Customer Reviews

Daughters of Copper Woman

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My first reaction to this book was that it was one of the most beautifully written books I have read, one that cries out to be read aloud. Anne Cameron's sentences read like poetry rather than prose, very lyrical and rhythmical. There's no way its content could be fiction; she must have talked with the women memorizers who remember the oral legends for the Vancouver Nootka Native American tribes. Copper Woman is both the mother of the tribe from whom they are all descended and the respected Old Woman that is within each woman helping her to endure, to remember the old secrets and teachings, and to relearn any lost secrets. Copper Woman is there when the "keestadores" turned the Nootka world upside down and is there yet today as the Woman's Society shares its knowledge and soft power with all the women of the world.

The story that is being told here, goes directly to the heart. The whole book breathes a feeling of ancient indian mythology and knowledge. It is enchanting to read about this vast amount of indian knowledge and about the completeness of their view on the world, which is so different from 'western' approaches. It is also painful to read about the losses as a result of wars and as a result of their being unique and not adapted. But it is an important lesson to see how they deal with this loss, and how they can place themselves in a changing and evolving world, where civilizations rise, flourish and decline and where everyone has its place in time.

This book contains stories from the native people of Vancouver Island, retold by Anne Cameron much as they had been told to her. You will find it is a collection of stories, many about Copperwoman. Though she is more diety than human, her joy and pain are terribly real. Woven throughout the stories are bits and pieces of the present day. As you read you find yourself weaving in and out from past to present and then back to the past again. As I progressed through the book I felt a deep sense of connection with women of all time.

I met anne at a talk at Fairhaven College in 1988, during the time of _Stubby Amberchuck and the Holy Grail._ I am male, but I've never encountered a soul so great, so deeply wise about ancient female wisdom nearly elided by silly patriarchal western tradition domination. The ancient female center is still present and wise, as Anne has opened to a few readers. I still dream of the ancient female center rising in the world to end the depradations of male-economic-plutocracy, still excising the traditional people and women as quietly as they can, all over the surface of dear old Gaia. Anne is an oracle. Give her to _all_ your children, esp. boys when they are still young enough to be reached before patriarchy's testosterone poisoning reaches them. Homage to the ancient female center. Ryokan

I read this book for an Anthropology course, and I often return to the myths of Copper Woman. It deals beautifully with issues like depression and lonliness, and finding value in a life path. It also includes a female creation myth in which man is created by a female deity. I love to tell the story of Snot Boy to young women. A good gift if you are thinking of a young woman who needs to find her inner myths.

I have taught this book to both men and women on the college level, so I feel that it is not just for girls. You can read it as gentle feminism, as experimental literature, and as a native-American re-telling of white invasions of their culture. It is full of psychological insights, it describes a different way to navigate ocean currents, and it proposes an ideal egalitarian community--in a very brief span, it enlightens many human issues.

As I am reading this incredible book, I'm finding the ability to release the Sorrow which has built up in me since my birth into our misguided Euro-American patriarchal society. I highly recommend this book to every woman, and gently encourage her to share it's message with all girl children in her circle. Women will have to reclaim the power and beauty of our gift of being female. We should teach our daughters and nieces of the spirituality to be found in our bodies, and reclaim the magic that is menstruation, pregnancy and menopause. I can only wish that my own sister and I had been welcomed into our womanhood with ceremony and celebration, instead of with inconvenience and shame. Give yourself the gift of Anne Cameron's healing ceremony.

"Daughters of Copper Women" is a book I find myself coming back to over and over again in my life. It offers wisdom, consolance, power and clarity. To me, it is a woman's bible.

A great book, it has more than just mythology. The stories show how we are all one people of different tribes.

Anne Cameron's account of Native Americans of early Vancouver Island is beautifully written and combines history of the area with Native American lore. Most of us are ignorant of that lovely island and it's history before the Europeans arrived.
I learned a lot and enjoyed the writing. I read Daughters of Copper Woman for a graduate religion class and was very impressed.