Ledfeather [Paperback]

Stephen Graham Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 28, 2008

After burning up the blacktop in New Mexico with The Fast Red Road and rewriting Indian history on the Great Plains with The Bird is Gone, Stephen Graham Jones now takes us to Montana. Set on a Blackfeet Indian reservation, the life of one Indian boy, Doby Saxon, is laid bare through the eyes of those who witness it: his near-death experience, his suicide attempts, his brief glimpse of victory, and the unnecessary death of one of his best friends.

 

But through Doby there emerges a connection to the past, to an Indian Agent who served the United States Government over a century before. This revelation leads to another and another until it becomes clear that the decisions of this single Indian Agent have impacted the lives of generations of Blackfeet Indians. And the life of Doby Saxon, a boy standing in the middle of the road at night, his hands balled into fists, the reservation wheeling all around him like the whole of Blackfeet history hurtling towards him.

 

Jones’s beautifully complex novel is a story of life, death, love, and the ties that bind us not only to what has been, but what will be: the power of one moment, the weight of one decision, the inevitability of one outcome, and the price of one life.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Set on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, and spanning 125 years, this is a mesmerizing tale of characters bound by the mystical ties of familial love, death wishes, and survival. Opening with the near death of Doby Saxon from exposure, the tale leads the reader backward and forward in Doby’s pathetic life, always returning to his futile attempt at killing himself by stepping in front of speeding cars near the Starr School. The scene shifts to 1884, and the letters written by an Indian agent on the Blackfeet Reservation to his wife—letters never sent, never opened. He witnesses the attempts of a 12-year-old Blackfeet boy to stone himself to death. The two stories are tied by characters and emotions, coincidence and magic realism—but ultimately by Blackfeet author Jones’ deft portraits of the seemingly hopeless life on this reservation, years apart but similar in myriad ways. His depiction of how small events eventually lead to apparently preordained outcomes, and how these outcomes come full circle over decades, is masterful. --Deborah Donovan

Review

"Stephen Graham Jones's Ledfeather unfolds like an automobile accident in slow motion. The novel's moments of drama expand continuously and seamlessly to include the historical past and to prefigure the present. He writes with a compelling sense of omnipresent danger and the fragility of human survival, and the reality he creates is riveting."

--Barry Lopez

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Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Fiction Collective 2; 1 edition (August 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573661465
• ISBN-13: 978-1573661461
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #263,631 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born and raised in Texas. Forty. Blackfeet. Into werewolves and slashers and zombies. Would wear pirate shirts a lot if I could find them. And probably carry some kind of sword. More over at http://demontheory.net.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A near-perfect novel from one of the most original voices in contemporary literature, October 16, 2008

By 

Roger "rsarao" (Howell, NJ, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ledfeather (Paperback)

"Ledfeather" represents a breakthrough for author Stephen Graham Jones. It is his most perfect novel to date, exceeding even the brilliant "All the Beautiful Sinners." An overreaction? Perhaps. My strong reaction to this novel may have more to do with my growing understanding and appreciation of SGJ's prose in general rather than the story told in "Ledfeather." Most likely it's a combination of both.

Reading SGJ is challenging. His books do not make for easy reading. And thank you, Stephen, for that. Casual readers who gravitate to the bestseller list would probably not get past the first few pages of "Ledfeather" (or "All The Beautiful Sinners" and particularly not "Bird Is Gone: A Manifesto"). And what a shame, for the rewards to the reader who takes on the challenge are many.

I forgot who said it, though I suspect it was not just one individual, but reading is an active (as opposed to passive) activity. Reading someone like Dan Brown is akin to watching Zoolander (a movie I admit I like more than I should). Reading Stephen is more like watching a film by Bergman or Lynch or Tarkovsky, for example. And these three directors are typically not grouped together. The point I'm trying to make is that, like all great literature and film, the experience affects everyone differently, but it does affect them, not just entertain them. Meanings and linkages that are not readily apparent upon initial reading creep into the reader's minds later -- sometimes days, weeks or months later.

