Customer Reviews

Dream Wheels

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Joe Willie Wolfchild's life was shattered just three seconds away from becoming rodeo's World Champion. He had drawn the meanest bull on the circuit, and the bull won. With his left shoulder completely obliterated and right leg pulverized, Joe Willie has gone home a man of broken dreams.

Aiden Hartley was a troubled biracial teen sentenced to two years in juvenile detention. In danger of becoming an embittered criminal, a detective sees hidden potential and reaches out in an unexpected way. Grudgingly agreeing to the cop's offer, Aiden is thrown into a world he hardly understands after two years in prison.

Claire Hartley was heartbroken when her son was sent away. Convinced that she should have done better for him, she set out to make a new, safer life. After Aiden's release, Claire meets him on the Wolfchild ranch for three life-changing weeks.

The Wolfchild family embraces Claire and Aiden as two of their own. It doesn't take them long to see a great deal of similarity between Joe Willie and Aiden, though the two young men don't see it. Especially unique is the Wolfchilds' blending of cowboy and Native American ways, which will have profound meaning for Aiden.

Wagamese delivers a beautifully written tale about family, grief, anger, and hope. Blending gorgeous setting descriptions with gritty dialogue and action, he introduces readers to a little-understood way of life; one that is often romanticized beyond belief. Wagamese honors the cowboy way with heartfelt prose that will grab readers from the beginning.

Some readers may be annoyed with the numerous references to smoking or to un-PC terms, but these things are as true to the culture as seeing wide vistas from horseback. Life in cattle and prairie lands is vastly different from the frenzied pace of the urban experience.

While some aspects of the story are predictable-- Joe Willie and Aiden's developing partnership being the foremost--this journey is very much worth the ride.

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer

8/30/2006

4½-BOOKS for WUAT; 5-STARS for Amazon

Joe Willie Wolfchild, part American Indian, son and grandson of rodeo riders, a natural rider himself from a very early age, was on the brink of world championship when a disastrous ride left him crippled, with no hope of riding again.

Around the same time Aiden, fifteen years old, born of a white father he never knew and beautiful black mother desperate to find a steady man, endured his mother's men who saw him only as a way to his mother, Claire. Fitting in with neither the black nor the white youth he had the strength of character to make a way for himself, but his resentment lead him to trouble, and two years loss of freedom.

As rehabilitation Aiden ends up along with his mother at Joe Willie's ranch. While Clarie immediately hits it off with the Joe Willie's parents and grandparents, there is mistrust, resentment and an air of animosity between the two young men. But Aiden proves himself to be a natural in the saddle, but can he persuade Joe Willie to train him; and will Joe Willie be able swallow his pride and let Aiden, with his knowledge of car mechaincs, help him with his own personal challenge of restoring the family's prewar truck?

The story follows both Joe Wille and his family and Aiden and his mother from the beginnings of their troubles as the narrative flits between to two families. Eventually they come together and we see the slow acceptance build between Joe Willie and Aiden. The wisdom born of the tradition of the Indian heritage is a strong influence, and is especially apparent in the insight shown by Joe Willie's mother and grandmother and the calm manner of the two older men, and provides a fitting contrast to the seething rebellion and sense of loss shared, for very different reasons, by the two younger men.

Dream Wheels is a thoroughly involving story peopled with beautifully drawn strong characters, an emotional ride, and a beautiful picture of the open spaces of natural America painted against the background of a proud and noble people.