Rating:  Summary: IT DOESNT GET ANY BETTER... Review: Halfway through "Green Grass.." , I stopped and read it from the start again. I've read everyone from Alexie to Welch and this is simply and undoubtedly the very best novel (or fiction) I've read about native americans yet. Actually, I think it's the best novel I've read in a decade at least. with Terrific characters and dialogue, a wicked sense of humor and a poignant sense of the human condition, this book is both mischievous and brilliant, capturing the trickster spirit, and the humor of modern day native american people. I can't wait for King's next book...And where is it, anyway?
Rating:  Summary: Interesting... Review: I found this novel aesthetically pleasing, well written and interestingly structured, as well as witty in places, but hardly hilarious as others here have suggested. Regarding the book seeming to be written by a female (with all the presumptions of enlightenment that that carries with it - in this text and in literati generally) due its satirical reworkings of phallocentric myths and legends, I would say that the first 'novel' in history by Cervantes did just that, so phallused author's have a decent tradition in that area; having said that, this comment made the course material of my literature course at university, so you can see how pervasive it is. I don't blame the book for its strident and parochial feminist/misandrist and postcolonial themes - there is almost a complete cultural saturation of it. The book works in very well with current literary theory and should be used by all like-minded people as a text to place new 'Portias' and 'Shylocks' in different racial/cultural groups - same sort of hatreds with different wrappings. It's a shame, because King's talents as a writer are very great, despite the ideolatry.
Rating:  Summary: Quirky Review: I read this for a book club. It's OK, but I found it hard to get inside the characters' heads. If you want a quirky, quick, read go ahead. if your looking for great writing or passion, give it a miss.
Rating:  Summary: An amusing, well written, insightful book! A great read! :-) Review: King did a great job at writing this book; not only is it amusing, but its also very insightful as to how natives have to blend into the modern day culture while trying to maintain their heritage at the same time.The way its written is also great: each character has their own story with no apparent connection in the beginning; all of them slowly intertwining with each other towards the middle, and joining towards the end. Overall a very entertaining novel! :)
Rating:  Summary: Ummmmm Review: Okay- I get it but I don't like the seemingly sloppy way it was written where it could be way above most peoples intellects. I enjoyed the stories but just wished the connection was seen earlier in the plot. Halfway through I was still confused about where Changing Woman and Coyote fit in.
Rating:  Summary: Ummmmm Review: The characters tell this story ... it touches on First Nations themes without being self-conscious about it ...
Rating:  Summary: entertaining and thought-provoking Review: This book is a brilliant, if slightly confusing, satire on the way white-christian-capitalist culture in North America has mistreated the aboriginal people. Blending reality and legend, this story pokes fun at the Canadian and American governments, Hollywood, and Christianity, through the lives of several Blackfoot people, both on and off the reserve, and the meddling of four ancient Indians and the trickster-god Coyote. This is a story that makes you think, while tears of laughter are rolling down your cheeks.
Rating:  Summary: Entertaining and funny, but slightly confusing. Review: This book is a very fun read. The various characters, especially coyote and the four elders, are wonderful, as are the four framing creation stories. King can deal with very serious matters and still be hilarious, and his use of joke names for some of his characters is wittily done (i.e. there is a Joseph Hovaugh -- je hova). My only problem with the work lies in a feeling of being left out -- I was somehow given the sense that I would understand the book more if I were Native, even though I am passably well versed in the mythologies the story deals with. Some of the understandings gained by the characters seem culturally specific, in a way, a feeling which I did not get from King's "Medicine River."
Rating:  Summary: Green Grass, Running Water Review: This is a great romp. King has an almost Wodehousian sense of comic coincidence, but with a subtler and rarer touch. Although it is a hilarious book, the discovery of yet another connection between the novel's converging story lines is just as likely to elicit an 'ah ha' as a belly laugh. It's funny, but humor is applied with some depth. King pokes fun at his characters and their foibles, but he always does it with a certain sense of reverance. "Tomorrow, he would begin to floss." he says of one character when at the age of 40 he decides to finally do something meaningful with his life. It takes courage in a post modern, politically correct world, but maybe laughing with someone about their own cultural baggage is a sincere and accessible form of respect. I have to point out that from a Christian perspective, parts of the book could be viewed as sacrilegious. Although they are the heroes of the book, perhaps some aboriginal Americans would also consider his reworking of mythological stories as being inappropriate--I cannot say. I choose instead to interpret this in cultural instead of religious terms. One of the major themes of the book is the oppressiveness of western cultural imperialism and its affect on the remaining indigenous population. Its hard to do that without taking a poke or two at the religion that has so frequently been used as an excuse for non-religious cultural and economic activities. King is insightful and droll--no gender, race, or occupation is completely safe from his biting wit and sense of the absurd. A review on the book cover describes his similarity to Twain, and I think the comparison is apt. Like Twain, the dialogue is snappy, colloquial and believable. The story is funny, engrossing and challenging. I think Twain would have liked it and recommended it. I do too.
Rating:  Summary: Funny and Interesting mixed up with some culture Review: This kind of book I had never read before. I liked the way King tries to tell you something about Native American culture without getting boring. Actually my stomache cramped from the laughing after almost every 2 pages. On the other hand the book is not only comic but it has also its serious side. The book deals with native american families who have to find out for themselves who they are and what their culture means to them. I can advise evryone to read this book and if you don't like it, go see a doctor or something!
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