Yes, Hanta Yo! is a very romantic work of fiction. Yes, Ms. Hill includes a few "Lakota" words in the "dictionary" in the back, but ask a Lakota what he / she thinks about it. TODAY'S Indians are NOT like the ones portrayed in this book. There is also great doubt that a "wasichu" , and a woman at that, was given such careful consideration by any "holy men" or Elders. It may have happened , but maybe not. Like Dances With Wolves, it is simply a romantic fiction, well written, moving, but not representative of modern Indians who do not , for the most part, see it as a great work , and certainly NOT as a "Bible" of any sort. Recommended for reading about today's Indians, " Indians are Us?" about the cultural theft of a proud and very alive people.

A reviewer states the book is not relevant to TODAY's native peoples. This book is not about today. 2/3rds of the book deals with the Lakota people prior to white intrusion. Ruth Beebee lived with the Lakota for 20 years, wrote the original manuscript in the Lakota language and then rewote it in english. Native people today who condemn the book especally with its acceptance of homosexuality, and other contra-christain attitudes are looking at the book through White values. Maybe not a book for native people, but a book for whites to gain a greater understanding of something of the nonEuropean culture that dominated this land prior to European genocide. (Did the other reviewer actually read the book?)

"Admit ,assume, because, believe, could, doubt, end, expect, faith, forget, forgive, guilt, how, it, mercy, pest, promise, should, sorry, storm, them, us, waste, we, weed -- neither these words nor the conceptions for which they stand appear in this book; they are the whiteman's import to the New World." So states Ruth Beebe Hill in the intro to her beautiful book Hanta Yo. It is more than a great story, a fast and magnetic read -- it is a revelation. This is a paean to the North American Indian, an ancient race for whom the life of the spirit was all. Ms. Hill, with the painstaking help of one of the last of the full-blooded Dakotah, has pieced together a brilliantly rich tapestry, a work that has distant and strange echoes in many great works; from the sacred texts of the Baghavad Gita to the Bible, of Russell Hoban's courageous futureman Riddley Walker to Tolkien's Ring Trilogy-- indeed, the construction of an entire, vibrant world complete with a language of its own has its similarities to Tolkien, but the difference here is that Hanta Yo is the true past of this land on which we now work, love, breathe, and die. I know I wax rhapsodic, but this book will do that to you. Anthropology, poetry, history, action, sex, romance, and more. What more could you ask for in a book? The kicker is that it's based on an Indian document that was discovered in 1865, relating to life before the whitemen. Please read this. It sings.

A saga-like tale of Norwegian immigrants to America, specifically to Dakota territory, travelling in covered wagons, living in sod huts dug into the ground, isolation, blizzards, planting & plagues of locusts, this book will make you feel you were there.

This story is also about the marriage between Per & Beret Hansa, a difficult relationship: He wanted to emigrate and she did not but went along with him, unfortunately it is all too much for her and she loses her mind. I think this book presents a very realistic picture of marital relations of that time.

The ending was somewhat bizarre and made me laugh out loud though I'm not sure it was supposed to be funny. I intend to read the sequel and will probably reread this one again one day, it's a great immigrant/pioneer classic.

For years, my father repeatedly urged me to read this book about the pioneer life of Norwegian immigrants. Although my father is from Texas and has no Norwegian roots, he read this book in high school and it apparently made quite an impact upon him. Moreover, my great-grandmother on my mother's side immigrated from Norway around 1900 and this gives me some insight into her experience. The author does an outstanding job of conveying the mental as well as the physical struggles that pioneer families faced in the 1870's. I never contemplated that the isolation of pioneer life could be so difficult. The book was a quick read after the first 50 or so pages, and I am now moving on to Peder Victorious. I am glad I finally followed my father's advice.

Having grown up on the prairie, I have always found the tales of pioneer life absolutely intriguing. Both sides of my family come from pioneer roots and stories such as "Giants in the Earth" never fail to move me.

