Something very strange is going on in Crooked Tree State Forest in the state of Michigan. Several people are savagely attacked and killed by black bears. The Ottawa Indians suspect that an ancient legend has come to pass where the spirit of Shawonabe, an evil man has taken over the mind and body of a living person and is inciting the bears to murder. Shawonabe called "the evil one from the south," is buried somewhere in Crooked Tree State Forest, and the legend is referred to as "the bearwalk."...

This is a story that kept me reading late into the night. I also learned that pound for pound, the black bear is the strongest animal alive.

I ...would love to see this story made into a movie!

A MUST READ for any horror story, outdoor or Native American aficionado. "Crooked Tree" evokes an old Ottawa Indian legend as it explores the strange and increasingly violent behavior of some large furry woodland denizens. An evil spirit is threatening the balance of nature and the lives of local residents, and it's growing in power. Soon, it's affecting more than just the bears...

For a book set in the woods of Northern Michigan, "Crooked Tree" keeps a remarkably fast pace. And despite the pace, the character development doesn't suffer.

The book is superbly timed and is as scary as any Steven King novel I've ever read (and that includes Carrie, The Shining, Cujo and Christine). I join the ranks of Amazon.com reviewers calling for a movie adaptation. This would put any recent "horror" film to shame, and they wouldn't have to go hog-wild on the special effects budget. In fact, to any movie execs reading this and considering a screenplay (fat chance): I beg of you, please don't! If I have to watch another movie like "The Haunting" I may just poke my eyes out.

And speaking of eyes, you'll be doing double takes with people and pets for quite some time after you read this... just to be sure...

The book should also appeal to any Michiganders with ties to the North Woods or hunters in general. Readers interested in more background on the legend of the Crooked Tree should check out the book of the same name by John Couchois Wright that describes the history and legends of Michigan's Little Traverse Bay region and the Ottawa Indians.

- Reviewed by Todd V.

I read this probably 25 years ago and could not put it down. One of our sons read it and gave it to another son who could not finish it as it was just too scary for him at the age of 19 or 20. He lost it and we have been trying to find another copy for years. It was so vivid you could live it as you read. The bear breathing down your neck and the indian references were all too, too real! Not a book for someone who scares easily.

This book should be in all school libraries. The excellent illustrations bring the accurate text to life in a compelling way. I give 2-3 hr presentations in French or English as a voyageur. This book certainly covers more than I can in such a way. I would recommend it whole-heartedly as background for anyone interested in the period and the characters.

Every spring in the late 1700's canoes would leave from Quebec and head for upper Lake Superior. At the same time trappers from deep in the central and Rocky Mountain regions of Canada would head for the same location with the fruits of their trapping labors over the winter. They would meet for a couple of weeks of trading and partying. Then they would laboriously paddle back to where they had come from.

Howard Silvertson captures this time with short clear descriptions and beautiful watercolors that really make the history come alive. It is a part of history that is often forgotten. It's fascinating to imagine what it was like to live in those times. This book captures the feeling. This book should be in every school library.

I liked this book and will be using it this coming school year with my 5th grade students. It is an excellent book that focuses on self esteem, persistence, and acceptance of others with handicaps. However, it appears to be confusing for the fifth grade reading level. The advanced vocabulary and lack of flow because of the use of letters within the text makes me believe the reading level is probably at about eighth grade (12-14 years old). For younger students, it could be used with the teacher reading it to the students.

Mac-ke-te-be-nessy or Andrew J. Blackbird gives us a personal insight into his life as a lens to view the life of American Indians in Michigan. He explains the legends of his people and the influence of the Christian missionaries on his beliefs. He also writes of the difficulties or what we today call racism that he encountered through his dealings with the US Government and the higher learning institutions of his day (University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University). The history is rich and presented with sincerity. Anyone looking to know more about history from the perspective of a man who lived through it, especially American Indian history in the mid 19th century will benefit greatly by this book.

I bought this book just prior to moving to Ottawa. It was a worthwhile investment! Unlike some of the other guides, it concentrates on activities and destinations that are of interest to families and rates them based on their enjoyment level for kids, their learning opportunities, and cost. They list facilities available (picnic tables, restrooms,playgrounds, etc) which is definitely important when planning an all day outing with kids. The author also lists hours, prices and methods to contact an attraction, mentions near-by places of interest, and gives detailed directions from a prominent location (Parliament Hill). A wonderful guide! I hope it is updated later to include festivals for 2001 and 2002.

Our fourth grade class read this story to prepare for our trip to Mackinac Island.
This is an action packed story that makes you think and wonder what will happen next. The story line has lots of twists. Ms. Hale's use of descriptive words helped us be able to see what life would be like on the island. Because of this story, we are even more excited to visit the island. This book is a MUST for anyone planning a trip to Mackinac Island!

This is a beautiful book of pictures of Ottawa as I remember it. Buy this book for anyone who has ever lived in Canada's beautiful capital city.

