The Sacred Vision is a personal venture into Native American Religion by the author. It is useful for anyone inquiring to where spirituality may lead them; specifically into Native American culture from an outsider's perspective. And it is also a useful gauge of the culture as of the 1980's, in the pre-casino era.

Hyde's chronicle begins with the surrender of the Sioux to the U. S. government, and the beginning of the "noble experiment" of transforming Native Americans into Neo-Europeans (by making them farmers, for example). The book ends with the tragedy of the Wounded Knee massacre, and can be read as an analysis of all the factors leading up to that incident, which revealed the failure of said experiment.

Hyde recounts the many factors which led to the resumption of hostilities between a small minority of Sioux and the U. S. Army. the author clearly has favorite villains on both sides: from religious philanthropists on the East coast, who had never met a live Sioux in his native habitat, to Sitting Bull who went about caching firearms, to the corrupt politicians who replaced relatively knowledgeable Indian agents with inexperienced political cronies. Hyde paints the portrait of all of these actors and more with verve and detail.

Missing from Hyde's account is any in-depth analysis of Sioux culture that would allow us to understand the appeal of the Ghost Dance. Instead, Hyde's account posits that Sioux and white are motivated by the same factors: greed, political infighting, fear, hatred, and hunger. But Hyde's focus on action and decision, his love of detail, and his sardonic style make for gripping and informative reading. Recommended for anyone interested in frontier history or in the fraught relationship between whites and Native Americans.

This collection is a good primer for someone interested in the folklore of the Sioux Indians. They are a fascinating people and these tales hold great interest. There is a charm that accompanies these stories that will delight readers. One comes to understand and appreciate the Sioux love for nature and animals. These legends will inspire and awe readers. Luther Standing Bear does a great job of capturing the oral pulse of these stories. I was enamored of these stories when I read them as a teenager and they still hit the mark all these years later.

I read this book about 15 years ago and for some reason it has
stuck in my mind and I think of it often. It's an interesting
concept in that the white woman was kidnapped by Indians and struggled to return to her own people. Toward the end it gives insight into the way Indians on some reservations live today. A very good book.

Book 5 of this series was sort of a hodgepodge about too many people, and there was a lot of death. The pastor is featured more as the teacher of the school. Zeb's sister Mary Martha is prominent and Singer Sewing machines are introduced into the community. This causes a huge rift between Penny and Goldie. Ingeborg remains unable to conceive. Sign language has come to Blessing in order to help little Grace communicate. A fire in the grain house takes the life of a man traveling through. Politics are in full gear, with debates and Hjelmer traveling for meetings. Mary Martha is called back home to nurse her ailing mother. Little Anna contracts whooping cough and dies. Perhaps the central tragedy occurs with Katy during childbirth. Personally, I hope this book is a bridge to a happier conclusion of this series with book #6.

I am 13 years old. I have enjoyed reading this series. I like the depth that the characters have. But in this book there are so many deaths that it makes it hard to enjoy reading it.It may be that the author is trying to be realistic, but if most people are like me they read for entertainment and relaxation.I felt the death of Katy and the baby was very difficult in the lives Mandy, Deborah, and Zeb, especailly considering the hardships they had already faced. Since their deaths occurred so close to the end of the book, it left the reader feeling lost and wondering. I felt their needed to be a bit more closure. Unfortunately, this tragic incident seemed to overshadow the very happy and touching ending. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

This is a very sad book at times with many deaths, but I love the new characters that were added. I think it was high time that the Pastor got a wife. Although many people complained they wanted more happiness, that wasn't the truth of homesteading or actually any lives in the 19th century.

In Erdrich's companion novel to Love Medicine, The Beet Queen, a character notices a spider's web in a baby's hair. For that novel and for this beautiful work, the metaphor is duly noted. The characters are involved with each other and in each other's lives through an elaborate, complicated and emotional web that exists among them connecting them and making the episodic storytelling and shifting narrative voices appropriate and enriching.

The pay-off in the book comes about half to three-quarters through it, when the reader realizes that the sections are joined loosely and not by any kind of chronology or specific plot line. Read them for the separate jewels they are. (Erdrich is particularly lovely read aloud, but to read this book aloud, all participants must embrace the feelings of chaos that come early on from the narrative method she employs.) In the end, the deeper connections will astonish and amaze.

