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seaglanz's review against another edition
5.0
Easily one of the best books I’ve ever read. I devoured it in a few days and didn’t want it to come to an end. The combination of the weight of the story, the deep roots it ties to Native American culture, the way it was told, and the underlying lessons it teaches - it’s so well done! I recommend reading it without too much research into the plot, just let it unfold for you.
liberrydude's review against another edition
5.0
The third book of the trilogy and it’s the best. Dreams carry messages. For someone who is such a voice and an advocate for Native Americans Nerburn is quite inattentive in his relationships with the elders. He shows up a week after Mary, the Ojibwe elder who had given him some insight into Dan’s sister, Yellow Bird has died. Mary though left detailed instructions with her granddaughter and a letter for Dan in case Nerburn returned.
Thus starts another road trip through Minnesota and the Dakotas. It’s an emotional and spiritual journey for Nerburn and Dan with some come to Jesus moments as well as the recognition of goodness and power that was hiding in plain view. It’s funny and poignant. We meet an Ojibwe shaman, Benais, as well as numerous animals and rocks that speak. Quite a journey that captures the conflict of having two worlds living inside of you.
It’s a real shame these books don’t have the cachet that Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee has. Powerful and insightful. Five stars.
Thus starts another road trip through Minnesota and the Dakotas. It’s an emotional and spiritual journey for Nerburn and Dan with some come to Jesus moments as well as the recognition of goodness and power that was hiding in plain view. It’s funny and poignant. We meet an Ojibwe shaman, Benais, as well as numerous animals and rocks that speak. Quite a journey that captures the conflict of having two worlds living inside of you.
It’s a real shame these books don’t have the cachet that Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee has. Powerful and insightful. Five stars.
oneeye's review against another edition
3.0
I just read all 3 of Nerburn's "Dan" trilogy (The Wolf at Twilight, Neither Wolf nor Dog and this book) in about 10 days. I have mixed feelings about these books. On the one hand, they contain a lot of wisdom, supposedly passed to the author by a Lakota elder named Dan. Nerburn does a good job of using Dan to highlight differences between Lakota and White culture and he is not afraid to portray himself as a bumbling white man who makes every cultural faux pax in the book while visiting the reservation. There are parts of this book that are just plain uncomfortable for a White person to read, and I commend the author for that. Clearly, he didn't take the easy road.
That said, I am uncomfortable with Nerburn's use of fiction in telling the story and transmitting the wisdom of someone we are led to believe is real. My problem is that I don't know where the fiction ends and the fact begins, and for this reason, I can't quite trust these books, or the author in telling Dan's story.
That said, I am uncomfortable with Nerburn's use of fiction in telling the story and transmitting the wisdom of someone we are led to believe is real. My problem is that I don't know where the fiction ends and the fact begins, and for this reason, I can't quite trust these books, or the author in telling Dan's story.
nerdyrev's review against another edition
4.0
I am torn how I feel about this book. As a story it is incredible- well written, interesting characters, and a great story. My unease comes from factors outside of the book.
When I purchased the book, I didn't know it was the third part to a trilogy, that the author was a white guy, and that it was fiction. I had also purchased Vine Deloria Jr's Custer Died for Your Sins, which I was reading at the same time. In Vine's book, one of the points he continually makes is about how white folks continue to see Indians only as they want to see them- mystical, wise, etc and how white folks write most Indian books.
In the midst of Nerburn's book, one scene involves the scamming of a Indian shop owner who is selling sacred plants. I won't spoil the book, but a scene a few sections later Nerburn is lectured about how white folks are constantly trying to steal the Indian's story to make a profit and how nothing is sacred, but is open season for white folks.
This is where I became torn- Nerburn, a white guy, is writing a fictional, albeit historical book, on a mystical figure in Dan surrounded by mystical happenings throughout the book to make a profit. So, how is he different than the shop owner he describes? How is he not yet another white guy painting a picture of how Indians ought to be in order to sell more books?
This is where I was torn as a half Cherokee who also happens to be reading a book by an Indian criticizing how whites often treat Indians and Indian cultures.
Again, the book was so good that I purchased the first one, but I did struggle throughout simply because it was a fictional book taken from real moments. It was still fiction though.
When I purchased the book, I didn't know it was the third part to a trilogy, that the author was a white guy, and that it was fiction. I had also purchased Vine Deloria Jr's Custer Died for Your Sins, which I was reading at the same time. In Vine's book, one of the points he continually makes is about how white folks continue to see Indians only as they want to see them- mystical, wise, etc and how white folks write most Indian books.
In the midst of Nerburn's book, one scene involves the scamming of a Indian shop owner who is selling sacred plants. I won't spoil the book, but a scene a few sections later Nerburn is lectured about how white folks are constantly trying to steal the Indian's story to make a profit and how nothing is sacred, but is open season for white folks.