This novel was particularly wonderful. I wasn't sure what to expect when I began to read "Giants in the Earth." Having never read Rolvaag I was a little nervous, but it has turned out to be an experience that has helped to guide my course of studies over the past year.

The character development is extraordinary. One can't help but feel an intimate attraction to the characters and Rolvaag's dramatic portrayal of their lifestyle can't help but inspire empathy in readers.

The characters each inspire different emotions - Per Hansa: Pride; Beret - Frustration!

I would strongly recommend this book to anyone looking for an absolutely unbiased portrayal of pioneer life. It will inspire you.

This Book is a great book because, it is depended on a true story about the person wrote the book, Laura Ingalls Wilder. So far I have read almost the whole set of these great books and I think that the books were exciting and also fantastic. In this book The Long Winter it was hard for the family to survive a very long winter around 8 months that had hard snow with barely any supplies because of the blizzards. The blizzard made the Ingalls have a hard time because the snow made the train with the supplies to take to their town imppossible to make it there so, they had to use Mary's college money to pay for food and warmth because, in the store they raised the price on everything. My favorite part was when the two men went into the storm and got wheat for the store in the big storm. What got me mad was shopkeeper paid for the wheat but charged so much over the price. But the 2 men stood up and said something so he lowered the price of the wheat and sold the wheat to the costumers for the original price that those 2 men got from the man who sold it to them.

We have just finished reading this fifth book in the Laura series with our five year old daughter - she has loved all of them. I can recall reading this as a child, and the impression of the hunger, hardship, and courage of the Ingalls family stayed with me. I thought it might be a little dark for my daughter, but she really enjoyed it. We heartily recommend the entire series, even for children who are not able to read it independently yet - she started the series two months ago when she turned five, and we have read it virtually every night since (Little House in the Big Woods, on the Prairie, Banks of Plum Creek, etc.). It really is an interesting way to introduce American history, settling of the West, etc., into a child's life, especially a girl's. My younger daugther, 3, enjoys it too, but has a shorter attention span. The two of them play "Laura & Mary" all the time, and have demonstrated via their imaginary play that not just the spirit but the detail of the stories have made an impression. I don't think we have "ruined" it for them by reading it to them before they could read it on their own - I think they will return to these stories later.

THE LONG WINTER by Laura Ingalls Wilder is a non-fiction story which tells about her interesting pioneer life.The book describes Laura's life in the prairies during a winter in the late 1870's. It tells how she and her family survive the long hard winter that year. It talks about how hard it was to find enough food for everyone.The chidren had to keep up with their school lessons at home because the blizzards were so strong that they had to stay inside.I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to about what it was like in other times in history. In conclusion this is a great book to learn what it was like to be a pioneer in the 1870's.

To experience the full impact of this book read "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" first and then read this book.

Before I even picked this book up from the shelf I thought of the Cheyenne proverb, "A nation is not conquered until the hearts of its women are on the ground. Then it is done, no matter how brave its warriors nor how strong their weapons." Then I opened the book, and this quote was written at the beginning of the first chapter.

This book is essential for understanding what has been done, and is being done to Native American women and girls. Mary Crow Dog tells her own courageous story, and that of many brave women before her.

Born on a Sioux reservation in the Dakotas to a wayward father and a mother who left the traditional life for Christianity, Mary Crow Dog overcomes the difficulties of a young Native American girl to become a leader in her people's movement. This autobiography follows her early days in a Christian school and culminates with her protesting and giving birth at the 1973 Wounded Knee standoff between the troubled Lakota Sioux and the US government. Written in a conversational style, the book is tragic and, at times, funny as Crow Dog demonstrates her incredible strength and sense of humour in the face of seemingly unstoppable adversity. A stunning read

This is one of the best books available to people interested in contemporary Native Americans. Mary Brave Bird's life story sheds light on traditions of her Lakota (Sioux) people from the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations in South Dakota. She shows, in a very clear way, their tortured history with the missionaries, state bureaucracy, the courts, the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). We see to what extent the government has succeeded in destroying the old life and how small groups of the Sioux managed to preserve traditional ways and ceremonies.

