Customer Reviews

The Old American: A Novel (Hardscrabble Books-Fiction of New England)

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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.

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.

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.

I absolutely loved this book! Great character development, great research, great story! And the ending was perfect. Mr. Herbert is a wonderful writer. In the words of Caucus Meteor, "I admire him very much!"

Elegant writing by Ernest Hebert. In some ways he reminds me a little of Norman Maclean in style. Honest and elegant. A compelling time-period and characters who struggle with the way their lives are and what they could have been.

Fascinating plot and characters as mentioned above. Ernest Hebert is one of the rare ones who can start a sentence and then come seemingly out of nowhere to surprise the reader with images and rhythms juxtaposed in new and delightful ways. Treat yourself to this book now!

Finally, a novel that is equually well writtten and researched. Ernest Herbert has done a terrific job of describing the early colonial native people of norhten New England and Canada. For me he provided many deatails of their culture that not only surprised me but astounded me as well. Within this rich descriptive, Hebert weaves an intriguing tale of an ancient king and his reluctant slave. The story is of a man trying to perserve his world and the captive man that is imprisoned by the world that he was taken from. I was fascintated with this novel and consider it one of the finest novel's of historical fiction that I have ever read.

For anyone interested in the early history of this country, and in the clash between native and European cultures, this book provides a wealth of insight. The "old American" of the title is the son of King Philip, or Metacom, who led a failed native uprising in the late 1600's. King Philip was killed; his son and wife were sold into slavery in Europe. The son eventually returns to America with a lot of knowledge of European languages and culture, and with the experience of having been a slave. He becomes the leader of a group of dislocated native Americans living in Canada and, as the book opens, he participates in a raid on Keene, NH, and takes an Englishman as his prisoner/slave. This book is wonderfully written and very thought-provoking. The dynamic between master/slave and between the different cultures is fascinating.

I just witnessed Ernie Hebert in Conway, NH reviewing his writing techniques and the time it took to research the material in this book. I am intrigued about this moment in history, because our elementary school educators have moved quickly from Thanksgiving Day hocum to the Declaration of Independence, as if nothing happened in New England in between. We are just starting to understand the turmoil the Pilgrims created in eastern Massachusetts that led eventually to the King Phillips War. That duress caused a tremendous amount of loss for both colonists and Indians alike, and ruined the relationships that had been ongoing. So in the midst of this, Ernie Hebert has created a fictionalized account of the early history of NH as best we now know it, and has woven some characters in and out of this legend and lore. Some is absolutely true, and other matters could have been. We continue to grow with our conceptualizaton of this strifeful past, which forbade settling of northern NH for eons after Massachusetts was up and running as a colony. Also read "the Mayflower" by Philbrick, and "1491" as companion literature.

A gentle and moving book about the plight of the Indians during the French and Indian wars. Much philosophy about life as an Indian, and many descriptions about their life in those times.

But: How true is all of this? The author himself writes "The 'Old American" is fiction, but I've stayed close to the facts of the Natan Blake captivity as I've been able to divine it from the history books. I used very few original sources". In other words: the facts are few, most of it is fiction. At that point it becomes a well written novel, reflecting the author's predilections.