by Jim Fergus
Carver County Library paperback 302 pages
genre: historical fiction
Amazing book. Powerful and painful. I have notes, but I'm too tired to check them now. I didn't have the book read before we discussed it, but I'm so glad I've finished it. I had to put it down at times, because I knew it would come to bad parts. Will write more later.
I'm always amazed when a male author so successfully writes from a woman's perspective.
(added 4/5/13 from notes)
pages 30/31 - letter "from" her father giving permission for May to participate in the Indian bride program . . . interesting how well she knew her father and how to write this deceptive letter
page 54 - Narcissa White is supposed to be an evangelical Christian, but she's just an awful, judgmental woman. I was so thankful for the character of Brother Anthony to counteract her!
pages 58/59 - the buffalo kill, just for the sport of it. Horrible.
pages 74/75 . . . not sure about this note. Perhaps marking my page from when I had to return the book to the library??? I went back and forth between the print & audio versions.
(added 4/27/13 from other notes . . . I have a lot of clutter in my life right now.)
Captain Bourke
Euphemia
Martha
Susan & Meggie Kelly
Chief Little Wolf
Horse Boy
Reverend Hare
Father Anthony
page 163 - Gertie and May talking about what a person needs - safety . . . security . . . love, perhaps.
Love - that's the easy part. Don't appreciate what you've got until you don't have it.
Page 255 - white vs. Indian philosophy - ". . . the only true hope for the advancement of the savage is to teach him that he must give up this allegiance to the tribe and look toward his own individual welfare." Great paragraph! The irony of what the "civilizing" of the Indians would mean, in becoming more like the whites and less like their own culture is both painful and amazing.
page 273 - Father Anthony - "The People recognize a holy man by his own actions, and the monk's simple faith and self-denial, his fasts and penances are something the Cheyennes well understand . . . "
Page 293 - Father Anthony's codicil - God is not vengeful - "God is full of Grace, Light, and infinite Mercy."
<Above posted 3.22.2013. Below added 10.07.2024.>
Someone whose judgment I trust recommended this book. I got the audiobook via Libby, but when I opened it the message was that I was 100% done. Hmmm. I started to listen to it from the beginning and recalled the story in part. As I continued listening, I realized that I probably blocked the book from my mind because it horrifies me so much.
Over and over again, the Cheyennes are described as "savages" and "heathens" while the whites are "civilized" and have so much to teach the Indians. Sadly, over and over again, the whites are barbaric in how they treat the Indians. I know it's a work of fiction, but historically white people HAVE violated treaties and been evil toward natives. This book is well written, but just makes me so sad.
May Dodd is our protagonist and the chronicler of her life's experience. She was a wealthy girl who fell in love with a working man (Harry Ames). She and Harry had two children, William and Hortense. Her father (Harry's former employer) had her committed to an asylum for promiscuity and took her children. Her "out" from the asylum (which was like jail's solitary confinement) was to become a "Brides for Indians" participant.
It's interesting to try to search for info on if such a program ever really existed. What mostly shows up are results about Jim Fergus' books. (He has a sequel to this called The Vengeance of Mothers which is told from the Kelly twins' point of view.) One blurb said that these books were based on "what IF" such a program existed? In any case, it's fascinating and horrifying.
Characters and comments:
- Hortense - May's sister / early letters were written to her / namesake for daughter?
- Euphemia - "Phemie" black former slave determined to become the master of her own life /warrior
- Daisy Lovelace - Southerner with little dog Fern Louise / painfully racist, but changed over the book
- Helen Flight - British birder, talented artist
- Narcissa White
- Captain John G. Bourke
- Martha - sweet little thing / dependent on May
- Gretchen - Swiss, powerful
- Sarah - young, sweet, truly fell in love with her husband
- Kelly sisters - Susie and Meggie
Once again, I was saddened by the senselessness of the men on the train shooting the gentle grazing buffalo. They didn't want the meat or the hides; they just wanted the "sport" of killing.
Later in the story, I smiled at the observation that the Cheyennes and whites had something in common - the men sit around and talk while the women do all the work!
Jules Seminole was such an awful skunk! I was disgusted by him throughout the entire book and especially at the end when he falsely told the soldiers that Little Wolf's camp was the camp of warlike Sioux. What an awful human being.
When Gretchen was arm wrestling and winning, I didn't remember the outcome of her match with Jules and was so scared she'd be abused by him. I loved that she won! I was sad for her that she was disappointed by her husband's choosing whiskey over her. The whiskey was so incredibly destructive and horrible for the tribe.
I didn't like the swearing and using the Lord's name in vain. I especially didn't like characters being evil to other humans. I didn't like the Cheyenne being called "Injuns" and worse.
I liked "Dirty Gertie" (alias Jimmy the driver). She was a fascinating character with a unique perspective.
The scene where the Crow horse thieves kidnapped a group of the women was so awful! I'm glad Sarah was able to pull a knife on the man who raped her, but sad that she was killed. It was noble of May to protect Pretty Girl.
May married Little Wolf, the chief of that tribe. He also had his wife Quiet One and her daughter Pretty Girl, his second wife Feather on Head and her baby, an old crone (his mother?), and Horse Boy living in his tent. Sounds crowded!
I'm a little curious to read Fergus' sequel, but I'm also cautious. While listening to this, I didn't remember how it ended. As it got to the ending, I think I must have blocked it from my mind because it made me so sad.
Narrators were Laura Hicks and Erik Steele.
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