"Ledfeather." The novel opens with a blank page save a single sentence: "I remember you." Perfect for so many reasons, which, again, man not resonate until well after the last page is read. The main character -- Doby Saxon -- is SGJ's most memorable character to date. When he sits in the snow by the side of the road and begins to read Dalimpere's letters, written ages ago, the author begins a narrative-transition device that seems so simple at first. But the transition that SGJ pulls of is so subtle and effective that you almost forget about Doby altogether after the first few letters. Claire. Claire. God how he (Dalimpere) must have hurt. His torment is almost tangible. The slow slide into madness (or is it just uncaringness?) is breathtaking. And then the eventual return to Doby's world and THAT NIGHT. Again, perfect.

I admit I didn't "get" SGJ's earlier novels. But that's a poor way of expressing what I'm trying to say. Sure, "Bird Is Gone: A Manifesto" confused the heck out of me, and "All the Beautiful Sinners" remains the most complex "thriller" I have ever read. But when I finished both of those books, I didn't know exactly how I felt. Certainly not dissatisfied, and not necessarily confused, but... something else that I hadn't felt after concluding any other novel.

As I've stated elsewhere, SGJ's language or voice or whatever you want to call it -- it takes time to appreciate, like a fine wine. At least it did for me. But now I feel I've broken through partially, and the connections are slowly revealing themselves. This makes me want to to revisit those novels again (and "Demon Theory" and "Bleed Into Me: Stories," too). And also to finally take "The Fast Red Road: A Plainsong" off the shelf and give it the reading it deserves (the sole novel of this author that I have yet to tackle).

"Ledfeather" deserves wide recognition, and should be a contender for one of the many literary awards. It's that good. Unfortunately I think the majority of mainstream readers will never know about this magical book. But that is their loss, and should not be yours.

Thank you, Mr. Jones, for sharing these words with us. I don't know how autobiographical any the story was, but I can't help but feel I understand you a tiny bit more now. I also realize this is patently false, as I firmly believe that it is impossible to truly understand anyone except yourself (and even that is exceedingly difficult), particularly through a work of fiction. But still, I like to kid myself that maybe it is possible if the stars are aligned. And maybe that's what "Ledfeather" does for me.

Highly recommended.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like a sheetrock razor to your wrist., August 18, 2008

By 

Christopher Deal (Huntersville, North Carolina United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ledfeather (Paperback)

In what is either his latest or second-latest novel (see 'The Long Trial of Nolan Dugatti), Stephen Graham Jones' 'Ledfeather' is a powerful piece of prose, a work that burns into your mind. Concerning the young and luckless Doby Saxon, his suicide attempts and the whole of the Blackfeet people, Jones weaves a connection from the past right to Doby's pitiful existence, to the redemption he seeks. Beautifully written, 'Ledfeather' is Stephen Graham Jones most poignant work to date, and is highly recommended. Transcending genre, culture, this is a work about guilt and redemption.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To Run Alongside a Literary Master, August 18, 2008

By 

CandleFaces (Gilbert, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ledfeather (Paperback)

I've thought this for some time now, - verily, whenever I inhale, skim or touch one of his works - but it must be written somewhere, anywhere, so why not here: existing now, alongside Jones, and reading his copious literary releases just as they're released, is to run alongside a literary master as he elbows the profligacy of independent authors and literary experimentalists away, galloping toward some wide, critically lauded level where he so rightly belongs. If it never happens, it is to be considered a crime against the reading public.

Ledfeather is astounding.

To see the features of the narrative face eventually figured into some logical, natural, glorious countenance bespeaking significance, utter significance, is an event with the wherewithal to rend me from that place where I'm a reader, reading, and lay me gently unto where the experience is inextricable from me. Astounding, just astounding.

The narrative sprawls through time and viewpoints, all of them congealing into a markedly succinct tale, one with the narrative that simply reaches in order to encapsulate the emotional quality, the characterization, the poetry in the vernacular and in the mundane, packing its cheeks with threading that, at times charmingly matted and lackadaisical, forms a consummate and beautiful tapestry.

Ledfeather is a dormant beast that, from the first page, rises toward full volume, length, glory.

For a man in no want of potency in his work, this is his most potent book.