Customer Reviews

The Light People: A Novel (American Indian Literature and Critical Studies Series)

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If you like Louise Erdrich's Tracks or Love Medicine, you'lladore this little novel by Gordon Henry. Like many Native American writers, finding a niche in the publishing world is difficult. With the publication of this one, publishers may be knocking on Henry's door for more. I hope so! Pay attention when you read this one, it isn't escapist fluff, there's meat on these bones (an insider's chuckle, for those who've already ready the book).

I have just finished reading the novel and must take the time to praise it. First, I have to say that I find the book far superior to Erdrich's Love Medicine. In fact, there is no comparison, except maybe that both present a series of stories that end up crisscrossing each other, although you don't see that until most of the half of the book. If I were to compare the novel to another, the one that comes to my mind, in terms of structure, is Silko's Almanac of the Dead, even if Gordon Henry's novel has a much narrower scope. Still I think he covers a lot of issues of contemporary Indian life: storytelling, museums, philosophy, anticolonial struggles, community, myth, Vietnam etc. Unlike Erdrich Gordon Henry is always grounded in specific issues, never falling into generalities. I highly recommend it.