The book is written in a way which preserves the unique appreciation Indians have for unadulterated truth - a style which is simple, direct and in which personal experiences are recounted in a frank, almost brutally dispassionate manner. It reveals perfectly the heartless school system ran by abusive Catholic priests and nuns trying hard to deprive young people of their traditions (don't these people have better things to do?); we see the corrupt BIA system designed to prevent cultural and economic emancipation of the Native American "traditionals" (and steal federal money) and the pointless fear that the FBI has of organized Indian movements. Above all, we see the violence that the Sioux face daily from the white South Dakotans as well as the inter-Sioux violence caused by the hopelessness of the life on the rez. I was especially amazed to see that South Dakota has preserved, at the least up to early 1980ies, the barbaric attitudes towards the Native Americans (who are, after all, the original inhabitants, and who were cheated out of their own land by the very same whites who persecute them) which have by and large disappeared from the rest of the civilized world. This includes (unpunished) assaults by drunken lumberjacks and ranchers, systematic discrimination in the courtroom, forced sterilizations at the provincial hospitals (Mary's own sister Barbara was sterilized against her own will) and a system designed to eliminate all of the Indians' most courageous and spiritually conscious young people. A system that would make Uncle Mao proud, but which made this reader very sad, ashamed and angry. I suspect many of these things are still going on in our name. I mean, why can't these people leave the Indians in peace, allow them to practice their religion and (is this too much to ask for?) respect their desire to be different?

There are also many wonderful things in this book. The descriptions of relationships between Lakota men and women, between the young and the old, between the full and half-bloods and between the host and the guest are simply priceless. Likewise Brave Bird's descriptions of peyote meetings, Sundances and Ghostdance revivals. Mary has very strong opinions about the Sioux male machismo and the reluctance exhibited by many Sioux men to providing a comfortable and loving home for their families yet she understands that this is the inevitable consequence of the systematic destruction of the old ways of tribal life. After having read the book I can see the challenges facing the indomitable Sioux nation, the challenge of preserving and honoring the old ways while educating a new elite familiar with the white system (without considering them to be sellouts); only when they gain political representation and economic self-sufficiency will Native Americans be able to keep at bay the greedy timber, mining and ranching industries whose interest is to keep the tribes divided and the people dispirited and lost in alcohol. The Lakota of today need to find a way to create loving conditions for their children. And they need to speak their truth, as often as they can, just as Mary Brave Bird has done in this amazing book.

Maddy Washburn is moving to Buffalo Valley, the new hometown of her best friend Lindsay Sinclair. She's bought the town's grocery store and hopes to help heal what was once a dying town. She's also hoping to heal her own wounds. Jeb McKenna is a man who will never fully heal. He's lost a leg, but more than that, he's lost a piece of himself. When Maddy is stranded at his home in a Dakota Blizzard, he also finds he's lost his heart to her. But he isn't willing to condemn her to a life with half a man. What he doesn't realize when he rebuffs her, is he's condemning her to go through life with half her heart. But there's something Jeb doesn't know when he turns her away, something that will tie them together, whether he wants it or not.

Welcome back home to Buffalo Valley. Watch its residents learn to love and breathe new life into the town. The cast of characters from the first book are all back, and meet Margaret Clemens -- a rancher raised by men who wants to learn to be a girl so she can lasso the man she loves. Maddy's going to try to teach her, but will Maddy's lessons be enough? The third book, Always Dakota is out May 2001 -- I can't wait to visit Buffalo Valley again!

