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Rating: 
Summary: A Crash Course on Contemporary Indian Identity
Review: Don't buy Ian Frazier's book if you want any kind of accurate picture of today's Indians. Buy this one instead - this is the book to get if you want to begin to understand the complexities of being an Indian. The author speaks to both the initiated and the ignorant. It's both a moving and a fun read.
Rating:
Summary: a blast!
Review: I am so happy that he won the 1999 native american journalism award for his editorials, which appear in indian country today , news from inidan country and the circle. this book is wonderful and very funny! the poem he writes about John Wayne visitng Vietnam is a masterpiece and shows " the Duke" for what he really is a wimp and a wuz! get this book it's truly a gem!
Rating:
Summary: Good Writing Too
Review: I picked this book up at random while browsing the "Native American studies" shelf at my local book megastore, and I was quickly drawn in, reading it cover-to-cover in a day. Jim Northrop is an Anishinaabe who lives on the Fond du Lac Reservation in Northern Minnesota, and in this book he writes about reservation life, about Native American political issues, and about his own travels and experiences. One of the great strengths of this book is his honesty as a memoirist. While sticking largely to a humorous matter-of-fact tone, he does not shy away from his grief at his son's suicide attempt or his difficulties returning from war in Vietnam. Another strength is the conversational quality of the writing itself. At first it bugged me, short sentences put together into these meandering run-on paragraphs, but after some reading I began to think more of Italian vocal technique, where the tone continues, rising and falling, with words just dotted on the surface. Eventually it felt like I was just hanging out with the guy, listening to his interesting stories. There are times when the writing falls down, for example during an extended series of sports metaphors during a dicussion of racism, or in the rather forced series of kangaroo references when describing a tribal "kangaroo court". But despite these problems I found the writing compelling and accessible. I'm not qualified to analyze the political arguments he sometimes makes, but his perspective on treaty rights, sports mascots, and gambling will certainly stay with me, informing and broadening my thinking when I next encounter these issues in daily life.
Rating:
Summary: Good Writing Too
Review: I picked this book up at random while browsing the "Native American studies" shelf at my local book megastore, and I was quickly drawn in, reading it cover-to-cover in a day. Jim Northrop is an Anishinaabe who lives on the Fond du Lac Reservation in Northern Minnesota, and in this book he writes about reservation life, about Native American political issues, and about his own travels and experiences. One of the great strengths of this book is his honesty as a memoirist. While sticking largely to a humorous matter-of-fact tone, he does not shy away from his grief at his son's suicide attempt or his difficulties returning from war in Vietnam. Another strength is the conversational quality of the writing itself. At first it bugged me, short sentences put together into these meandering run-on paragraphs, but after some reading I began to think more of Italian vocal technique, where the tone continues, rising and falling, with words just dotted on the surface. Eventually it felt like I was just hanging out with the guy, listening to his interesting stories. There are times when the writing falls down, for example during an extended series of sports metaphors during a dicussion of racism, or in the rather forced series of kangaroo references when describing a tribal "kangaroo court". But despite these problems I found the writing compelling and accessible. I'm not qualified to analyze the political arguments he sometimes makes, but his perspective on treaty rights, sports mascots, and gambling will certainly stay with me, informing and broadening my thinking when I next encounter these issues in daily life.
Rating: 
Summary: Funny and Fascinating
Review: Northrup has a hilarious deadpan style, and this is an absolutely fascinating insight into modern Native American life and perspectives. It's unfortunate it's so badly edited (lots of repetition) because it deserved to be better polished. Even so, it's definitely a great read.
Rating:
Summary: Real life in Indian Country
Review: Northrup manages to take traditional storytelling and gives it a twist of seldom heard, outside-rez-life irony. During the spring 1998 semester, my students read a chapter and out of all the readings, this was the one that was most often used as an illistration on their final exam. Highly recomended for all, and yes, Jim Northrup does write the same way he speaks.
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Summary: Tremendous
Review: This book is brutal without being harsh, funny without being lightweight. In a society where everyone (and I do mean everyone) is made to feel guilty for everone else's suffering, this is a breath of fresh air. The problems Northrup faces every day are aired alongside with the joys. For every pain, he offers a happiness.And he never says you can't understand. He just offers another way to see his life.
Rating:
Summary: Just the Kind of Creative Nonfiction I Like to Read
Review: What Northrup has to say is as interesting as the way he says it. I really loved his style of writing: chatty, wry, ironic, funny, serious--often at the same time.
Rating:
Summary: Gently Honest
Review: While not particularly eloquent, Follies hits like a velvet hammer. Northrup's story should be required reading for anyone who has ever used the phrase: "I'm not racist, in fact I'm part indian." The storyline jumps around a bit and the prose isn't always the best, but Northrup more than makes up for it with honesty and the ability to convey his feelings for tradition, family and place. A quick read and very, very good. Highly recommended.
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