Customer Reviews

Nine Nights

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Apparently part autobiography, part biography, and part fiction, "Nine Nights" speculates on the psychological makeup of a precocious Columbia University anthropologist. Buell Quain, a North Dakotan, committed suicide in northern Brazil in the company of the aboriginal Krahô tribe he was studying. "Buell Quain killed himself on the night of August 2, 1939," writes Carvalho--"the same day that Albert Einstein sent President Roosevelt the historic letter in which he alerted him to the possibility of the atomic bomb." Quain died at age 27, and although the gruesome manner of his suicide is documented, the reasons for it remain mysterious.

Carvalho becomes obsessed with discovering more about the reasons for Quain's premature demise, and "Nine Nights" is a narrative of his investigation coupled with fictional speculation about why he might have ended his life when his future as a distinguished anthropologist seemed so assured. Suspense builds as Carvalho travels to Krahô territory in remote northern Brazil and to New York City in an effort to tease out information that might lead to an explanation of Quain's death and, by extension, his philosophy of life.

At a minimum, this is the most captivating biographical work I've ever read about anyone who hailed from North Dakota--imagine that it should come from Brazil! Carvalho's descriptions of Quain's family members and their role as prominent early citizens of Bismarck, N.D., although brief, ought to be interesting to those who want to learn more about North Dakota history.

Carvalho occasionally philosophizes on contemporary issues, and one phrase is particularly memorable. Speaking of September 11, 2001, and its aftermath, he says, "Wars today seem to occur at a more precise point in time, but deep down they are permanent."