Customer Reviews

HATTER FOX

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

 

 

I've taught this book to my high school senior English class for the past three years. They enjoy it quite a bit--much to their collective suprise.

I'm fascinated by the fact that other reviews have described this as a love story. One of the issues that always comes up in class is Summer's motivation for helping Hatter. Is he doing it for her or for himself? If he is doing it for himself, is he motivated by naiveté, altruism, or selfishness--does he want to "prove" how he alone can save Hatter and thereby confirm his prejudice that he is superior to Levering and Winton?

I would recommend this book not as a love story, but as one that causes us to question our own motives for helping, and perhaps for loving, other people.

This book is basically about a white Indian Bureau doctor trying to save a helpless Navajo girl from self-destruction. The author writes wonderfully as she describes the growing relationship between the two different people. It ends tragically, and this book should become a required reading book for all.

The story of the unwilling, gradual, and compulsive involvement of a young anglo doctor working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs with a younger, much-abandoned Navajo teen-ager kept drawing me back to finish the book in consecutive sittings. The author writes very well, and the book flows smoothly, never reading artificially or feeling contrived. The characters are both familiar (the oily, self-serving, bureaucratic, director Winton and the young, idealistic, somewhat directionless, and indecisive Dr. Teague)and compelling (the dedicated, capable, and dead-ended Nurse Rhinehart and the often-betrayed, many times-abandoned, innocent/worldly wise, woman-child Hatter Fox). There are larger themes and questions raised, and other reviewers have commented on them: non-absorption of visible minority persons into the homogeneous larger society; survival of conquered cultures; and an individual's personal responsibility for others. I loved the book; as I knew it would about thirty pages in, it made me sad. No new insights were gained, but the read was well worth it.

I read this book when I was in high school where I often felt alone and thrown away like Hatter Fox. The context of the book felt so realistic. I wondered all the way to the end what the doctor's motives were.

Hatter Fox is a puzzle. This book took me a while to figure it out. I enjoyed reading it after I did. Ms. Harris always gets you to think about the world around you in ways like no one else can.

I consider this to be one of the best books I have had the opportunity to read. A young girl filled with fear and hate, who has been cast aside and considered an embarassment to the reformatory and society in general, has been given a second chance...........by the man she tried so hard to kill. Though, she is rude, stubborn and hateful, he never seems to turn his back on her. What started as a doctor-patient relationship turned out to be one of love, felt by both. This story triggers every emotion, even through the last words. This should be read by everyone because it contains a little bit of everything.........best love story of the century!

What I liked most about this book is that it has clear descriptions of the area - the south west, as well as good food for thought and discussion when it comes to being with and listening to an incarcerated teen-age native american. Where they were, I was. What they felt, I felt. Without many characters, she kept it simple, yet philosophical, moving and highly relevant to these days.

I first read this book in high school in 1988 and have never forgotten it. I have looked in numerous libraries and was never able to find it. Today, I decided to try this site and am glad I did. This young woman's unbelievable circumstances will tear at your heart. It is sure to teach a valuable lesson to all. It's wonderful! If you read it, you will never forget it.

This book may be written well, and has a good message, but the author sold out in the ending. It seems Ms. Harris just got tired of writing the book. I have read other of her books and they were not ended in such an abrupt way.