Native American Fiction recommended by Librarian Sarah Houghton
Alexie, Sherman. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.
This work chronicles modern life on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Victor, through whose eyes we view the community, is strongly aware of Native American traditions but wonders whether his ancestors would view today's Indians--mired in alcohol, violence, and an almost palpable sense of despair--with sympathy or disgust.
Conley, Robert. Mountain Windsong: A Novel of the Trail of Tears.
Conley, a member of the United Keetoowah Bank of Cherokee, delivers a very accessible and moving account of the Trail of Tears, told by a grandfather sharing the ancient culture with his young grandson. Mountain Windsong focuses on two individuals caught up in this monumental event shortly after their betrothal.
Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine.
A multigenerational saga of two extended families who live on and around a Chippewa reservation in North Dakota. Each chapter is narrated in a memorable voice like the one of Lipsha Morrissey, a young man who is believed to have "the touch," with which he attempts to bring his wandering grandfather back to his long-suffering grandmother with a love medicine. By placing us right inside the heads of her remarkable characters, Erdrich allows us to feel the despair that insensitive government policies, poverty, and alcoholism have brought them.
King, Thomas. Medicine River.
An engaging comedy about a group of contemporary Native Americans in a small Canadian community. Will returns to Medicine River, a town just outside a Blackfoot reserve, to bury his mother and reconsider his past. In short order he finds himself very much caught up in the present.
Mitchell, Kirk. Ancient Ones.
Comanche Bureau of Indian Affairs Agent Emmet Parker and Anna Turnipseed seek the services of a marriage counselor to sort through Anna's abusive past. All attempts at intimacy must be postponed as the two officiate at the examination of a 14,000-year-old Oregon skeleton called "John Day Man." The remains are clearly Caucasian, setting up uncomfortable dynamics as law enforcement officials and tribal representatives challenge eachother.
Momaday, N. Scott. House Made of Dawn.
Chronicles the struggles of a young Native American man named Abel, and in doing so, explores some of the issues and conflicts that faced the Native American community in the twentieth century.
Sarris, Greg. Grand Avenue.
Residents of a multicultural neighborhood in Santa Rosa, California populate stories that are filled with crystalline glimpses of the bleak realities of everyday life. Characters whose lives are elaborately connected reveal commonplace hardships, illuminated at times by the magical lore passed down by their ancestors.
Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony.
Tayo is a half-white Laguna Indian emotionally stricken by white warfare and almost destroyed by his experiences as a World War II prisoner of the Japanese. Unable to find a place among Native American veterans who are losing themselves in rage and drunkenness, Tayo discovers his connection to the land and to ancient rituals with the help of a medicine man, and comes to understand the need to create ceremonies, to grow and change, in order to survive.
Young Bear, Ray. Remnants of the First Earth.
Set against Edgar Bearchild's investigation into the murder of a childhood friend, this novel describes Bearchild's memories while detailing his tribe's suffering and its struggle to hold on to a fading tribal culture.
