23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Something Unique: A Native American's View of the F & I War, October 7, 2000
Anyone who shares an interest in the French & Indian War era will find this book unique from many perspectives. First, it is evident that the author did an exceptionally thorough job of researching relevant daily minutia of that era, from all perspectives, whether Colonist, Indian, French or British, as the details ring with an authenticity of those critical moments of painful "nation building" not found in many formal histories, much less a work of historical fiction. Second, it accurately portrays a perspective not usually accorded anything but a romanticized depiction, that of the large numbers of Native American's swept up, and perhaps wounded to the very core of their civilization by something they could not truly understand, the blood feud between distant European Nations that was violently transforming their cultures, without their consent or any honest concern for the consequences. The pain of the "Old American" from this tale, for his culture and people, should give all pause as we consider how casually Native Americans were brushed aside in the "foreigner's affairs" of that and subsequent eras.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Old American is magnificent!, September 1, 2001
One day last spring, one of the other parents dropping kids off at school stopped me to say, "I stayed up late last night finishing the most wonderful book, and I have to tell someone, so Im telling you." The book she was so ardently recommending was Ernest Heberts The Old American. What is it about certain books that elicits such a need to pass them along?
I remember when I first read Heberts novel The Dogs of March, which Ive argued should be assigned to newly arrived New Englanders as required reading, like taking Vermonts Freemans Oath. Myself, I read every paragraph twice as I made my way through the pages, the only time I ever recall doing that. Hebert has an incomparable ear for dialogue, an ability to set off a dramatic incident like a blasting cap, and his prose conveys the gnarled, bruising beauty of the north country. Darby, the town he invented as setting for his characters collisions with fate and one another, is a place now present in detail in my mental cosmos.
Having achieved so much in a certain mode, Hebert evidently felt constrained by the conventions of the contemporary "realistic" novel. In the early 1990s he wrote a cyber-punk thriller called Mad Boys, worked on a nonfiction book about wood, then commenced work on a project seemingly very different.
As he explains in a note at the end of The Old American, he had been pondering childhood memories of a monument in Keene, New Hampshire. Almost hidden behind a hedge, a plaque commemorates the site where in 1736 a settler named Nathan Blake built the towns first log cabin, indicating that Blake was captured by Indians and taken to Canada for three years then ransomed by his wife.
So why do certain books compel readers to pass them on? First, theres the power of a fabulous story. The Old American has that, in spades: the tale of Nathan Blakes captivity unfolds with gravity and old-fashioned excitement. This is the New England frontier, sparsely populated, opulent in game, and with cloud-crowned forests and wild, spume-torn rivers. Nathan survives a series of tests among his captors, including traversing the infamous gauntlet in a rather original way (this episode is a tour de force of narrative strength and agility). Ultimately, although by definition still a slave, Nathan makes a home for himself in the village of Conissadawaga, a town of refugiés from tribes decimated by assimilation, war, and disease. Pulled between contesting strategies for survival settlement with European-style cabins and farms, or continuing the nomadic, foraging life further north the community is coming apart along age-old rifts. Saturated with historical insights and accuracies, Heberts writing nonetheless vaults above its scholarly sources and succeeds as a vivid, vigorous story. In scenes of hunting and fishing, planting corn, gossiping by the fire, and gambling (paradoxically, to gain prestige by losing everything), the ancient dwellers on this land come alive. Especially moving and frequently comical is Heberts way of conveying the linguistic mix surrounding Nathan, a simmering stew of Iroquian and Algonquian languages, French, English, Dutch, and even "slaughtered" church Latin.
Secondly, The Old American has magnificent characters. Although he initially tried to tell his tale from the viewpoint of Nathan Blake, according to Hebert after several failed drafts he re-routed and built the novel around the thoughts and narration of the elderly Indian named Caucus-Meteor, former slave himself and skilled as a multi-lingual translator. He is a combination of philosopher king and court jester, grand in intellect but self-effacing and mischievous. While Heberts story is endlessly engaging, what lifts this novel to the level of greatness is the character of Caucus-Meteor. Heberts bold choice, defying imaginative difficulties as well as literary-political correctness, is a mark of his stature as one of our most gifted novelists.
The Old American evokes an epoch far from our own, a time exhilarating in potential yet verging on catastrophe. Those of you who have read the book have surely noticed the enthusiasm and even urgency with which you commend it to others.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Everything you want in a book., March 8, 2005
This review is from: The Old American: A Novel (Hardscrabble Books-Fiction of New England) (Paperback)
I almost never read a book twice. I've read this book three times. It's a everything a novel should be: great story, intriguing characters (that you care about), clean, elegant writing, humor (I laughed about every other page),pathos, insight. Usually the insight comes wrapped in humor. (Hebert, it seems, will never hit you over the head with insight.) For example, here's aged Caucus Meteor musing to himself: "The trouble with living too long is not only that you live beyond your years, but you live beyond your convictions."
Wonderful, wonderful book. It's hard to understand why it didn't get more aclaim. That's the publishing biz for you I guess.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
