Book club selection (via Zach; session held July 19, 2016).
Interesting back story - a white supremacist wrote this book recounting childhood experiences of a young orphan boy who spends a few years living with his Cherokee grandparents. Despite this - I think it works.
The author did display an incredible amount of "local knowledge" - interesting to think that this deep local knowledge exists for any type of place occupied by humans at any time period, I don't think about this enough.
Sometimes too smug - wears out the noble Indian, bad whitey, evil businessmen themes; also the five-year-old seems unrealistically mature and capable throughout (although this is set up as a memoir, so an adult writer might so interpret things).
I did appreciate Grandpa's attitude toward politicians and guv'mint. Wise man.
Chapters are somewhat repetitive, but as the book goes on this contributes to the effect. Sad as they look at Sirius. The Jewish peddler.
Also made me think about the loss of the Nations - which was more than loss of a political subdivision, it led to the loss of a particular way of life - story of John Willow - different than voluntary emigration.
Key characters die off pretty quickly at the end, and then a 8-10 year old goes wandering?
Too often I read a book, and then quickly forget most of it (or all of it, for less memorable works). I'm hoping this site helps me remember at least something of what I read. (Blog commenced July 2006. Earlier posts are taken from book notes.) (Very occasional notes about movies or concerts may also appear here from time to time.)
"To compensate a little for the treachery and weakness of my memory, so extreme that it has happened to me more than once to pick up again, as recent and unknown to me, books which I had read carefully a few years before . . . I have adopted the habit for some time now of adding at the end of each book . . . the time I finished reading it and the judgment I have derived of it as a whole, so that this may represent to me at least the sense and general idea I had conceived of the author in reading it." (Montaigne, Book II, Essay 10 (publ. 1580))
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
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