The Round House/Louise Erdrich/321 pages

Joe and his family live on a reservation in North Dakota. His father is a tribal judge, and his mother works with people who want to document their Native American heritage. After she is brutally attacked, the family is thrown into turmoil. She is traumatized by the attack and is reluctant or unable to talk about what happened or who was involved. Joe wants to investigate the crime and make the guilty party pay for it, one way or another. His friends, Cappy, Zack, and Angus help him reach his goal.


There is lots of description about life on the reservation, and the story is set in 1988, so it's not too far in the past. This was my book club selection, and there will be many things to discuss. I'm sure I didn't catch all the symbolism. I can't say this was my favorite book, but it was interesting.

The Round House / Louise Erdrich / 321 p.

The thing that I valued most about this book is the insights into Native American culture and, incredibly, how they have continued to be devalued by our government. Joe, the 13 year-old boy telling the story, is a good choice as a narrator. While it is his mother who experience the horror of a near murderous attack, the affect on this boy is profound and life-changing. My biggest complaint with this novel is the lack of dialogue punctuation. I know that author's have their own reasoning behind th...moreIn 1988 a Native American woman is attacked on her reservation in North Dakota. The story is told in retrospect by her son, Joe, who is a 13 year-old boy. While it is his mother who experience the horror of the near murderous attack, the affect on this boy is profound and life-changing. And Joe is a good choice as the narrator as he struggles to figure out how to help his parents. The thing that I valued most about this book is the insights into Native American culture and, incredibly, how they have continued to be devalued by our government. This is made clear by the fact that justice may very well not be served--by law--because the suspected attacker is white. Joe is a good choice as the narrator as he struggles to figure out how to help his parents. My biggest complaint with this novel is the lack of dialogue punctuation. I know that author's have their own reasoning behind the omission, but I find it distracting when I have to figure out who is speaking or if they are even speaking out loud. But that's me.

One Thousand White Women: the Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus - 304 Pages

Book Discussion title at Spencer Road Branch

Great book and wonderful discussion.

One Thousand White Women is the story of May Dodd and a colorful assembly of pioneer women who, under the auspices of the U.S. government, travel to the western prairies in 1875 to intermarry among the Cheyenne Indians. The covert and controversial "Brides for Indians" program, launched by the administration of Ulysses S. Grant, is intended to help assimilate the Indians into the white man's world. Toward that end May and her friends embark upon the adventure of their lifetime. Jim Fergus has so vividly depicted the American West that it is as if these diaries are a capsule in time.

Discussion questions available from Reading Group Guides at: http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides3/one_thousand_white_women1.asp#discuss

Sue - SP Book Club

Empire of the Summer Moon/S.C. Gwynne/371 pgs

The subtitle says it all: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History. In an easy and approachable tone, Gwynne takes us through the beginning of the West and the encroachment of Spanish soldiers, Mexican settlers and American people from the East. We learn about the various tribes and the challenges they posed to the conquerors. When the Spanish were finally defeated not by people but by the landscape they left behind their horses. The Comanches learned over time what these new animals could do for them. In just a few short years they transformed themselves from a humble gatherer to one of the most feared warriors on earth. Quanah was the child of a white woman and an Indian chief. We follow his story as well as the Comanche nation as they lose land and experience broken promises. Once on the reservation Quanah took to his new world and learned the value of cattle, friendship and having a long dining room table. He amassed a great fortune only to die a penniless man. Quanah was also a contemporary of Geronimo but isn't it interesting which one we remember? A great introduction to someone looking for early Native American history. Wonderful read.

Legacy / Danielle Steel / 326 Pages

Brigitte works for a college in the admissions dept, but wakes up to a shock when her life changes overnight. Her boyfriend of six years up and move to Egypt, and the next day she gets let go at work because a new computer system can do her job for her.  With nothing to do and no one hiring, she turns to her mother, who is tracking her family's geneaology back as far as she can.  Her mother hits a wall when she can't find any more records from before her family left France.  Brigitte, wanting to please her mother and with nothing better to do, tracks down some more records for her, first going to Salt Lake City and then South Dakota, where she discovers that one of her relatives was a Sioux Indian girl who somehow ended up in France and married a Marquis.  Now interested in the geneaological project, Brigitte flies to Paris to find out more.  While there, she meets a French professor, and they enjoy each other's company.  But after Brigitte goes back home and has no real life left, she decides to take a job in Paris, where she will have the time and resources to write a book about the little Indian girl, Wachiwi.  Several chapters of the book are about Wachiwi's life and how she was taken from her family to another tribe, meets a Frenchman, and makes it to France, where she falls in love and gets married.

While the underlying story line was interesting, I found this book to be difficult to read and very repetitive.  What took up 326 pages could have been made into a much shorter, better-written book, and I found myself getting irritated with it throughout my reading of it.  I think the characters were under-developed and could have blossomed into memorable people who felt real to the reader with a little more effort.  It was very disappointing, as I had heard the Danielle Steel books were very good.  I guess I will have to read some of the older ones to find out.