I just finished the book today, and I just loved it! It is the second part of a trilogy by the author, and I got so immersed in the characters that I hated for the book to end. The main story with Maddy and Jeb was fantastic, as were the other stories, mostly Buffalo Bob and Merrily. The writing reminds me of Nora Roberts, and from me, that is the BEST PRAISE I can give to any author. I most highly recommend the books,(Dakota Born if the first book), and I am anxiously waiting for the sequal in May of 2001.

Have you ever read a book that was so good a second away from it was too long? Dakota Home is one of those books. The second book in the Dakota trilogy is nothing less than five stars.

Maddy, Lindsay Snyder Sinclair's best friend, has moved to Buffalo Valley to make a new home. She meets Jeb McKenna, the town loner. Maddy wants to befriend Jeb but he tries everything to avoid her until Maddy is caught in a blizzard and calls him for help. While being trapped in the storm together for a few days at Jeb's ranch (without electricity) Jeb and Maddy become lovers. Afterwards Jeb realizes he made a mistake in becoming lovers with Maddy because even though he has feelings for her he doesn't think he is the right man for her. They each try to change their feelings for each other while fighting those feelings.

Dakota Home is a great sequel to Dakota Born. Even though it is the second book in the trilogy it stands on it's own so if you haven't read Dakota Born you won't be lost. Ms. Macomber refreshes your memory as to the characters and their background. All of the characters in the first book are in Dakota Home and their stories continue. All of the characters are such ordinary, everyday people that the book is very believable and entertaining at the same time. I was especially drawn to Brandon and Joanie. Their story was very touching and well written. It was very easy to sympathize with them. I would have liked to seen more of them in the book.

Dakota Home is a quick read that will hook you from the start and leave you wanting more!

I've enjoyed many of Macomber's books, and this one did not disappoint. A sweet story about Lindsay Snyder who returns to a place she remembers as a child....her grandparent's home town...after her adult life doesn't go quite as she has planned. The only problem, the town is dying. But as would be expected, she brings new life to the town, and hope to a lonely farmer, Gage Sinclair. I enjoyed seeing the characters develop as the book progressed. She concluded the story of Lindsay and Gage, but left just enough "hanging" so that I waited impatiently to get DAKOTA HOME (book 2)....which in turn left me now waiting to read the third book that is due out soon! (I keep checking the bookshelves weekly!)

Lindsay Snyder's is new in this dying town where her family was once rooted. But Lindsay's arrival signals a breath of life, not just for the town, but for Gage Sinclair. As the two reconstruct a mystery that connects their families, they find they've connected even more . . . they've connected their hearts. But learning to accept each other's differences might just prove too much, unless they can learn that differences are sometimes strengths, not the downfall of a relationship.

This book is the beginning of a Dakota saga. It is more than just Lindsay and Gage's story, but the beginning of Buffalo Valley's story. From Buffalo Bob, the biker owner of the bar/hotel, and his on-again-off-again relationship with his Buffalo Gal, Merrily -- to Rachel, a pizza making widow and Heath, the local banker -- to divorced Sarah and younger man, Dennis -- to Joannie and Brandon, a couple who loves each other, but whose love might not be enough -- to Hassie Knight, the local pharmacist/soda fountain owner who's old style wisdom is sought by everyone -- Debbie Macomber has crafted a real community whose inhabitants will become real to you. A wonderful story of home and heart by one of my favorite authors!

I received Ms. Macomer's latest book "Dakota Born" in the mail yesterday and finished reading it this morning. I thoughly enjoyed it. Having spent most of my life in a small town I can relate to this story. The characters of Lindsay, Gage, Brandon, Joanie, Rachael, Heath, Buffalo Bob, Merrily, and Hattie are all appealing and well developed. Their lives all entwine with each other for a very entertaining story. I was especially glad to see Lindsey and Gage finally get together and Gage's half brother Kevin get to live his dream. Was disappointed that the problems Brandon and Joanie are having did not get resolved in this book. Also, the storylines of Rachael and Heath, Sarah and Dennis, Buffalo Bob and Merrily left me wondering. Hopefully there will be more of their storylines in "Dakota Home". Cannot wait until September 2000 to see what happens in Buffalo Valley. Great book which I couldn't put down - ENJOY....

