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Summary: Blackfeet Culture
Review: Fools Crow is a novel more about the way of life for Native Americans. Welch uses the "Fiction" format to illustrate Native life. This is an Ethnographic novel. It is based on facts of traditional Blackfeet way of life, it is also based on real life also. The massacre of one of the tribes was a real life account. The novel depicts the one thing that Native Americans' have alsways wanted. To live their lives they way they choose, not the way White-European people want them to live. Welch shows that real effects the encroachment of white "civilization" brought to the Native Cultures, mainly disease and hate. This is an excellant novel for people of all ages and backgrounds.
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Summary: Fools Crow: An Entertaining and Informative Novel
Review: Fools Crow is a very well inspired novel that unintentionally educates about the Native American lifestyle and assimilation. Aside from the poignant storyline, I was able to learn from Welch's novel. New to me were various native traditions, war patterns, and survival tactics. Also, I became more informed about the history of the "Napikwan," or white man, invasion of the traditionally native lands. The main story line is how the Indians are learning to deal and cope with the increasingly strong presence of the white men on their land. They are having to find new ways to hunt and protect their families from new adversities. Fools Crow explores the feelings, emotions of a tribe through changing settings and events such as wars with various tribes, encounters with white men, family troubles, and hierarchy within the tribe. Many different scenes are shown within the three-hundred ninety page novel allowing for several different themes and messages to be portrayed by Welch. Throughout all this, the character Fools Crow continues to grow as a person. He kills a mighty Crow chief, marries a young Indian woman, finds his "power animal," and has a child. The story of the young, overlooked Indian who grows to become a highly regarded warrior and medicine man is somewhat cliche, yet Welch proves that an old story can be told in a new and enthralling way. I read this novel for my high school English class, and although it would not have been a piece I would have chosen on my own, I am glad to have read and learned so much about American Indians and the beginning of the end of their traditions. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone wishing to further their knowledge of Indian customs, ideals, and typical encounters. It is easily read and is entertaining along with being informative. James Welch did an excellent job with Fools Crow, and I look forward to reading more of his work.
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Summary: A beautiful look at Indian Life during the Great Expansion
Review: Fools Crow is a wonderful look into Indian life as the Great Expansion is taking place. One sees the mystical ways of the Indians; how their dreams depict them in the great picture. I am not fond of "Westerns" or books relaying our past; however, Fools Crow is fabulous. It made me wonder about the many sacrifices they made during the White Mans' plight for more land. This is a must read book.
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Summary: Insight to Indian Culture
Review: Fools Crow provides insight into the challenging lifestyle and history of the Blackfeet tribes of Montana. It follows the arduous struggles of a young Indian brave as he fights to survive in a world threatened to change forever by the ever increasing presence of the white man. The story is told from the Indians' point of view and evinces that the Indians were spiritual and respectful people. The novel is filled with beautiful imagery and intriguing insights into the spirit world of the Blackfeet and displays their faith in power animals (animals that provide a symbol of strength and courage), their respect for nature, and their close interpretation of dreams. The language of the novel helps immerse the reader in the demanding life of the Indian world. Welsh replaces common names with Indian names such as wood-biter for beaver and napikwan for white man. The book successfully captures the polygamy of tribal life and the pressures of the difficult trials a young Indian brave must endure to become powerful and respected. The Indians steal horses and war against each other to gain wealth and count war honors so that they may attract many wives and raise a family. Welsh shows the fascinating nature of Indian ceremony and the vital role of the spirit world in the Indian lifestyle.I read this book for an Honors English class and enjoyed it thoroughly. I appreciated the Indian perspective as it enabled me to understand the situation faced by the elders as they witnessed their way of life slowly being overrun by influences of the white man. I sympathized with the struggle of the tribal leaders as they decided how they would confront the napikwan intrusion. Many of the Indians saw that the white man was more powerful then they and sharp disagreements split tribes and sometimes families over whether they should fight a losing war and die with honor, or slowly lose their culture and lifestyle as the white man slowly acquired their lands.
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Summary: FOOLS CROW: Great Concept, Mediocre Execution
Review: Fools Crow, a novel by James Welch, tells the story of a young plains indian who is chosen to be given the knowledge of his doomed people's fate. The author, James Welch, is himself a plains Indian. Although his heritage is certainly an asset in Welch's wonderful depiction the Native Blackfeet lifestyle, Welch fails in that he manages nothing more than a mediocre job of telling a truly wonderful story. The tragedy of the genocide of the Native American people is a saddening subject that most definately deserves the attention of authors. With this said, the concept of telling this tragedy through the eyes of a young brave on the brink of adulthood is truly a novel one (Welch does this using a third person omnicient point of view). This book had amazing potential. It is unfortunate that as the book approaches its climax, Welch's writing becomes jumbled and unclear. Although this was no accident (I am sure that Welch did this to propigate a dream motif that had run through the entire story), it was a mistake. The dream motif was well illustrated, but at the same time, Welch manages to confuse all but the most keen of readers during the most important part of the story. In doing this, he weakens his theme, and loses much of what he intended to communicate to his audience. This is definately a good book, and maybe even a great one, but it had the potential to be so much more.
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Summary: Fools Crow by James Welch
Review: Fools Crow, by James Welch, tells of a Montanan story that needs to be told because of the historical content that ties into the storyline and is accurate according to the area where the story is set, it has a high interest level; you can't set the book down to stop reading, it keeps you hooked, and effects you emotionally, making you care about the characters.
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Summary: A sublime book
Review: For my sophomore english class we had to read two books over the summer : Brave New World and Fools Crow. Fools Crow easily surpassed Brave New world in its language. Huxley used complex, grandiloquent language to express his premonition of the future whereas Welch used simple yet exact prose to explain the past of his people. The main strenght of Fools Crow is that it lets the reader become one of the Pikunis by showing what the Pikunis value. The writing style is flawless and the story is gripping. The story runs interesting parallels (Fast Horse and Fools Crow) and expounds its themes very well. What more could you ask from a book?
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Summary: A powerful book, written with beauty and understanding.
Review: I came across the name of the author, James Welch, in Poet & Writers magazine. Very seldom have I read books about the American Indians, and I'm pleased to have read Fools Crow, which tells many stories of the Blackfeet Indians and their life in Montana in the 1870's. If you read one book about the American Indian, this is an excellent first choice, and you will be pleased and rewarded for your effort. Descriptions, situations, stories (some tragic, many happy), people, and nature are gathered together in a beautiful bundle and shared with the reader. I am anxious to learn more about the American Indian, and lives lived long ago . . . .
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Summary: Entertaining, well-done Western novel
Review: I enjoyed this novel immensely, reading it during a three-month stretch where I read nothing but westerns. This book is a lovely, well-drawn portrait of Plains Indian life, with a protagonist who is interesting, likable, and human. Beyond the insights the novel gives to American Indian culture and daily life, it does an excellent job with the elegy of a dying people. The Pikunis are at the edge of the end -- their way of life may be ending and they are powerless against the inexorable advance of the white man's future. Definitely recommended. A solid, thought-provoking book.
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Summary: Fools Crow: Quest of the hero
Review: I had to read this book for a Literature assignment in college, and I loved it. I thought it was a perfect tale of Native American life and depicts the Native American culture with a true sense of realism. I'm so glad that it was included within my curriculum for that class
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