the connections among generation, about how the actions of our ancestors can affect out contemporary lives-and how the presence resonates in us.The story creates a foundation in the 1860s-when a Dakota warrior-Ghost Horse, lost his love-Red Dress. Since then, their spirits have sought to be reunited, and it is the playing out of this drama that shapes the sometimes violent fate of those who have come after them. The story jumps to the 1980s,where Charlene Thunder, a teenage descendant of Red Dress, is in love with Harley Wind Soldier, a traditional dancer of Ghost Horse's lineage. When Harley's soulmate, Pumpkin, dies, Charlene suspects her grandmother, the infamous Anna Thunder- who is both revered and feared by the Dakota community. Charlene and Harley strive to make peace with the ghosts of their pasts while contending with the living. Other significant characters include Jeanette McVay, an American college student studying the tribe; Crystal Thunder-who must escape to Chicago to find her past; Herod Sall War-a member of the community who provides spiritual guidance; and Margaret Many Wounds-Harley's grandmother who he sees walking on the moon. The story combines the mythic and supernatural aspect of the Dakota heritage with the contemporary Dakota tribe to serve as a very entertaining and interesting text!
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Summary: Pure and Strong
Review: This is an extraordinary tale of the past, present and future softly but strogly interwoven with no fixed centre or bounderies. Power is a truly gifted teller of tales and one cannot help but fall deeply in love with her Sioux people no matter how foreign and strange their way of life may seem.
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Summary: An Inside Look at a Little Known Spiritualism.
Review: This is an interesting book that gives us a series of stories about Sioux spirituality. The stories are loosely interconnected with each other and tell of people who maintain an ability to employ a sort of black magic. With this "gift" they communicate with past generations, conjure up love potions, compel others to self destruction, and other bizarre phenomena. Within these stories is a generally clear view of life in a modern day Indian reservation. The author, an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation who grew up in Chicago, gives an inside view of a live fairly removed from mainstream America. I got the feeling that there was a fair amount of autobiographical material included in these stories.
I was prepared to give this book a "3 Star" rating until I noticed how well the author pulled things together towards the end. I had made the mistake of reading the book one story at a time spaced in between my other reading. I finished the last third of the book in a day's time and was able to catch the inter-relationships of the stories. Still, I was not as drawn into the spiritual magic as others may be. I don't discredit this phenomena but I suspect there are others who will get more out of the book than I did. I did enjoy a lot of the local flavor. I don't ever recall seeing any other novel that mentioned my wife's hometown of Mandaree, North Dakota. I have come to appreciate that there is a real element of spiritual magic through her Hidatsa/Mandan roots. Of the many stories and incidents that she has shared with me, I do vividly recall the night after her mother's funeral. My wife expressed her aprehension about going to bed that night because she was sure her mother's spirit would come to visit. That night, about 2AM, our house dog started barking. He never barks indoors at night and, when I got up to look around, nothing explained his outburst. I was puzzled, my wife wasn't. Susan Powers shares a lot of this in "The Grass Dancer" but on a much larger scale.
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Summary: It is a book to be SAVORED and FELT
Review: This is the kind of book that is "read" at many different levels. Levels of intellect, but, more extrodinarily, levels of consciousness. It is mystical, a weaving of the past, present and future into the present. My personal response to the book was far more viseral than intellectual. It needed to be savored slowly: a well presented goumet meal
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Summary: A Spectacular Novel
Review: This novel is an unbelievable first offering from an author. A first read of this novel can be confusing, but a second reading reveals the true depth of the work. All of the characters are interelated and show true talent. The book may be difficult for some, due in part to its non-linear plot line. This book is a must read for any true lover of literature.
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