This is where I became torn- Nerburn, a white guy, is writing a fictional, albeit historical book, on a mystical figure in Dan surrounded by mystical happenings throughout the book to make a profit. So, how is he different than the shop owner he describes? How is he not yet another white guy painting a picture of how Indians ought to be in order to sell more books?
This is where I was torn as a half Cherokee who also happens to be reading a book by an Indian criticizing how whites often treat Indians and Indian cultures.
Again, the book was so good that I purchased the first one, but I did struggle throughout simply because it was a fictional book taken from real moments. It was still fiction though.
lilbookgremlin's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
Beautifully written descriptively though language does get repetitive and character building teeters on caricatures notably for the native characters. There are also numerous contradictions of character motivations and a sense the narrator isn’t necessarily as supportive as he makes out.
A slow burn of fiction with reflective moments though could have done with heavier input from the native community.
A slow burn of fiction with reflective moments though could have done with heavier input from the native community.
wingsofareader's review against another edition
4.0
Once again author Kent Nerburn brings the reader on a Journey - capitalization entirely intentional - not only into the Lakota lands his friends call home, but into the experience of being a First Nations person in America, as understood through the eyes, ears and heart of a someone who hs the best of intentions, and will always be just outside the truth of that experience.
This time the journey goes further than ever, not just into Lakota territory, but into the territory of the Ojibwe, the Anishnabe.
This time the request comes not through a phone line but through time itself, in a dream, setting Nerburn off balance, a state maintained throughout the book.
If the first book in this 'series' (for lack of a better term) explored the impacts of the larger historical events and contexts of the colonial presence in North America, and the second examined the more personal traumas experienced by individuals subject to the social control and abuses of the colonial powers, this most recent Journey challenges both the author, and any non-Aboriginal readers on an entirely different level. In this book, Nerburn faces the the most difficult challenge of all - the challenge to the entire notion of how one learns to understand the world itself, their place in it, and to interpret what they see, hear, feel - even what they taste and smell. The juxtaposition between the two ways of experiencing the same world collide, not only as Nerburn struggles to balance his need to know against his desire to be respectful and honour a man he loves as a father, and friends he cares for deeply, and not only in adults who live torn between the pain of what they have lost and the pain of never being good enough in the world they've been forced to live in, but most of all in one small girl - who in the eyes of one world is damaged and sick, but in another world is not only blessed with gifts, but is a gift to her people.
As with the other two books, in part to protect the identities of his friends / mentors, and in part to create a compelling narrative, Nerburn has 'novelized' the teachings and experiences he had journeying with Dan, Grover, Jumbo, Donnie, Angie and Little Zi. They are real, however, as is the Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians (no, seriously), once the pride of Canton, South Dakota.
As with the other books, this book can stand alone, but it is linked more closely to the second installment than the second was to the first. If you are the type of person who far prefers to read related books in order, you will want to have at least read the second book in this 'trilogy' prior to reading this one, in order to have an understanding of the context and the connections between the characters.
"Enjoyed" doesn't seem to go deep enough for this book, although I didn't find it as "enjoyable" as the second book. The second book, being someone less portentous has more opportunity for humour built in. Although there were some very, very humourous moments in this piece of work, Kent Nerburn's frustration and persistent fears, valid and understandable as they were as he explained them, made this a darker book in a way than the second book was - and considering that the second book dealt with Residential Schools, that is saying something.
I did very, very much enjoy the fact that in this installment of the entire story, Nerburn, and hence the reader, got to know the character of Jumbo far better. With characteristic humility, Nerburn admits to having been judgemental in his earlier acquaintance with Jumbo, and although Jumbo does not become a mentor in the way that Dan is, as an Elder, he offers many wise teachings in his own humble way. There are also some intriguing air-clearing moments, and other new issues between Nerburn and Grover, and even between Nerburn and Wenoah.
Readers also meet some new characters: the truly enigmatic Old One, Benais, and the proud but lonely Edith, the embodiment of how shabbily we treat our own elders in "white" society.
As usual, Nerburns narrative style is indicative of his background as a visual artist, with frequent use of metaphor, and particular emphasis on the descriptions of the shapes of the land, as one might expect from someone who is a sculptor whose work is on display in various locations around North America. In these instances, Nerburn uses words instead of a chisel to carve for the reader a sense of the shape and feel of the land through which he travels, a sense of the flow and movement of the edges, the textures of the world around him, the depths of shade and shadow, colours and hues picked out in great detail. Perhaps in addition to this being part of Nerburn's background as an artist, this is a matter, for Nerburn, of ensuring that the reader understand how very much the characters we encounter through him or not only living on the land they are of the land - you cannot interact with them without also paying attention to and interacting with the land?
Given the state of health Dan is in during this book, I would find it hard to imagine that there will be more in this series, but one never knows. This saddens me. I know I will revisit these books, and that I will use them in my teaching with my First Nations students. I have learned much, and there is much left to be pondered and gleaned from these books. I certainly didn't get it all in the first read through.
