Power: A Novel [Hardcover]

Linda Hogan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1998

A mythical, far-reaching masterpiece from one of our best Native American writers.

It is the night of an ominous storm when sixteen-year-old Omishto, a member of the Taiga tribe, witnesses her Aunt Ama kill a panther -- an animal considered to be a sacred ancestor of the Taiga people.

That single act will have profound consequences for Omishto, whose name means "the one who watches". Suddenly, she is torn between her loyalties to her Westernized mother, who wants her to reject the ways of the tribe, and to Ama and her traditional people, for whom the killing of the panther takes on grave importance. But Omishto's quest in this timeless, lyrical novel goes far deeper. As she tries to understand the mystery that lies behind Ama's actions, she must reckon with her own spiritual connection to her people, to nature, and to the world itself. She is caught in a web of powers: the power of the legal system over native peoples, the mythic power that ancestral stories hold over her, and the power that is part of the great mystery of life.

This is an extraordinary work about a young girl at a crossroads who must determine her place in the world. Spellbinding and unforgettable, Power will endure as a classic -- ensuring Linda Hogan's stature as one of this country's most important and urgent writers.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In this coming-of-age story, a 16-year-old Native American girl named Omishito (a Tiaga name meaning One Who Watches) inadvertently witnesses the hunting and killing of her clan's sacred animal, the Florida panther. What makes this especially troubling and complicated for Omishito is that her beloved spiritual mentor, Ama, is the panther's murderer. At first, Omishito cannot fathom why Ama, a tribal elder who still practices the old powers, would commit this sacrilege and risk the wrath of her tribe and country. (Unlike the Tiaga tribe, the Florida panther is considered endangered and therefore federally protected.) Through seamless storytelling and expert scene building, Linda Hogan reveals the many-layered mysteries inherent in this novel (based on a true story) as well as the powerful forces that endanger Native Americans and the survival of their spirituality. --Gail Hudson

From Publishers Weekly

Sixteen-year-old Omishita Eaton and her adoptive Aunt Ama, the main characters of Chickasaw Indian Hogan's (Solar Storms) thought-provoking new bildungsroman, are members of the fictional Taiga tribe of Florida, a dwindling group down to its last 30 members. After a devastating hurricane, Ama and the girl track a wounded deer into the swamps, using it as a stalking horse to hunt a panther, an animal sacred to the Taiga. Ama kills the cat, a scrawny, flea-bitten example of its species, and is charged with poaching and violations of the Endangered Species Act. The event tears the Taiga community apart. Most castigate her for slaying the sacred animal, but Omishita stands by her. Though Ama's motives are never made entirely clear, there are intimations that she undertook the taboo act in the hope of sparking a regeneration not only of the Taiga culture but of all Creation itself. Hogan is known principally as a poet, and the current work reflects that vocation in her lyrical, almost mystical use of language. The novel is about two different ways of knowing the world and the problems that ensue when these ways come into conflict. Though slow at times, this is nonetheless a novel of gentle rewards.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 235 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (May 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393046362
• ISBN-13: 978-0965607957
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #882,391 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book I've read in years, December 14, 1998

By 

Wendy Sydow ([e-mail]) (Silver Spring, Maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Power: A Novel (Hardcover)

In this story, there is a storm, a panther is killed, and there are two trials--one in a courthouse about the death of an animal protected by the Endangered Species Act and one among the Taiga elders, who abide by the old ways, on whether the killing was conducted in accordance with tribal law. We experience these events through the eyes, ears, body, and mind of 16 yr old Omishto as she accompanies her adult friend and "teacher," Ama, on a journey she knows is wrong but inevitable, experiences the chasm between the old and new ways of living for the Taiga people, and seeks to understand her own place in a chaotic and dying world. Linda Hogan's masterful writing led me to read this book with my heart, not my mind. This story is an exquisite masterpiece.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lyrical, well-plotted story of tribe and environment, May 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Power: A Novel (Hardcover)

Of all Linda Hogan's three novels, this is her finest, with a mesmerizing lyrical voice, a young Native American narrator who is coming of age in a time when tribal and environmental law are in conflict. This story of Omishto, the One Who Watches, the endangered Florida panther, a hurricane which reveals family and tribal truths -- is elegantly told and a real page-turner. The courtroom drama at the center of the book, is more fascinating than that of Snow Falling on Cedars (David Guterson's recent bestseller). And I found the descriptions of place, people, and Native American vision and a rebirth of a culture of both panther and tribe to be deeply inspiring. This is one of my all-time favorite novels, and I bet it will be a classic.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars True "Power", June 20, 2000

By 

Franklin O. Pratt "Franklin Pratt journeyman ... (Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Power: A Novel (Paperback)

Ms. Hogan has woven a tale that is a tapestry both complex and deceptively simple in focus. For many, this story could be told with other than Native symbology, from the point of view of living honestly and the struggles within the lives we inhabit, be it home, work, family, neighborhood, or, most importantly, self. She illustrates with reverance how deeply connected we are to all of creation and how, when we seek meaning in our lives in indifference to all of creation, how separate and fearful our beliefs can become. This is carefully illustrated by Ms. Hogan through the duplicitous nature of many of the characters (not unlike any of us) interacting with the young woman of this story. The fear Ms. Hogan exposes throughout the telling of this story is that which is held in many hearts when confronted with how we have moved from living with respect for life to the group-held belief and reality that being human is separate and above the rest of creation. This book tells of old ways which compel a young woman to herself, which is, in my view, both particular to this story and potentially to any reader that "sees" similar to that of the young Native woman whose story this book reveals. Ms. Hogan speaks of that which is authentic, sacred, and true. The book has much to say, but it also draws the landscape of the Florida swamps with its heat and searing presence indelibly in the readers mind. The book confirms the truth of life as an immutable force larger than any of our efforts to ignore it. I am grateful to have read her work.