Customer Reviews

The Last Algonquin

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Last Algonquin is a sad but heartwarming story about a man and his attempts to come to grips with his place in the world. The fact that this man, Joe Two Trees, is the last of his tribe of the Algonquin's makes his journey that much harder and more interesting. If you are looking for an official history of the American Indians, this isn't the book for you. However, if you are looking for a deep and touching story of one American Indian, and what we as a nation have lost by ignoring the heritage of American Indians, then you will enjoy this book. Mr. Kazimiroff has done an excellent job of preserving the story given to him by his father and keeping the memory of Joe Two Trees and the Algonquin Indians alive.

This is a must read, especially for those of us raised in the Pelham Bay section of Bronx. The tale of The Last Algonquin is inspiring and heartwarming. And, I hope that Mr. Kazimiroff realizes that he has given The Bronx, the Algonquin Indians and his father the immortality they truly deserve.
Remember as long as someone tells( hears or reads) this tale, the story of Joe Two Trees will continue to live on among the rocks and trees of Pelham Bay Park.

I found this book to be a really fun read. It is well written with great discriptions of what life was like in New York in the 1800's. Equally sad and revealing is this story of one of the last Indians in the New York regions. It is a story of a boy who in the 1920's happens upon an aged Indian who has to to tell his story to someone so that it is never forgotten. The Indian, Joe Two Trees, does in fact have a story that should be told over and over so that we should not forget that at one time he and his people were really the first Americans on this continent. This is a story that should be shared with any children that you have.

Joe Two Trees is the last of his tribe. New York in the early twentieth century is not for him. Or is it? As a native New Yorker with a passion for the past, I loved this beautiful story. Whenever I return home, I can no longer visit the Bronx (especially Pelham Bay) without thinking of Joe and his relationship with Theodore Kazimoroff's father. The writing is lovely, and the story evokes all sorts of feelings at so many levels. It was my Aunt, a former teacher, who told me that I should read this book. It has become one of those novels that I recommend to others regularly.

I read this book twenty years ago and Kazamiroff's strong story telling has me wanting to share his work with my family. The story (based on family oral history) centers on the last member of a indian clan in the Manhattan NY region. The metro area was a mixture of wilderness, farms and harsh frontier settlements with Whites that had little regard for those sentiments held by the Algonquin. The story has the hero in a struggle against nature, whites, and the loneliness of being the last of his clan. The book has a unique place in american cultural history and is an excellent book for "social studies" courses.

Rarely does the written word evoke such magic, drama and adventure as does The Last Algonquin. Kazimiroff has penned a masterpiece! In 1924 a young boy, Kazimiroff's father, encountered a lone Algonquin indian still living in the wilds of Hunter and Twin Islands in the Bronx, New York. The mysterious, aged Algonquin, knowing that death is near, entrusts the story of his life to the young boy. What unfolds is the life of a man; the last of his people. A story that would have been lost to the ages had it not been for an adventurous young boy and a chance encounter. As the pages unfold you will laugh and cry, sink to despair and rise again in triumph! A must read. This book has classic written all over it!

The Last Algonquin is a story that speaks to your heart and soul. It moves you in ways you never thought the life of one simple, but extraordinary man could. We all have heard tales of genocide and sometimes we become a little jaded, as if these horrible experiences have little meaning. The Last Algonquin reminds us that behind every statistic, there is a person, someone who never tried to be a hero, but who by living their lives in the only way they knew have become nothing less than an inspiration. It is also the tale of the difference one little boy can make just by showing interest in an old man time had forgotten. How many stories like Two Trees have been lost because no one listened to them? This story stays with you, it has been years since I have first read it , but I still think of it often, and plan on sharing this story of American history with my children.

I purchased this book because of all the 5 star reviews it had received. What a mistake. I am not sure if it Theodore Kazimiroff who swallowed a whopper of a tale or if it was his father, but the story of Joe Two-Trees just doesn't ring true. At first it was little things that didn't seem right; a Native American living on the East Coast who had little if any contact with whites in the early to mid-1800's. By this time most Native Americans in the East were so dependent on white trade goods the art of stone knapping was largely lost. Also, Joe's ability to pick up another language and concepts like jobs and money in such a short time span seems preternatural. His familiarity with a revolver to be able to open and remove the cartridges (even though most Civil War pistols were still powder and shot) defies the imagination. The clincher was the miraculous flint knife. Here was a stone blade that skinned rabbits, squirrels, a bear, whittled a canoe paddle, cut any number of other materials and yet never wore down. Anyone who has worked with flint edges know that the require constant knapping to maintain an edge and after a time becomes too small to be useful. My father's family is part Native American. At the time of Joe's story most of them had already been removed from the state of Indiana where they lived. Those who remained did so by hiding in plain sight. They adopted the white ways to a degree, they intermarried with the whites, yet they still kept the spirit alive in a million little ways. One does not have to weave a false story to do this. I appreciate the Kazimiroff's wanting to honor and keep alive the spirit of the original people of this land, but please honor them with truth.

I first read this book many years ago and bring it out every so often to refresh Two Trees' persona in my mind. This book is full of the author's love for his subject and he passes this on to the reader with great art. The story is in some ways so terribly sad that it is almost unbearable, but Two Trees and his love for nature and his dog can really only ultimately express joy and wonder. I just love this book and hope everyone who reads it follows Two Trees' wish to pass this extraordinary story along.

When I finished it, I started reading it again, partly because I wanted to re-visit some material provided earlier in the story, and partly because I wasn't ready to say goodbye to Two Trees. It is a well-written compassionate story, and one obviously composed with a loving hand. My husband also enjoyed it very much, a man who has read and loved many books about Native Americans including "A Sorrow in Our Heart: the Life of Tecumseh" and "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee." We now both want to go to the Bronx and poke around Hunter Island, looking for a sign of Two Trees.