I am grateful that Dan shared with Nerburn and that Nerburn heeded Dan's request to share with the rest of us, and most of all, glad that I picked up the this final book in the series one day, on a whim, and that I'm too freaky-deaky to read the last book first. It has been an honour to have learned from Dan and Grover and Wenoah and Odell, and Jumbo, Mary and Benais, and the others to whom Nerburn has introduced us, the readers, on these journeys.
This time the journey goes further than ever, not just into Lakota territory, but into the territory of the Ojibwe, the Anishnabe.
This time the request comes not through a phone line but through time itself, in a dream, setting Nerburn off balance, a state maintained throughout the book.
If the first book in this 'series' (for lack of a better term) explored the impacts of the larger historical events and contexts of the colonial presence in North America, and the second examined the more personal traumas experienced by individuals subject to the social control and abuses of the colonial powers, this most recent Journey challenges both the author, and any non-Aboriginal readers on an entirely different level. In this book, Nerburn faces the the most difficult challenge of all - the challenge to the entire notion of how one learns to understand the world itself, their place in it, and to interpret what they see, hear, feel - even what they taste and smell. The juxtaposition between the two ways of experiencing the same world collide, not only as Nerburn struggles to balance his need to know against his desire to be respectful and honour a man he loves as a father, and friends he cares for deeply, and not only in adults who live torn between the pain of what they have lost and the pain of never being good enough in the world they've been forced to live in, but most of all in one small girl - who in the eyes of one world is damaged and sick, but in another world is not only blessed with gifts, but is a gift to her people.
As with the other two books, in part to protect the identities of his friends / mentors, and in part to create a compelling narrative, Nerburn has 'novelized' the teachings and experiences he had journeying with Dan, Grover, Jumbo, Donnie, Angie and Little Zi. They are real, however, as is the Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians (no, seriously), once the pride of Canton, South Dakota.
As with the other books, this book can stand alone, but it is linked more closely to the second installment than the second was to the first. If you are the type of person who far prefers to read related books in order, you will want to have at least read the second book in this 'trilogy' prior to reading this one, in order to have an understanding of the context and the connections between the characters.
"Enjoyed" doesn't seem to go deep enough for this book, although I didn't find it as "enjoyable" as the second book. The second book, being someone less portentous has more opportunity for humour built in. Although there were some very, very humourous moments in this piece of work, Kent Nerburn's frustration and persistent fears, valid and understandable as they were as he explained them, made this a darker book in a way than the second book was - and considering that the second book dealt with Residential Schools, that is saying something.
I did very, very much enjoy the fact that in this installment of the entire story, Nerburn, and hence the reader, got to know the character of Jumbo far better. With characteristic humility, Nerburn admits to having been judgemental in his earlier acquaintance with Jumbo, and although Jumbo does not become a mentor in the way that Dan is, as an Elder, he offers many wise teachings in his own humble way. There are also some intriguing air-clearing moments, and other new issues between Nerburn and Grover, and even between Nerburn and Wenoah.
Readers also meet some new characters: the truly enigmatic Old One, Benais, and the proud but lonely Edith, the embodiment of how shabbily we treat our own elders in "white" society.
As usual, Nerburns narrative style is indicative of his background as a visual artist, with frequent use of metaphor, and particular emphasis on the descriptions of the shapes of the land, as one might expect from someone who is a sculptor whose work is on display in various locations around North America. In these instances, Nerburn uses words instead of a chisel to carve for the reader a sense of the shape and feel of the land through which he travels, a sense of the flow and movement of the edges, the textures of the world around him, the depths of shade and shadow, colours and hues picked out in great detail. Perhaps in addition to this being part of Nerburn's background as an artist, this is a matter, for Nerburn, of ensuring that the reader understand how very much the characters we encounter through him or not only living on the land they are of the land - you cannot interact with them without also paying attention to and interacting with the land?
Given the state of health Dan is in during this book, I would find it hard to imagine that there will be more in this series, but one never knows. This saddens me. I know I will revisit these books, and that I will use them in my teaching with my First Nations students. I have learned much, and there is much left to be pondered and gleaned from these books. I certainly didn't get it all in the first read through.
I am grateful that Dan shared with Nerburn and that Nerburn heeded Dan's request to share with the rest of us, and most of all, glad that I picked up the this final book in the series one day, on a whim, and that I'm too freaky-deaky to read the last book first. It has been an honour to have learned from Dan and Grover and Wenoah and Odell, and Jumbo, Mary and Benais, and the others to whom Nerburn has introduced us, the readers, on these journeys.
soleadohmbt's review against another edition
5.0
One of the best books I've read in years. Nerburn's goal is to build bridges between Natives and non-Natives. I feel that bridge stronger now because of his beautiful, haunting book. This book is important to you.
doro_la_thea's review against another edition
5.0
An amazing journey, from start to finish. I am grateful for the stories that were entrusted to Nerburn, and that they are available to everyone.