As the Kirkus review suggests, Love Medicine is best taken as a series of stories--it is not exactly in chronological order, and the stories are related only in that they all deal with characters from two sides of a large and complex family. In fact, the family relations are so complex that at times they're downright confusing, and you might want to make a family tree--in pencil. Nonetheless, it is a powerful and compelling book with a sly wit about it; and sometimes it's so beautiful it's painful, as in "Scales," "The Red Convertible," and "Wild Geese." In all honesty the book is probably a masterpiece, as--in the best of van Gogh--it leaves you pondering nuances of what you've witnessed for days afterwards

Native Americans have not been treated well in fiction. Too often, authors merely fall back on old stereotypes (such as Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales), but authors also risk the danger of reverse racism, in which a minority group is portrayed as so noble and godlike that they insult the human traits of the group (Dances With Wolves, for example). A realistic portrait of Native Americans is desperately needed, and Louise Erdrich fills this void impressively.

This is a deep, complicated book, encompassing many years and characters, jumping back and forth through time, alternating viewpoints with every chapter. Faulknerian in scope, the book is also blessed with a rich sense of humor, which lightens the mood and rounds out the characters. Yes, these people suffer in the book, and the plight of reservation life is presented without romance or any softening of the blow. Yet we laugh as much as we cry throughout "Love Medicine," because Erdrich is a gifted enough author to replace pathos with witty perserverence. This book requires patience and time, but has rich rewards. For an uplifting look at Native American life, and an insightful view on human nature in general, try Louise Erdrich.

I picked up this book at a second hand store. It had a dedication in the inside cover. It had been a gift for Mother's Day, and it read: "To the Queen of the house, because she can't be Beet!".

Erdrich has the special touch to make surreal situations so very believable. I love the parallel drawn with the plane rides, how in one case it is a beautiful woman running away from responsibility, and on the other it is a not-so-graceful woman running away from scorn. The birthday party scene is one of the most hilarious that come to mind, with the cake spinning out of control and Mary still singing Happy Birthday to You, while the guests are showered in frosting. And Mary's fall in the ice and the revered imprint of her face... How surreal can this book get?!?!

In my opinion, it makes sense to read this book first, followed by Love Medicine (93), followed by Tracks (89).

I first learned of Erdrich in some anthology, where i read her short story Fleur (now, that's a scary character, who appears in all three books!)

I found this novel to be enjoyable to read, with unexpected events occuring around every corner. The dark humor fits in well with the story line and it keeps the reader motivated. While the ending appears to leave the reader hanging with respect to some characters, it really makes you think about what the reason for that is. Why don't we know what happens to Jude? Maybe it is because Jude is the only character in the novel who has his needs met -- all the other characters endure a life long struggle for one need or another. The author uses strong symbolism which can be cryptic, yet challenging. It's definitely worth the read.

On a cold spring morning in 1932, fourteen-year old Karl Adare and his eleven-year-old sister, Mary, arrive by freight train in Argus, North Dakota. Abandoned by their mother, they have come to look for their mother's sister, Aunt Fritzie, who runs the House of Meats, a butcher shop, with her husband. The two Adares lose each other. Karl is frightened by a dog and runs back to the boxcar, and Mary runs the other way, toward town. And so begins the forty year saga of a family, and a community.

Through the years the family holds together through the tenacity of relationships, in a fierce and passionate drama, filled with Erdrich's dark humor. Changes sweep across their lives - birth, death, madness. Change also comes in the form of a growing sugar beet industry. Ms. Erdrich story chronicles Mary's life, as she puts down roots in Argus. She also keeps track of the tragic and sensitive dreamer, Karl, on his endless road journeys. He seem to compulsively flee emotional ties, and yet returns to Argus, again and again. At one point Karl says, "I give nothing, take nothing, mean nothing, hold nothing." He struggles with connection - with the past, and with his family and community. Mary's astounding dreams and fantasies also play an incredible and surreal role in the novel.

Themes of parenting and abandonment, jealousy, sexual obsession, and great love play out with passion in Ms. Erdrich's complex and believable characters, as does her portrayal of people's aggression and the self-destructive side of human nature. Her narrative is written with beauty, clarity and pure magic. This is not an easy book to read, nor is it always pleasant. It is, however, well worth the effort.

Like many of her characters, Ms. Erdrich has a foot in two worlds. She grew up in Wahpeton, North Dakota, near the Bureau of Indian Affairs school where both her mother, of French-Ojibwe descent, and her father, of German descent, taught. She writes movingly about Native Americans "whose nobility resides in their ability to make their lives work."

The author has done a great disservice to all First Nation people as she has taken children's names from a grave yard and basically "spun yarns" about their lives. I have talked first hand with people from the Blackfoot Nation and they talked about what happened to their parents in boarding schools. It was not the "sugar coating" that Ms. Rinaldi speaks of at all. Many of the problems that First Nation people have may be traced back to forcing children to attend boarding school, such as poor parenting skills, by not having any examples of parents to follow while growing up.

The White people treated the First Nation people with disrespect toward their culture, language, religion, and music. You could say history repeated itself with how the Whites treated all others different than themselves.

When you read this book, make sure that you take this into account.

