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A review by zena_ryder
Ride the Wind by Lucia St Clair Robson
5.0
This is an amazing book. Reading other reviews, I realize that you won't like it if you don't like lots of detail. You won't like it if you're looking for a happily-ever-after romance (which the cover makes you think it might be). You won't like it if you want the Americans to be the heroes who tamed the Wild West, or if you're looking for a portrait of "noble savages".
I have looked into the real history a little bit (just reading Wikipedia articles, so not 100% reliable) and this book appears to depict the Comanche tribe and the historical events pretty accurately. More characters than I thought were actually real people. So I'm happy that I have learnt something from this book.
I loved this book! I loved the detailed descriptions of Comanche life. I loved how the author portrayed the relationship between Wanderer and Naduah (Cynthia Anne Parker). I loved the descriptions of the vast prairie, which made me feel quite claustrophobic in my own surroundings. It is brutal. Life was brutal — and Robson did not paper over that, to her credit. It would have been easier to tell a story in which the whites were evil, nasty and violent and the Comanche were noble, peaceful victims. But it wasn't like that. The Comanches were brutal warriors, who sometimes raped their white victims — including Cynthia Anne's grandmother, who was pinned to the ground with a lance, while she was repeatedly raped. They collected scalps. They cut off men's genitals and stuffed them into their mouths. They kidnapped some whites and kept them as slaves, including Cynthia Anne's 15 year old cousin, who was repeatedly raped by her captors and treated horribly in other ways too. They also kidnapped younger children — including Cynthia Anne Parker — and raised them as their own children.
This story is focused on Cynthia Anne Parker. She integrates into Comanche life, marrying the warrior, Wanderer, and having three children with him. Largely through her eyes, we see what the Comanches of a few different bands were like. Some aspects of their society are not surprising, such as that women — although highly respected for various skills, such as building lodges — were second class, compared to men (even if a woman was more skilled with a bow and arrow, for example). Men bought their wives, usually for a certain number of horses. (Comanche culture was horse-based by the time this novel is set.) Wanderer buys Naduah for 100 horses. Robson handled this masterfully. At the same time that you are disgusted by the idea of wives being bought and sold, you can also see this practice through the eyes of the Comanche characters. Wanderer loves Naduah deeply and values her so highly that he will give her (adoptive) father an unprecedented number of horses for her.
Since it tells of the "last days of the Comanche", the story of courses ends very sadly. This book will anger you because of how unjustly the aboriginal people were treated by the Texans and the Americans. You will also cry repeatedly, as all the main characters eventually die. The history is also not that long ago. (There will be people alive today whose grandparents were around during the last days of this story.) I've learnt quite a bit about 19th Century United States over the past year and one can see how much the United States is founded on violence, technology and commerce.
I have looked into the real history a little bit (just reading Wikipedia articles, so not 100% reliable) and this book appears to depict the Comanche tribe and the historical events pretty accurately. More characters than I thought were actually real people. So I'm happy that I have learnt something from this book.
I loved this book! I loved the detailed descriptions of Comanche life. I loved how the author portrayed the relationship between Wanderer and Naduah (Cynthia Anne Parker). I loved the descriptions of the vast prairie, which made me feel quite claustrophobic in my own surroundings. It is brutal. Life was brutal — and Robson did not paper over that, to her credit. It would have been easier to tell a story in which the whites were evil, nasty and violent and the Comanche were noble, peaceful victims. But it wasn't like that. The Comanches were brutal warriors, who sometimes raped their white victims — including Cynthia Anne's grandmother, who was pinned to the ground with a lance, while she was repeatedly raped. They collected scalps. They cut off men's genitals and stuffed them into their mouths. They kidnapped some whites and kept them as slaves, including Cynthia Anne's 15 year old cousin, who was repeatedly raped by her captors and treated horribly in other ways too. They also kidnapped younger children — including Cynthia Anne Parker — and raised them as their own children.
This story is focused on Cynthia Anne Parker. She integrates into Comanche life, marrying the warrior, Wanderer, and having three children with him. Largely through her eyes, we see what the Comanches of a few different bands were like. Some aspects of their society are not surprising, such as that women — although highly respected for various skills, such as building lodges — were second class, compared to men (even if a woman was more skilled with a bow and arrow, for example). Men bought their wives, usually for a certain number of horses. (Comanche culture was horse-based by the time this novel is set.) Wanderer buys Naduah for 100 horses. Robson handled this masterfully. At the same time that you are disgusted by the idea of wives being bought and sold, you can also see this practice through the eyes of the Comanche characters. Wanderer loves Naduah deeply and values her so highly that he will give her (adoptive) father an unprecedented number of horses for her.
Since it tells of the "last days of the Comanche", the story of courses ends very sadly. This book will anger you because of how unjustly the aboriginal people were treated by the Texans and the Americans. You will also cry repeatedly, as all the main characters eventually die. The history is also not that long ago. (There will be people alive today whose grandparents were around during the last days of this story.) I've learnt quite a bit about 19th Century United States over the past year and one can see how much the United States is founded on violence, technology and commerce.