This book was recommended to me by my wife, who had read it as part of a church discussion group. I am not at all religious so I only accepted the proffer on the gounds that it would be a good travel book to accompany our vacation trip to North Dakaota. I found the book lacking in many respects. I can't comment on the spiritual portions obviously. As to the geographic descriptions, I came away with the feeling that Norris is not really happy with Dakota and really would be more comfortable in an urban area. In many ways I found her lamenting the loss of city life, instead of really comtemplating the small-town life. Further, her thesis bout small town life in tbe Dakotas really applies to small towns everywhere. I see the same problems in the small West Virginia town where my family has a weekend cabin and in the central North Carolina textile region where I grew up. Worldwide, small towns are declining and perhaps Norris is correct in pointing out some of the causes. Nonetheless, she fails to capture the awe and wonder of traveling the great plains of the United States. Norris did not manage to put what I always feel into words, but I have yet to capture the correct mood in my own words either. By the way, during our trip we pulled off Interstate 94 at Richardton, ND for a picnic lunch. As we drove back to the highway, my wife noticed a couple of steeples in an otherwise pretty abandoned town. We found the Assumption Abbey, a beautiful building quite at odds with the more pioneer appearance of the remainder of the town. A monk in robes confirmed this as the location of Ms. Norris's visits. I guess this sums up the experience of Great Plains travel better than the book -- it is a place where wonderous experiences, both good and bad, can occur at any moment. It is the mystery and one's insignificance in its midst that I could not ultimately find in this book.

Kathleen Norris is the author of Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith, and The Cloister Walk. She is a poet. Dakota was her first work of nonfiction/memoir. Having read both Amazing Grace and The Cloister Walk, I had an idea of what to expect from Norris's work. She writes deeply personal and deeply spiritual books. Dakota has the same type of feel to it, but the location and the subject is different.

Kathleen Norris's past lay in western South Dakota, but for twenty years she had abandoned both her faith as well has her history. She went to school in New York but decides to move back to Lemmon, SD with her husband. Her book is subtitled "A Spiritual Geography". She writes early on that geography comes from the words for earth and writing, and so knowing that this is a spiritual geography we immediately know that this is a spiritual discussion of the Dakotas, as well as also being about Norris herself.

Norris writes about small town life and small town church, and a semi-history of the town of Lemmon. Since most of the details are told in anecdote, it makes things easier to read. One thing that struck me was how she was comparing monastic life to small town faith and how much things tied together like that. The focus on monastic life and on monks is a theme and a topic that will run throughout the book as well as into her subsequent books. Kathleen Norris may not have a mainstream Christian faith, but she has a deep reverence and respect for the Christian tradition and faith, especially that which has come from the monasteries.

This is a slow moving, peaceful book. It is thoughtful, intelligent, and moving. It is filled to the brim with a steady faith in Christ and in some ways, it moves like time spent in a monastery. I don't know if this sounds like a recommendation, but it is meant to be. I found Dakota to be very interesting and along with Dakota, I would recommend Norris's later book: Amazing Grace.

My grandparents live about 30 miles from Lemmon, SD (the setting of Norris's memoir). I was overwhelmed at times while reading Dakota: A spiritual Geography. She has portrayed the people as only an insider/outsider can -- seeing both the faults and the strengths of a small midwestern town. What touched me more than anything, however, was her portrayal of the land. This beautiful, striking, and awe inspiring landscape is brought to life by Norris. I had tears in my eyes while reading and felt pangs of homesickness. Dakota can be a slow read, but it is a beautiful book.

This book weaves a myriad of folk motifs into the fabric of reality, creating a vibrant tale about the connections among generation, about how the actions of our ancestors can affect out contemporary lives-and how the presence resonates in us.

