Customer Reviews

The Heartsong of Charging Elk: A Novel

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Through the eyes of a Lakota man marooned in Marseille we experience both the declining culture of late 19th century native America and the excitement of a vibrant of port city in France. These seem unlikely settings but Welch's descriptions and characterizations make both come to life. We can feel the fear and uncertainty that Charging Elk feels as he finds his way to accepting the strange new world and his longing for the place and the people he has left behind. And we can feel the foreboding or distain but more often the curiosity and the compassion of the French people he encounters. It's a bumpy ride for Charging Elk and sometimes a bit plodding for the reader but the story works and was hard to put down once I got into it.

I know I'm going to take a big hit for this, but I found this book disappointing. Given how much I admired "The Death of Jim Loney," and how many wonderful things I'd heard about Charging Elk, perhaps I was expecting too much.

First, like another reviewer here, I thought the book could have done with a good edit. There are far too many characters. They come into the picture and then fade away without having much effect on what happens. There is also a definite lack of point-of-view. If this had been told solely from the viewpoint of Charging Elk, it could have been much more interesting, but instead, Welch chooses to give us the inner thoughts of almost every character he introduces, and unfortunately, none of them are very deep.

My main problem, though, was with the way the character Charging Elk is depicted. I hate to say it, but, for me, he came off as a sterotype. For the entire first three quarters of the book, he hardly has a thought besides going home, and what he will eat for dinner. He has no understanding of what is going on around him, and doesn't pick up the language. This might have been understandable for a year or even two. It is also understandable that he might have had difficulty making himself understood, but I would think, at the end of that time,he would at least have been able to read a menu.

The book does have its good points. The scene in the courtroom where Charging Elk thinks he has gotten his point across in his own language, only to be laughed at by the jury, was very effective, as were his choices in the end. All in all, though, I think that by sticking with a shorter length, as he did with Loney, Welch could have written a much better novel from this moving story.

Think of those old photos of Sioux Indians sitting stone-faced in Venetian gondolas or posing with Queen Victoria. What were those men thinking, warriors who until only very few years before had been riding full-tilt across the plains? In "the Heartsong of Charging Elk," James Welch imagines what it must have been like for a Sioux to travel across Europe with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.

Traveling with the show was pretty fun. Charging Elk and the other young men get to show off their riding skills, chase buffalo again, and shoot up a mock homestead. When they show was over, they went home to the tipis they traveled with - just like they'd done on the plains - joked, gambled, ate, and had a good time. The strange world around them was not much of a marvel or a curiosity, and very few whites made an impression (Queen Victoria was the exception. The Indians all liked her and called her Grandmother England.) Very few spoke any English, let alone French or Italian.

In Marseilles, Charging Elk becomes ill and was taken to the hospital. Wit no idea that arrangements had been made for him to rejoin the show in Rome, he leaves the hospital and disappears into the city.

He might as well be on Mars. He has no idea what people around him are doing. He cannot speak to anyone. The French are as bewildered by him as he is by them. But he knows that what he wants is to go home. Throughout the novel, Welch weaves Charging Elk's Sioux dream life through his days in working-class Marseilles. Will he fall in love? Make friends? Make a home in France, or find his way back to Red Cloud Agency?

Welch avoids the obvious ploy of making Charging Elk more noble than the so-called civilized French. He is no paragon, nor are the French universally beastly. How they get along is a paen to the adaptability of the human race.

Having read all of Welch's novels, I found this to be the most impressive. It really describes well an incident in the history of Anglo/Native relationships not having to rely on violence, romance,
or hidden agendas... highly recommended.

I was lying on my bed, snuggled into my down comforter and tons of pillows. I was completely immersed in this fantastic novel by the utterly fascinating James Welch. It was a particularly breathtaking scene, one where your eyes move as fast as they can, you can't breathe, you can't think of anything other than the story, you can't hear, see, smell, taste anything else. Suddenly something crashed in the next room of my house. And my eyes moved up through the text, looking for the source of the noise! I was so into the story, that I thought the sound was part of the story. It took me a few minutes to realize that my cats had knocked something over in the bathroom of my very own house!

