Ravenshadow [Mass Market Paperback]

Win Blevins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2000

In following the white man's road, Joseph Blue Crow has lost his Lakota heritage and is haunted by the loss. After the inexplicable suicide of the woman he loves, and as he sinks into alcoholism and despair and stands on the precipice of suicide, his best friend tells him, "You got to go on the mountain."

Blue's journey takes him on a torturous path, and as he is guided by a shaman and a spirit bird, under whose wings lay the shadows of the past, he revisits--and relives--the massacre of Wounded Knee, standing beside his people as they fall under the gun and cannon fire.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Best known for Stone Song, his vivid, lyrical novel of the life of Crazy Horse, Blevins here introduces Joseph Blue Crow, a 1990s Lakota Sioux who calls himself a Great White Doubter. Narrator Joseph feels he is red on the outside but white on the inside ("I thought the white way was the way, and the red way should get left behind"). Although born a full-blooded Sioux and raised on the reservation, Blue is poised to escape his destined poverty when he gets away to college, where he discovers booze, basketball and girls. Succumbing to the temptations of the white culture, he discards his Indian heritage, his family and friends. His experiences as a young man in Seattle are harsh, as he encounters overt racism, but it is his black girlfriend's suicide and the almost simultaneous death of his grandmother that prompt him to return to the reservation, feeling a traitor to himself and his people. By 1990 he is 40, divorced, an alcoholic disk jockey on a blues radio station in South Dakota. Finally compelled to seek peace by a friend and a spiritual vision of a raven, Blue immerses himself in Sioux tradition, turning to the sweat lodge and the sacred pipe. His quest culminates in a pilgrimage, the annual Big Foot Memorial Ride, which commemorates Wounded Knee, the bloody event the whites call a battle, but the Sioux call a massacre. En route, with the help of a medicine man, Blue's spirit is transported to that bitter cold day in 1890 when the Seventh Cavalry fired on a village of starving SiouxAincluding some of Blue's own ancestors. His soul is redeemed by his difficult vision, though the journey may be painful for the reader. Blevins's bleak tale of a man caught between two cultures lacks the balance and grace of Stone Song, but it presents a solid indictment of how even today the white world oppresses and persecutes Native Americans. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Blevins tells the story of Lakota Indian Joseph Blue Crow's unique midlife crisis, which leads to a journey--both geographical and spiritual--to save his soul. The narrative slips neatly back and forth between the 1990s and the 1890s without the least bit of confusion. Blue has managed to get himself fired from his radio disc jockey job; he's too drunk to do himself any good with Sallee Walks Straight; and he's totally confused about who he is, who he was supposed to be, and who he yet might become. That's when his friend Emile Gray Feather talks to him about "goin' on the mountain" --returning to the old ways, to his cultural roots, and rediscovering the path he was meant to follow instead of the oil-slick road to perdition down which he has willingly strayed. Blue finds himself, but the reader finds even more in Blevins' tales of Lakota lore and his reexamination of one of the darkest episodes in American history. Blevins' prose is razor sharp, his characters are clearly defined, and his heart, like so many, is at Wounded Knee. An outstanding novel. Budd Arthur --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; First Edition edition (October 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812590171
• ISBN-13: 978-0812590173
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #964,799 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I came out of Missouri and Arkansas, of Irish, Welsh, and Cherokee heritage. After a whirlwind of colleges and jobs, I discovered that books are my calling, and I've written more than twenty, primarily about mountain men and Indian people. Though awards are less important than readers, I'm glad when they come, and was delighted to be named Writer of the Year in 2003 by Wordcraft Circle of Native writers.

I live with my wife Meredith, the novelist, in a remote corner of the canyonlands of Utah.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars RavenShadow is a true inspiration, February 8, 2001

By 

Marguerite P. Nico "Martial arts mom" (Allen, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ravenshadow (Mass Market Paperback)

I enjoyed reading this book. It gave me an indepth insight into the world of Native American spirituality. I especially liked the way Win Blevins shifted from the present to the past. He didn't make you confused by the shift. There was a lot of information about the massacre at Wounded Knee that I didn't even know. Imagine being a Lakota and not knowing much about your ancestors. That was Joseph Blue Crow. He didn't know anything about his ancestors or why Wounded Knee was so difficult to be near. When he finally understood where his family came from, and how what happened to them at Wounded Knee, he was able to overcome the problem with alcoholism. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Native American history and ways. I rate it at 5 stars.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Taking the Red Road, April 24, 2000

By 

Mamalinde "mamalinde" (Dallas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ravenshadow (Hardcover)

The American Indian perspective, mystically set out in the eyes of a contemporary, educated Native American. The author uses impartial and even handed brush strokes to describe the war within the man and the richness of the red road vs. the poverty of the reservation, and the nearly impossible campaign for balance. The struggles and lapses are well chronicled, as are the historical references. Glimpses of humor, and thoughtful and deliberate weaving of facts, make this a bit more than just a novel. Thought provoking and intense, this reader was enriched by the experience.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Amazing Find, October 31, 2000

By 

Mary F. Wheeler (Jemez Springs, NM USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ravenshadow (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a wonderfully rich story, a personal journey that everyone will be able to relate to. I couldn't put it down.