Customer Reviews

The Powwow Highway (Contemporary Fiction, Plume)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The previous review from the reader in Kansas obviously has very limited experience with the Native American community. Their criticism of the language in "Pow Wow Highway" reveals their own stereotypical and romanticized notions and expectations of the modern American Indian community. This reviewer and his supposed PhD candidate compatriots have completely missed the book's most valuable accomplishment: it tells the truth.

David Seal's masterpiece is a modern American classic. The language in the book is nothing if not accurate. Every Native person I know who has read this fantastic book instantly identifies with the characters, and can point to friends and family members who seem taken straight from the pages. We require our children to read it as soon as they seem old enough to comprehend it. We discuss it at length over and over again, usually over coffee and cigarettes. The humor that pervades the work is so dead-right-on it caputres the essence of Native humor in unique ways that have since been oft imitated in many other works.

This book is a must read by anyone interested in American literature, let alone in Native American literature. If only it was back in publication - along with the other equally powerful books by David Seals. The world is a much poorer place without these works of art made widely available.

Do anything you can to find a copy of this book. This book is apparently a target of censoship and will not be easy to locate. If you have ever lived in eastern Wyoming or western South Dakota, you will probably appreciate the humor, the sadness, and the deep wisdom of the lives of modern day Lakota Sioux. This book is hysterically funny, and I laughed out loud so many times I lost count. David Seals paints a wild tale, and I only hope he can find a way to publish more of his work. Censorship is an ugly thing.....

I can say that I'm not much of a reader as far as Native American literature goes, but I must admit that Seals did an excellent job in turning my views around. This story hilariously depicts the voyage of two Native Americans as they go on a a modern-day quest for glory and to save their heritage. Along the way Seals also gives a clear depiction of the daily lives of those remaining in their squalid soverign nation, as well as those Native Americans who choose to shed their ancestral dress and join American culture and the internal changes that occur. This story has exciting twists and turns and unexpected heros. It truly gives one a sense of what true spirituality and individuality means.

IAM absolutely immersed in the culture of Powwow Highway. I felt the biting cold of sitting in the front seat sharing a joint, sharing a vision of two seperate paths that would merge and intertwine the old ways with the new. It is one of only 6 books I have ever read. Davy Crockett and Babe Ruth when I was a kid, Being There and Mother Night when I was in college, and Zen in the Martial Arts by Joe Hyam. I also watch the tape 2-3 times per month or sometimes just a particular part, like the snow blowing across the road on the way to the monument. Thanks to all who made it happen.

This book is a pleasant surprise, a peek into the heart of a culture that does not see things the way we city-dwellers do. Much can be learned from this book, things that won't be found in any Sociology texts. Whats more, it is just a fun, funny little book. I wish I could think of my car as a pony....

Powwow Highway is an enlightening work by David Seals which illustrates much about Indian history and current culture. The sidenotes and geography discussed is accurate. However, much of the verbage is of low quality or, in other words, unnecessarily profane. While a literary argument can be made for reflecting vernacular in common use, the author's over-indulgence in using profanity to describe the color of the car is quite unnecessary. An even worse problem is the author's method which paints American Indians in the worse possible light. As one of my PhD. program fellow students stated, it makes one think that Indians are worthless individuals and deserving of the common stereotypes. Potential readers and buyers would be well advised to opt instead for more truthful or better written books which do not emphasize the worst examples of American Indian culture.