The story creates a foundation in the 1860s-when a Dakota warrior-Ghost Horse, lost his love-Red Dress. Since then, their spirits have sought to be reunited, and it is the playing out of this drama that shapes the sometimes violent fate of those who have come after them. The story jumps to the 1980s,where Charlene Thunder, a teenage descendant of Red Dress, is in love with Harley Wind Soldier, a traditional dancer of Ghost Horse's lineage. When Harley's soulmate, Pumpkin, dies, Charlene suspects her grandmother, the infamous Anna Thunder- who is both revered and feared by the Dakota community.

Charlene and Harley strive to make peace with the ghosts of their pasts while contending with the living. Other significant characters include Jeanette McVay, an American college student studying the tribe; Crystal Thunder-who must escape to Chicago to find her past; Herod Sall War-a member of the community who provides spiritual guidance; and Margaret Many Wounds-Harley's grandmother who he sees walking on the moon.

The story combines the mythic and supernatural aspect of the Dakota heritage with the contemporary Dakota tribe to serve as a very entertaining and interesting text!

Susan Power's "The Grass Dancer" is marvelously enjoyable. It tells of people on a Sioux reservation whose lives intersect and intertwine, briefly, or over a lifetime, and how their relationships effect one another. We meet these people much as we most often do in real life, starting with the present and working backwards. The story slowly unravels the mystery of why the characters behave the way they do. Each chapter is told from the perspective of one character and charts the incidents which develop their personality. Ghosts of ancestors visit the present day characters and bring a sense of identity and purpose to them. It is a wonderful tale of the continuity and validity of the tribal culture and the interconnectivity between all the characters - past, present, and future. Using realism and mysticism, traditional Sioux and contemporary cultural elements, and above all, fluid, picturesque language, Ms. Powers has written a book which is wonderful on first reading and will develop more meaning with each successive one. I highly recommend it.

If you are looking for a book that is engaging and compelling, Susan Power's "The Grass Dancer" is it. Indeed, this book is at once exciting, poignant, and meaningful. I have to say that, among the numerous books that I have read since high school, this one ranks (at least) in the top 20. When I put down the book, I felt as though I had just awoken from a beautiful dream.
Power recreates the world of magic and spirituality in a tapestry of beautiful language and webs of stories. "The Grass Dancer" is about the traditions of the Dakota Indian people-both past and present-and the narrative switches from one narrator to another, giving us multiple perspectives into the lives of these characters. The chapters go back in time, so that events unfold in front of our eyes, making the present situation of these characters understandable. Each character seems to be finding a way to be complete, and at the end of almost each chapter, each one of them sprouts strong and resilient, like grass that is hard to pull out. Power brings us in a journey through time and space, illustrating the power of imagination, such as the possibility of walking on the moon.
Grass serves as a symbol of power, particularly Indian power. Dancing becomes a way in which an Indian keeps his or her hopes up, making it a dance that is imbued with a kind of survival energy. Power's message in this book can be summed up in this sentence, where she writes, "...look at the magic. There is still magic in the world."
This book is infused with humor to keep you interested, and spirituality to keep you inspired. The presence of love among characters is so moving that it will stir your emotions. All in all, Power hits every aspect of an Indian's life: the dichotomy between Indian and white culture, the problems that arise out of dual heritage, disease, spirits, magic, ancestral powers, religion, and love. I would re-read this book, whether it be for inspiration, or simply for pleasure. Perhaps you would find the same joy by reading this incredible story.

I didn't want to put the book down, but when I did, I looked forward to when I could read it again. While the story takes place over a short period of time, it eloquently speaks of thousands of years of life and culture. I highly recommend this book to anyone. It opens the door a crack to a world many of us will never know, but it is a world we need to learn about, acknowledge, and respect. I finished it weeks ago, yet I can recount all of the story, and I still can't look at the white, nor the Native American, way of life in the same light. I don't think I ever will. A wonderful book and a must-read.

