The Grass Dancer (Paperback)

~ (Author) "CHARLENE THUNDER HELD A MICROPHONE TO HER MOUTH and blew into its silver-mesh-covered dome..." (more)
Key Phrases: medicine hole, grass dancer, vision pit, Ghost Horse, Herod Small War, Long Chase (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A major talent debuts with this beguiling novel whose characters are Dakota Sioux and their spirit ancestors. Covering some of the same themes as Louise Erdrich but displaying her own distinctive voice and transcendent imagination, Power has produced an authentic portrait of Native American culture and characters who are as resilient and tangible as the grass moving over the Great Plains. In interconnected stories that begin in 1981 and range back to 1864, the residents of a Sioux reservation endure poverty, epidemic illness, injustice and--no less importantly--jealousy, greed, anger and unrequited love. The tales begin and end with Harley Wind Soldier, a 17-year-old whose soul is a "black, empty hole" because his mother has not spoken a word since the accident 17 years earlier in which Harley's father and brother died. Eventually we discover the true circumstances surrounding that event and other secrets--of clandestine love affairs, of childrens' paternity--that stretch back several generations but hold a grip on the present. Meanwhile, Harley falls in love with enchanting Pumpkin, an amazingly adept grass dancer whose fate will make readers gasp. Mercury Thunder and her daughter Anna use magic in a sinister way, and tragedy results. Herod Small War, a Yuwipi (interpreter of dreams), tries to bring his community into harmony with the spiritual world. The existence of ghosts in the real world is accepted with calm belief by the characters, who know the old legends and understand that the direction of their lives is determined by their gods and ancestors. Power weaves historical events--the Apollo Moon landing; the 19th-century Great Plains drought--into her narrative, reinforcing the seamless coexistence of the real and the spirit realm. A consummate storyteller whose graceful prose is plangent with lyrical metaphor and sensuous detail, she deftly uses suspense, humor, irony and the gradual revelation of dramatic disclosures to compose a tapestry of human life. Seduced by her humane vision and its convincing depiction, one absorbs the traditions and lore of the Sioux community with a sense of wonder reflecting that with which the characters view the natural world. This is a book that begs to be read at one sitting, and then again. A chapter appeared in The Best American Short Stories 1993. BOMC and QPB selection.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA?Rich in myth and legend, this powerful story of the Dakota Indians flows seamlessly back and forth in time from 1864-1982. In the mid-1860s, a young Sioux maiden, Red Dress, translates the sermons of Father La Frambois but deliberately misinterprets the Jesuit's message, through which he hoped to convert her tribe. In a dream, she sees herself in a western settlement and is compelled to journey to Fort Laramie where she observes the violence, hypocrisy, and emptiness of frontier life. Here she becomes secretary to the zealous Rev. Pike, and falls victim to the ultimate treachery when she is murdered by the crazed preacher. In a moving ceremony immediately after her death, the grief stricken Ghost Horse symbolically marries Red Dress. He lives on as a sacred clown and frenetic dancer among his people. The memory of these two restless spirits haunts generations to come with illustrative signs, mysterious visions, and fateful interference. The strength of the novel lies in the meshing of the various stories of the descendants of Red Dress and Ghost Horse so that they all come together in one piece. The result is a passionate portrayal of universal human emotions and a vivid account of Native American history and culture.?Jackie Gropman, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (August 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425149625
• ISBN-13: 978-0425149621
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #652,808 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, lyrical, moving, April 19, 2004

By	Debbie Lee Wesselmann (the Lehigh Valley, PA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Susan Power's THE GRASS DANCER, although billed as a novel, is a series of tightly bound stories centered around the thematic core of a Sioux myth. Separately, these stories, many of which have been previously published in high-quality magazines such as The Atlantic and The Paris Review, are excellent, but read as a whole, one after the other, they form a powerful whole - a novel, if you will. The world Ms. Power creates it at once current and ancient, with legends and tales of ancestors so entwined with the present day that the Native American characters seem less like individuals and more like highlighted segments on a multi-branched and infinitely continuing time line. But that is not to say that Ms. Power creates simple characters. Her people are complex and often troubled, struggling with the magic that swirls around them.

The individual stories tell the larger one of Native Americans, in particular the Sioux, and their battles, both physical and metaphysical, with the white men who invaded their land. This is not a historical novel, however, but rather a lyrically psychological one, where myth becomes fact. The pivotal legend that embraces all the characters in The Grass Dancer is the one of Red Dress, a Sioux woman with breath the scent of plums and a spirit that guides a long line of women to their destinies, both tragic and exhilarating. Charlene, a direct descendent from Red Dress, is in love with Harley, a descendent of Red Dress's husband Ghost Horse. But Harley keeps in his heart the spirit of another woman. Charlene's grandmother, Mercury, uses Red Dress's magic to control men and to wrest Charlene from her mother. Lydia, who is mute by choice, survives her husband and son, dead because of her anger with the magic of Red Dress. The magic in this novel has such force that when Red Dress finally tells her own story, we cannot wait to see what kind of mortal she was that gave rise to such spiritual power. Sadly, the Red Dress story is the weakest of the book. Her motivation to lure white men to their deaths, ultimately bringing on her own, seems flimsy. However, Red Dress as a spirit has become so poignant through the other stories that her final appearance in the novel is perhaps one of the most moving passages.

Susan Power is an extraordinarily gifted writer with a taste for language that makes a reader want to linger over her words. Her imagination is so precise that it is difficult to accept that her characters do not exist beyond the pages.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Review of Grass Dancer, November 23, 2002

By	Daisy Irene Hogan (Nashville, Tennessee United States) - See all my reviews

This book weaves a myriad of folk motifs into the fabric of reality, creating a vibrant tale about the connections among generation, about how the actions of our ancestors can affect out contemporary lives-and how the presence resonates in us.

The story creates a foundation in the 1860s-when a Dakota warrior-Ghost Horse, lost his love-Red Dress. Since then, their spirits have sought to be reunited, and it is the playing out of this drama that shapes the sometimes violent fate of those who have come after them. The story jumps to the 1980s,where Charlene Thunder, a teenage descendant of Red Dress, is in love with Harley Wind Soldier, a traditional dancer of Ghost Horse's lineage. When Harley's soulmate, Pumpkin, dies, Charlene suspects her grandmother, the infamous Anna Thunder- who is both revered and feared by the Dakota community.

Charlene and Harley strive to make peace with the ghosts of their pasts while contending with the living. Other significant characters include Jeanette McVay, an American college student studying the tribe; Crystal Thunder-who must escape to Chicago to find her past; Herod Sall War-a member of the community who provides spiritual guidance; and Margaret Many Wounds-Harley's grandmother who he sees walking on the moon.

The story combines the mythic and supernatural aspect of the Dakota heritage with the contemporary Dakota tribe to serve as a very entertaining and interesting text!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thumbs up!, November 21, 2002

By	C. Pond (Plantation, Florida, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I recently was assigned The Grass Dancer for my Native American Literature class. I must say that this is a fantastic book. All of the characters are beautifully crafted. The stories of each character, such as Anna Thunder and Lydia Wind Soldier give the reader real insight as to why each character behaves in a particular way. The loss that the various characters suffer does not fill me with sadness, but gives me hope that they will see each other once again once they leave this world. The backwards progression of time brings Harley Wind Soldier to a place that allows him to fill the hole over his heart. This story displays the vivid and very much alive culture of the Dakota Sioux. Susan Power does a wonderful job of creating a world that is true and completely fictional all at the same time. I would definitely recommend this book to other people.