Rating: 
Summary: Great Book
Review: Extremely informative and very satisfying to read about different cultures, especially the Northwest Indian ones.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Depiction of Alaskan Native Life
Review: Having lived in Southeast Alaska for two years, in a village that could have served as the model for Kingcome, I find Margaret Craven's book to be magical in its ability to capture the tone of that area and its inhabitants. Her elegantly understated depiction of villagers and their social dynamics, as seen through the eyes of the terminally ill priest, are accurate and reflect what I myself observed in my time in the village of Metlakatla, Alaska. With beautiful descriptions and vivid depictions of the surroundings and lives of the village inhabitants, Ms. Craven draws us into a world few are privileged to experience.
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Summary: amazingly fantastic and gorgeous work of Canadian literature
Review: Hi, everybody. Out of the twenty four books from the school's summer reading list that I have read during the holiday, I chose I Heard the Owl Call My Name, written by Margaret Craven, for my oral report. The book, which can be found under the Canadian Nature section, was Craven's first work and was first published in 1967. With stunning narrative, the plot revolves around a young dying vicar, Mark Brian, who went to an Indian village called Kingcome in the Pacific Northwest completing his last mission (though he did not know he only had three years to live). He had to overcome many great difficulties in order to help and convert these proud, Kwakiutl native people, for the old ones were unreligious while the young ones had little respects toward the old people and the old way of life. His first problem was trying to be accepted into this struggling primitive community, which was starting to be swallowed into white man's world. Then he had to help preserve the old culture of totems and salmons from being replaced by a new culture of alcoholism and residential schools. In the end he did succeed in earning respect and trust, maybe even love, of the people, but, most of all, he learnt a most valuable lesson - the acceptence of death, life and submission, as quoted by the author: Often in the avalanche of letters I received after I Heard the Owl Call My Name was published, people asked me what disease killed Mark Brian. I don't know. What matters is that he learned more of love and life in his three years with the Indians than most men learn in a long lifetime, and that it was he who thanked them. - from Again Calls the Owl, Craven's autobiography Margaret Craven, the author, actually went to an Indian village to do her research and learn the culture, the tales as well as the language. Some of the characters and events in the story are based on people she met at the village, and that makes her work much more realistic and believable. Some of the themes discussed in this book are cycles or changes of life, vanishing way of life of the natives, and, most of all, acceptence of death. The only main character is the vicar himself and the conflict of the novel of his being accepted. The book is fairly simple and straight forward, but the author describes the setting with vivid imagery, which makes me really understand and learn a lot about the Kwakiutl culture and customs, for example, in one of the chapters, she talks about the cannibal dance. The mood remains quite consistent throughout the whole book. It is not really the sadness that urges me to read on - it is the calmness and the selflessness of the native people that are so enchanting, and the closeness with nature as well. I have to agree that the beginning of the book was quite dull to begin with, and the climax did not come until the second last chapter. However, if I really read the book carefully, I can also see that every few chapters is a short, descriptive story by itself, for example, there is one about a few Indian kids going to residential school in Vancouver, and how the elders disapprove the idea. There is also another one which tells about druken Indians being cheated by a white man. The vocabulary is fairly simple, and the novel can easily be understood by grade nines, but the meaning, or the lessons of this memorable novel really takes someone much older and much more mature to understand and appreciate. Therefore, I would only recommand this book to those of you who enjoy books about nature. All in all, this is a marvelously compelling work of Canadian literature. To conclude my presentation, I am going to read you a short quote that will give you some idea about the author's style: Under a green spruce Marta stood by herself, her eyes on the young vicar. How thin and white he was! How long had it been there - that look on his face she had seen many times in her long life and knew well? It was not the hard winter that had placed it there. It was death gently reaching out his hand, touching the face gently, even before the owl had called the name. Thank you!
Rating: 
Summary: NO NO NO NO NO
Review: I am a student and I had to read this book. It gave me a different outlook on life. NOT TO READ ANYMORE. This book is both boring and confusing. You will all probably say that I am a nut, but this is the wierdest book with no ending I have ever read. Don't buy it. Wait till' your teacher forces you to read it!
Rating:
Summary: I really liked this book, it was very deep and meaningful
Review: I felt that this book showed a great portrayal of a caucasian american step out of his actual skin and see what it is like to live in different surroundings. The detail was so vivad I felt that I was actually in the Indian village. It is definetly something everyone should read. This makes me want to become a missionary and travel the world meeting and building friendships with wonderful people like the indians in the indian village.
Rating:
Summary: This is a beautifully written book.
Review: I found this on books on tape, listened to it, and immediately played it through a second time. Now I'm tempted to listen to it a third time. It's just so incredibly well written and moving!
Rating:
Summary: HORRIBLE!
Review: I got to read this book because I needed to help my foreign exhange student, who was assigned the book in English class, understand it. Trust me, an absolutely horrible reason to read anything.
Once I began to read, I was transported. With simple elegance, Margaret Craven helped me get to know a group of fictional characters that I began to care and ache for.
Some people have said that this book portrays white people as evil and the native people as simple and pure, or that only the clergy in the book come across as decent whites.
I couldn't agree less. White people and natives are both shown with all of the good and bad characteristics all people share.
This is not a glorification of a simple way of life that is failing under the pressure of the modern world. The author does a great job of showing that change, like death, is inevitable and that both need to be accepted with grace, planning, joy and sorrow.
For those of you who have read this book and found it unsatisfactory, I can only hope that you have found other books that take you to the same place that this one took me. You might consider trying to read it again some time. 150+ pages isn't much in the way of an investment. So many times what I like in books, movies, etc is a matter of time and circumstance.
Rating: 
Summary: What a great little book
Review: I got to read this book because I needed to help my foreign exhange student, who was assigned the book in English class, understand it. Trust me, an absolutely horrible reason to read anything.
Once I began to read, I was transported. With simple elegance, Margaret Craven helped me get to know a group of fictional characters that I began to care and ache for.
Some people have said that this book portrays white people as evil and the native people as simple and pure, or that only the clergy in the book come across as decent whites.
I couldn't agree less. White people and natives are both shown with all of the good and bad characteristics all people share.
This is not a glorification of a simple way of life that is failing under the pressure of the modern world. The author does a great job of showing that change, like death, is inevitable and that both need to be accepted with grace, planning, joy and sorrow.
For those of you who have read this book and found it unsatisfactory, I can only hope that you have found other books that take you to the same place that this one took me. You might consider trying to read it again some time. 150+ pages isn't much in the way of an investment. So many times what I like in books, movies, etc is a matter of time and circumstance.
Rating:
Summary: HORRIBLE!
Review: i had to read this book for a school thing and i absolutely hate it! its boring, confusing,and lame!!!!!! it should never have been published! no offence to margaret craven, but u should have never written this book and no one else shoould read it!(...)
P.S. i would actually give this book negetive stars
Rating: 
Summary: This was a cultural and moving book
Review: I heard the owl call my name was a book about the interactions between the Vicar{Mark Brian}and the Native Americans. Kingcome was the setting of the story located near Vancouver. The basis of the story was the turmoil they went through and how the Vicar stood with them through it all. I really like the book. Although Margaret Craven is not Native American and can not really relate she did a good job presenting the information she knew.
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