Review written by Russell P. Loven and Juanita Loven:
Once I finally got into this book, it was hard to put it down. Nerburn's style is exciting and easy reading. The author rides around with an "old" (elder) indian resulting in a very thought provoking oral history. The old man trusted few white people, but it is evident that he trusted Nerburn. His comments regarding the white man's treatment of Indians is very dramatic, philosophical and revealing.
While I did not expect to enjoy this book, I quickly found it held my attention to the end. An excellent oral history about the sobering and sad violence inflicted upon the Native Americans. It was moving, powerful and forcefully forced me to think about (and reevaluate) this sad chapter in American history. It should be read by all students of American history. I learned more about the the feelings held by Native Americas (about whites) from this book than from all the other American History accounts studied in my entire life (age 68)."

Finally, a book about indians that tells it the way it was and the way it is today. At first I thought Old Dan was full of BS. But the more I read the more I knew he was speaking the truth. I was truely sad when I reached the last page of the book, I wanted it to go on forever.

I bought this book purely on a whim. As it turns out I wish I could "whimsically" find more works by Mr. London. His grasp of the plains indians and their life conditions from past to present is far better than the "big four" of indian fiction... i.e. Tony Hillerman, etc. (and I love Hillerman's works). The historical accuracy of events is eclisped only by his graphic portrayal of the on-going struggle of the modern day indians trying so desperately to regain lands and "promises" that our government so blatantly tricked them out of. Moving back and forth between fact and fiction so smoothly kept my interest piqued several nights into early a.m. Strong characters and physical descriptions kept me spellbound. It's a fantastic read!

I picked up this book expecting just a good story - and ended up unable to put the book down until I finished. The concommitant devotion and pain that the characters share; the complexity of their relationships with one another and their predicament; the author's straightfoward style coupled with a hawk's eye for detail; and his acute sense of the pathos of the historical and cultural territory that this book covers all make this book one of the best I've read for a long time.

I think the issue of whether a writer is "qualified" to write about another culture is a thorny one. Certainly there's the whole "it's a thing, you just don't understand" is valid in certain respects. However, I can't help but think that the act and process of trying to understand (and write about) a culture or experience that is "other" is admirable and is what, ultimately, enables people to rise above their own small worlds and begin to make sense of that raging ether we call the human condition. I applaud London's sensitive and educated attempt - as well as what I would say is his successful result. That is, if you can claim to distill the ability to capture and empathize with pain, exhilaration, the will to survive, etc - all of that - something as simple as "successful." Perhaps a work such as Sundancer is better labled with a word such as "humilty" rather than "successful."

I had come across a very strong review of Sun Dancer in the Portlandia Book Review (Portland, Oregon) in which the reviewer compared Sun Dancer favorably to Sherman Alexie's Indian Killer, which he also liked. So, I decided to give it a try. Wow! This is a fast-moving book, yet thoughtful and spiritual. It's full of beauty, pain, humor and pathos--no mere action-adventure. There is also a crushing love story in here, yet I wouldn't categorize Sun Dancer as a romance. It seems to defy genre.

Perhaps what I loved most about this book is how real it felt. You actually forget you're reading. You're there. And the voice of the narrator is mesmerizing.

Without effort, you absorb a great deal of Lakota culture while ripping through the story. (And what a beautiful culture it is!) Never, though, do you feel like you're reading ethnology, for you're too busy caring about these sympathetic characters and wondering what happens next, and will they succeed at regaining their Black Hills.

At the heart of this book, it seems to me, are profound spiritual questions, and equally serious questions about justice.

I loved it. Many scenes in Sun Dancer have stayed with me a long time--as have the haunting characters. London has a way of burning things into your eye and into your mind. The book was definitely fun to read, but it may also change the way you see things.