I thought this book was sad but informed me of some of the stuff that was going on back then. I really enjoyed reading the book. Some of the writing in the book is very sad and emotional but other writing is happy and cheerful.
The main character is Nannie Little Rose. She is head strong ,but loves learning. She is a sioux indain and was sent to a school ,to learn the English ways, by her dad.
This book is about a young girl in America. She goes through hard stuff but always makes it though. It tells how hard things were back then compared to want we have now. It is mainly about what a tough time Indians had trying to learn the American ways.
I would recommed this book to anyone how every wonders what life was like years ago when Indains sold their land to the white people.

This book is really good. But if you like happy books, don't read it because it almost made me cry.
The book is about an Indian girl who is forced to change all of her ways, and learns many things to make her people proud.

"A Dry Spell" is an attempt at mixing two different genres that watered down both. The formula romance: good looking rogue, shy undiscovered beauty, opposites attract. The formula ghost story: wrongful death, rage, revenge. Fortunately, unlike most formula novels, the author of this one actually has talent. Her character development is quite good and well rounded. I cared about everyone from the stiff and proper Karen Grange to the fiesty, hurting Vida. However, the story held promises it never kept. The antagonistic ghost was just a shadow of a character, her history described in a mere two or three pages of a 350 page book. The promised sensuality was weak, and the suspense was almost non-existent. I found I wanted more from this book than it gave me. The author provided a feel for the prairie and the rain equivalent to watching a television show, not of actually being there.

The comparison of Susan Maloney to Stephen King is not really apt. T! he only similarity is that both authors let their characters drive their writing. I also think Maloney has not yet arrived. She needs to be bolder with her ideas. She has the talent, she just needs to add some power.

My overall recommendation on this book would be to read it. However, if you're looking for a good scare, this is not for you.

I have never had such mixed emotions about a book before. It was a "skimmer" all right. In fact, I skipped pages at a time but the book still held me like an iron fist. The author seemed to go off on tangents that departed so completely from the story line that I wanted to throw the book against the wall. So why was I compelled to read this book in two days?..... because the plot just wouldn't let me walk away from it. The plot, the characters and the expectations of great things had me picking this book up with every spare minute I could muster. I liked the mysterious rainmaker and his supernatural gift and I think his character had great promise. Unfortunately, the book closed with a whimper leaving the hint of a sequel. If there is a sequel forthcoming, I might buy it but not before I read a enough to know if the book carries the same style of writing tangents that were so frustrating in this book.
For the most part, I liked this book because the author definitely has talent and I think she can deliver the goods with a little help. This book had a lot of potential so I am of the opinion that it's the editor who should be hung out to dry, not the author. This could have been an outstanding read had wandering thoughts been traded for more on the characters and closure on the story line. Forget the sequel. I vote for a re-write.

This is not bad at all.This could be a story for x-files without
Sculler and Moldy.Paranormal and kind of dreamy.Good for the cottage or such thing.I enjoyed it.

My junior high age son and his friends had to read this book for school, and they were thoroughly annoyed with the self-obsessed protagonist, Floyd. They wanted him to grow up, already! I read the book to see what all the complaining was about and found myself agreeing.

The "adults" in the book humored Floyd too much; The only person who cared enough to make him grow up was the Sioux Indian Chief. One hopes that Floyd would learn something lasting from the one mature character in the book. Pick up Harry Potter or a Redwall book instead.

This is a really good book. It's about a boy called Floyd. When he was young he decided he wanted to be an indian. He lives in foster homes and is always moving. This book even has some useful information in it about indians. I would recommend this book to someone who likes adventures and mischief; it's a good book.
In the book Floyd decides early on he wants to become an indian. He learns lots about them and even follows their religion. He lives in foster homes and is always moving. He is never in the same school long so he doesn't have any friends. He is starting to get sick of everything so he decides it's time to run away. He plans it all out and the leaves. The rest of the book is pretty much about what he does there.
I liked this book because it was kind of an adventure. It went lots of different ways. It went from being in one place, then going to a completely different place. It even had some useful information about indians. It's a really good book.
I think you should read this book. It's a good book for all different people. I rated this book 4 stars. This is a great book and is filled with lots of mischief and excitement.

In "Dakota Dream" a young boy runs away from a group home to fullfill his dream about being a Dakota Indian and living on an real reservation. Personally I like this book a lot because I think it would be cool to be a Dakota Indian. The boy one night in in a vision in his dream, he sees himself as a Dakota Indian riding on horseback to go fight the settlers. Thats when it first comes to him, that his destiny is to become a Dakota Indian. He fights his way through life going from group home to group home, not even considering the fact that his parents died when he was a baby, and never saw them before. I think "Dakota Dream" is an exciting, and one of the best books I have ever read!