Perhaps this novel of urban indigenous life in Oakland falls into the category of what James Baldwin calls the “protest novel” – less a literary work than a “catalogue of violence”. Certainly the fraught life stories of the different characters in the first half of the book are bleak, violent and sad. When the characters gather at a powwow, the suffering and chaos that result seem inevitable. For me, Thomas King’s Green Grass Running Water and Medicine River , and Joseph Boyden’s Through Black Spruce do a much more nuanced job of telling the story of indigenous peoples in the modern world.
Comic Novels for Summer
They say that summer is the time for light reading. If light means mindless or predictable, no thanks. But if light means comic, then I’m in. Here are two comic novels I thoroughly enjoyed this summer.