The Heartsong of Charging Elk is, yes, that amazing. Charging Elk, on Oglala Sioux from the Black Hills of South Dakota, has joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, leaving behind his family, friends, and Indian lifestyle for money, fun, and not a little fame. Eventually the show crosses the Atlantic to Europe. During a show in France, ill with the flu, Charging Elk (then still a teenager) falls and breaks a couple of ribs. Left behind in the French hospital, Charging Elk is understandably frightened. He speaks very little English and even less French. He escapes and decides he's going home. Along the way he finds new friends, independance, and love. But does he find his way back to America and his Indian way of life?

This absorbing work of historical fiction is one hell of a breathtaking ride. I followed Charging Elk through the many difficulties of his life in France, laughing, crying and loving him all the way. You will come to care for, worry about, and definitely miss Charging Elk by the time you finish reading this novel. He is one character I will never forget and The Heartsong of Charging Elk is one book I will definitely read again and again.

Surprisingly mesmerizing! Get this: This is my husband, Bob's, book. He gave it to me to list on Amazon Marketplace. While waiting for my very slow dial-up modem to take me to the right page, I flipped to the middle and glanced at it. And here I am, over an hour later, still reading! So, hopefully no one will buy it for a day or 2 so that I can read the whole thing! LOL I'm really enjoying it.

The story of Charging Elk is sad...so much that happens to him seems to be out of his control. But he continues to do his best, and persevere. I like that he is making the best of his bad situations. I can't tell you how it begins or ends -read someone else's review for that. All I can tell you is if you pick up this book and impulsively read a page, you'll be sucked in and committed to reading the whole book! You won't regret it.

I am an avid reader and have enjoyed stories of Native People in the past. I'm glad that I've gotten the opportunity to enjoy this one! Another book of Native People that I've liked is Tatham Mound, by Piers Anthony. No, it's not fantasy. It's a pretty serious book, as this one is. But not quite as...heavy, I guess you'd say. Heartsong of Charging Elk is not lighthearted. I suspect it will stick with me for years...the ultimate sign of a great book! ----Review from Kathy Smith, Bob's wife

I was entranced by James Welch's tale of a young Lakota warrior marooned in Marseilles when he's left behind by the Buffalo Bill show. Charging Elk's longing for his beloved Paha Sapa (Black Hills) fills every page. When he tries to fit in as a Frenchman, you know that this tall, handsome long-haired Indian will face obstacles wherever he goes. His love scenes with a young prostitute sizzle and make you wish he could fulfill his dream of marrying her. His subsequent heartbreak and downfall are almost too painful to bear, but if you persevere to the closing chapters, it's worth the read.

I think what Welch lacked was a good editor. The character of Charging Elk is very difficult to identify with, not because of the historical or ethnic distance, but because the reader rarely gets inside of his head. In addition, there are some hard to believe inconsistencies in language, etc., an ending that, though not your normal "happy ending" was too neatly tied up too quickly, and a mechanical, naturalistic approach to sex that is less than inspiring. The story has so much potential, but I was disappointed in the realization of it. (Also note: if you are easily offended, several passages may disturb you.)

James Welch, The Heartsong of Charging Elk, Doubleday publishers. New York, New York, 2000.
The Heart song of Charging Elk is a novel about an Oglala Sioux Indian named Charging Elk and his journey across "the big water" to France with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. While in France he gets sick with the enfluenza epidemic, put in the hospital and is left behind. Scared and confused he escapes from the hospital and is later captured by the police and thrown in jail. He is finally released and then remains in France for 16 years, dealing with a love a affair with a prostitute and a murder that willl change his life.
This book is slow but is excellent reading, I would esspecilly recommentd it to Native Americans and exchange sutdents.

I disagree with the reader who found it difficult to empathize with Charging Elk. I found him to be fascinating and utterly moving as a character; in fact, I found it hard to put the book down because I cared so much about what would happen to him. The many other characters add richness to the book appropriate to both Charging Elk's situation and the setting, a teeming seaport. There were very occasional notes that took me a little bit out of the narrative, which is why I'm giving it a 4, but overall, I can't recommend it highly enough, and I'm looking forward to reading James Welch's other books.