The Hollow

Rating:
Summary: Very highly recommended
Review: Life's paths move in circles, and within those circles lies a hollow that may be a home where people live connected to what is important, "who they are, where they come from." Or some may go to the hollow "to hide, to cover themselves up and never live.. We all live in a hollow, a place of our own making."

Life's paths have brought Cathleen McCaffrey full circle when she is compelled to return to her beloved grandmother's deathbed. As she holds her dying grandmother's hand, Cathleen can't help wondering why Elijah Landerville is there, "How important could one old white woman be to the chief of an Indian reservation." The answers will change her life forever.

Denying her heritage, denying the very substance of who she is, has left Cathleen dying from the inside out. Baffled by the Ojibway people of White Earth Minnesota's response to her grandmother's passing, Cathleen seeks answers in an old trunk with a brittle lock and a leather bound journal. The journal and the relics found in the trunk recount the history of Cathleen's ancestors in a vivid tale that changes Cathleen's perception of who she is and lends her life purpose and love. As Cathleen discovers her sacred path, the reader joins her journey, and the journey of the women who have come before her, in a sacred dance that spans generations to provide healing and closure to a damaged people.

Rather than a mournful tale of loss of a defeated people, McCarthy blends profound lessons of identity and heredity evenly with love and self-acceptance in a joyful reflection of lives seeking their sacred paths. McCarthy's deep understanding of the challenges of Native Americans and love of the world they inhabit reaches beyond a simple romantic tale to embrace the deeper issues of life. Her profound respect for the land and spirituality of the Native Americans brings to mind one of my personal favorite pieces of literature: William Least Heat-Moon's PRAIRYERTH. If you love Native American backgrounds, a deep respect for the earth and the people that inhabit it, or if you enjoy journeys of self-discovery, I can't recommend this novel enough.