Scarlet Plume [Paperback]

Frederick Mafred (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Pocket Book (1966)
• ASIN: B0022YN66C
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most believable Indian massacre I ever read, May 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Scarlet Plume (Buckskin Man) (Paperback)

Although the time prohibited a romance between an American Indian and a white woman, the author made the concept believable and sympathetic. Well written with graphic descriptions. A real page-turner.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Violence and Sex, April 3, 2008

By 

madbee (Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scarlet Plume (Buckskin Man Tales) (Paperback)

This historical novel centers on the relationship between white settlers in the West and Indians during the period of the Civil War. The book opens with a horrific massacre. Manfred is extremely descriptive of the violence and, if once was not enough, he returns to it again and again throughout the book.

The opening massacre, and the behavior of various individuals, shapes the story. Scarlet Plume emerges as a one-dimensional heroic character; the one good Indian trying to help Judith, the beautiful white woman, who has been kidnapped by his tribe.

The plot weakens the novel. Judith, who escapes from her slavery with the Indians, longing for her home in Minnesota, ends up romanticizing about the tribe's good qualities and disdainful of her white race. During her journey away from them, she even dresses in settler's clothing she finds in an abandoned cabin, missing her home and all its "civilized" furnishings.

Judith's change occurs because of her relationship Scarlet Plume. Just as Manfred was obsessed with the violence, he seems equally obsessed with describing Scarlet Plume's "phallus" which turns up throughout the book. By the end we are to believe that Judith has forgotten all the horrors and losses she witnessed (and escaped from) and wants to return and live as a squaw.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Page Turner, July 12, 2000

By 

"barb312" (Jordan, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scarlet Plume (Buckskin Man) (Paperback)

This was without a doubt the best book I've ever read. I could not put this book down and read it in one day. The book is very descriptive and well written. I highly recommend this book.