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brandiereadsbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation and Death
megatsunami's review against another edition
3.0
This book was intriguing at times, maddening at other times. I really liked the way the author just laid it out there at the beginning that she was going to mix up traditional Western linear biography narrative with a cyclical-time-based spiritual understanding of history. Her opening chapter describing this is really brilliant. While reading the rest of the book, I felt that (on the one hand) she had some super insightful ways of envisioning Pocahontas' history. It never would have occurred to me that Pocahontas was a spy but it makes total sense when put in this perspective. On the other hand, I wanted to be more clear about when she was giving known historical (Western linear etc etc) fact, when she was looking from a more cyclical-time lens, and when she was speculating. And sometimes she got really too into the whole trip of Native Americans having a unitary philosophy/ way of seeing things. As a side note, I loved how she made parallels between Native American spiritual worlds and the pagan English alternative spiritual world (alchemy, ceremonial magic, fairies, etc). That was fun and unusual.
xandra_lyn's review against another edition
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
I really wanted to like this book, as I like the thought behind the author's approach. However, it was very dull and was not a good intro to the "facts" of Pocahontas's life. If I had known more of the outline of her life, perhaps this would have been an interesting take. But often the events were cursory as she explained her premise. (Premise: that Pocahontas was a mover and shaker of the Native American manito; her life parallels many oral tradition stories, which is what we should expect of a medicine woman of her time).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation
lizmart88's review against another edition
4.0
Incredibly well done biography from a native American perspective on one of the most iconic Indians in US history, and also one of the least understood.
The author is Native American and has studied traditions and mythologies of early American tribes extensively.
First recommendation: make sure you read the forward! I usually skip them but she explains why the book is structured in such a circular and repetitive way (it's modeled on Indian mythology and storytelling not Anglo chronological time stories).
Second, go in with an open mind! This book has the basic facts about Pocahontas and her life, but she also focuses on context, worldview, and conjectures. It's an alternative version to the traditionally told love story, from John Smith's perspective. She focuses a lot on the worldview, religion and spiritual beliefs, and ideas That pocahontas would have believed as a Native woman.
It definitely got me thinking quite a bit about how we view Pocahontas, John Smith, John Rolfe, and other contemporaries.
The author is Native American and has studied traditions and mythologies of early American tribes extensively.
First recommendation: make sure you read the forward! I usually skip them but she explains why the book is structured in such a circular and repetitive way (it's modeled on Indian mythology and storytelling not Anglo chronological time stories).
Second, go in with an open mind! This book has the basic facts about Pocahontas and her life, but she also focuses on context, worldview, and conjectures. It's an alternative version to the traditionally told love story, from John Smith's perspective. She focuses a lot on the worldview, religion and spiritual beliefs, and ideas That pocahontas would have believed as a Native woman.
It definitely got me thinking quite a bit about how we view Pocahontas, John Smith, John Rolfe, and other contemporaries.
oliviamnsnll's review against another edition
4.0
Pocahontas by Paula Gunn Allen provides one of the most thought provoking biographies I've ever engaged with.
More than just a narrative of the "Mother of Our Nation", Allen's book incorporates the Algonquin worldview into the very fabric of her writing. Using Native Oral Tradition as her guide Allen tells Pocahontas's story alongside parallel myths and stories from Algonquin lore.
In addition to discussing how Pocahontas's life is reminiscent of Algonquin creation myths, she shows that Pocahontas was a spiritual adept - a medicine woman- and that her sojurns amongst the English and Johns Smith & Rolfe was part espionage for her people and the spirits of the land.
Native science is discussed and we learn how their magical-scientific worldview provided a more holistic understanding of the universe, than the modern western rational-scientific one.
This book has not only changed how I see Pocahontas, but how I see the world and all of its many parts.
More than just a narrative of the "Mother of Our Nation", Allen's book incorporates the Algonquin worldview into the very fabric of her writing. Using Native Oral Tradition as her guide Allen tells Pocahontas's story alongside parallel myths and stories from Algonquin lore.
In addition to discussing how Pocahontas's life is reminiscent of Algonquin creation myths, she shows that Pocahontas was a spiritual adept - a medicine woman- and that her sojurns amongst the English and Johns Smith & Rolfe was part espionage for her people and the spirits of the land.
Native science is discussed and we learn how their magical-scientific worldview provided a more holistic understanding of the universe, than the modern western rational-scientific one.
This book has not only changed how I see Pocahontas, but how I see the world and all of its many parts.
mmarvin01's review
3.0
This biography was hit or miss for me. I appreciated the insights into indigenous perspectives, but the writing was highly speculative and often got in the way. Some parts were oddly repetitive, while other parts skipped over vital information and presumed knowledge of later plots before they had been introduced. One highlight was the archetypal abduction narrative including Pocahontas, Sacagawea, and Malinalli.
“Their mission was defined, ignited, and energized by those forces or powers that lie behind, beyond, and beneath the mundane. They did what they did because they were how they were, because that was what time it was, and because their personal characteristics, combined with their training, social conditioning, and the astronomical-quantum standing wave that was the time/space they moved in, made it so. These women were born to be agents of change.”
“Their mission was defined, ignited, and energized by those forces or powers that lie behind, beyond, and beneath the mundane. They did what they did because they were how they were, because that was what time it was, and because their personal characteristics, combined with their training, social conditioning, and the astronomical-quantum standing wave that was the time/space they moved in, made it so. These women were born to be agents of change.”
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