This Author of this book put several years of research in collecting data on one the most sacred possessions of the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma, The Ottawa Indian Cemetery. The list contains 14 Ottawa Chiefs and one Peoria Chief. Also," Aunt Jane", born 1766, at the time of Pontiac and died 1886.

I picked up this book three years ago and have used it repeatedly to choose the best playboating spots for the various levels on the two great channels.

Also helpful is the info listed on other local rivers. Directions to the put-ins and take-outs are exceptionally accurate and helpful.

I read Excessive Joy Injures the Heart after a friend recommended it to me. I suspected I would love the novel because of its striking, poetic title, and I was right. What I loved most about this novel was its language, its gently rhythmic, sometimes fierce and astute, prose. Unlike "plot-driven" novels, whose intrigue fades with the conclusion of the action, this is a book you can read again and again. The language and the characters are real and alive, animated and complex, never false. I was drawn into these people's lives so much that I couldn't put the book down. I highly recommend it.

I love Excessive Joy Injures the Heart. Claire Vornoff, the main character, in a slow and soft manner gets under my skin and stays there for the duration. As she moves from her day to day encounters with the city and other characters, her actions and responses speak to me of my own insecurities and sometimes found courage in an unpredictable landscape of love, friendship and family.

There is Declan Farrell, her therapist, and the man she should not but inevitable does fall in love with. It is unsettling to observe him as he wanders dangerously from his role of trusting Doctor. And Libbi, the faithful, conservative friend who has a sharp eye for how things really are, Steadfast old Doctor Tenniswood, her longtime employer with the spoiled daughter and stuck-up wife. My favorite is Tony O'Bois, not Tonio Bois, the History Professor, who she keeps meeting in public places or parties that they both attend alone. It is difficult to forget these and other characters who interact with Claire's quirky life - especially her Toronto land lady, Dot.

Harvor's writing style is gently hypnotic. As I turn pages I am absorbed in a rich, tangible world of imagery. And although Claire often lives in a dreamy space, the narrative keenly plots and surprises. We are allowed into a woman's life as she carves out a place for herself in her own unique fashion. Excessive Joy Injures the Heart speaks to us of our loneliness and foibles and our sense of ourselves. This is one of those books that at the end, you're very appreciative of the experience. And many scenes will stay with you for a long time.
I highly recommend it!

Review is from Rebecca Wright, an American studying at the University of Toronto

Two women walk into "the splashy bedlam" of a public swimming pool area, then feel the steambath warmth of the chlorinated air come toward them "across the sloshed tiles, in that great booming hall of hygiene." The strawberries that Claire Vornof (the protagonist of Excessive Joy Injures the Heart) hulls are "too hard, white-knuckled at their tips", and her refrigerator is so old that it creaks like a saddle. As for one of her blouses, a pale-green shell made out of shot silk, it "looks as if it's been left out overnight in a frost."

I knew from the imagery in Elisabeth Harvor's Excessive Joy Injures the Heart that I was going to love its language, even though from the write-up on the book jacket I didn't think its story would interest me much. But as it turned out, I got hooked early on: the two central characters (Claire Vornoff and Declan Farrell) were polarized in a way that I found unusual and emotional. And by the time I'd reached the book's end, I had to conclude that Excessive Joy Injures the Heart--the title is from an acupuncture manual listing the effects of various emotions on different organs of the body--tells an incredibly electric and intelligent story, a story that also "dares to ask disquieting questions about the nature of attraction, about the responsibility for it, and the complicity necessary for two human bodies to hover, be lured, and to connect," as one of the review excerpts puts it. Even the book jacket (which was mostly pretty sappy) is absolutely right when it says that the novel is alert to the pathos of love's ambiguities.

The writing has a whole lot of momentum too, and is really original and memorable. Harvor is a writer who really seems to understand both tragedy and tenderness, but she can also be incredibly funny. There's a scene with a naturopath by the name of Mr. Spaulding that made me laugh out loud. And so did the scene describing Mitchell Kinkaid giving Claire a yoga lesson. I also really admire the way Harvor so honestly and viscerally evokes the sights and smells of the real world, as in the scene with Mitchell where Claire hasn't changed since she got home from her job (at a medical clinic) and is afraid she might be smelling a "little too sour and female. Or at the very least of a medical scent from the disinfectant at work." Or this: "The aroma of fried bananas and the crash of surfy music--surf, and some kind of tinkling, imitation Bach" that greets Claire and Tony O'Bois as they come into a vegetarian restaurant. And then there are all those other scenes that just took my breath away: a weirdly scary scene in which two men in black caps and black windbreakers skate with their black dogs on a neighborhood pond well after midnight; a scene in a theater where a theatre balcony is described as "vertigo country, and how like a precipice a theater balcony is (don't wear high heels, don't lose your balance)..."And one last thing to mention: The way that both the opening and final sentences of the novel begin with the word "Because." In fact, these "becauses" seem to symbolize the way all the questions that arise from all the human (but not necessarily wise) things that Claire Vornoff does could also be answered with that single word "Because". And so why should you read this deep and unforgettable novel? Because!