Little Big Man is Thomas Berger’s classic anti-Western that tells the tale of 111-year old Jack Crabb. Actually, Berger has Crabb narrate his own story to Ralph Fielding Snell, a writer who appends his own foreword and afterword.

Crabb lived a marvelous varied and remarkable life in the Old West. He arrived in the West at age 10 and was taken captive (or volunteered due to a misunderstanding by Jack’s sister) by the Cheyenne – the Human Beings. Jack moves back and forth between the Indian and the white worlds. He tended to prosper when living with Old Lodge Skins’s band of Cheyenne, but he retains his white man’s view of the world. As the introduction to the Delta edition by Brooks Landon states, Jack’s aspirations were white, but his achievements were Cheyenne.

Berger’s characters, some famously historical, but most fictional, represent many Western archetypes. He marries a Swedish immigrant, befriends the card-playing gunslinger Wild Bill Hickok, goes into business with the bunco artist Allardyce T. Merriwhether, becomes a drunk, hunts buffalo with Wyatt Earp, rescues a niece from whoredom, falls in love with Mrs. Pendrake, the wife of the proselytizing minister, and fights with Custer at his Last Stand (not in that order). In the Indian world, Berger gives us the noble Indian, the fighting Indian, and the free Indian, but mostly shows the Indians living with an entirely different moral code than the whites, whom the Indians view as being crazy. Jack also turns up at two specific events: the massacre at the Washita River and the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

Berger’s use of the fictional Snelling as Crabb’s editor introduces a couple elements of uncertainty as to the veracity of Jack’s story. Snelling is somewhat skeptical of parts of Jack’s story and after all, he is the one who interviewed Jack. And Snelling may not be all that reliable himself given that he delayed publication for ten years due to his own emotional collapse.

Berger’s characters are archetypes, but not stereotypes because he gives them a twist of his own. Little Big Man is a tour through the history of the Old West, sometimes sardonic, sometimes sobering, and always entertaining. Like most people I saw the movie well before I read the book and it was impossible not to hear Dustin Hoffman’s voice throughout. The movie and the book tell very similar stories in very similar but not identical ways. For once I can say that the movie is as good as the book. Read it and watch it. Highest recommendation. ( )

My favorite cousin has always said Little Big Man is his favorite movie ever, so when my book-reading friend suggested we read it, I was happy to (besides, he always recommends good stuff). The cover of my copy has a blurb from Henry Miller that reads: "An epic such as Mark Twain might have given us . . . a delicious, crazy, panoramic enlargement . . . " And I couldn't agree more. The humor, the easy rendition of dialect, the observations on culture, all are reminiscent of Twain. And perhaps even more fun to read.

You guys probably already know most of the story, but just in case, it's about Jack Crabb, a man who was raised by Cheyenne Indians from ages 10 to 15. After that, he seems to run into almost every major historical figure in Western America. Kit Carson, Wild Bill Hickock, Calamity Jane, Gen. Custer . . . they all make appearances. And the characterizations he uses for these historical figures are dead on with what I've read elsewhere about them. Berger was either fascinated by the American West, or did a lot of research for this book.

This is a great story with a terrific narrator. One I'd highly recommend. ( )

I fully agree with the last reviewer - this was a real romp. Tall tales of the Wild West, with every archetypal image and plot twist covered, from crossing the plains in a wagon train, hunting seas of buffalo, and playing poker in a saloon in a frontier town. It's all familiar stuff, but told with energy and gusto. I found it hard to stop and think about how to review it - I was enjoying it too much.

So, the best I can do: the main themes, for me, were unreliable narrations - from the framing story, to all the stories and con-tricks which crop up through the book - and the concepts of loyalty, savagery and civilisation - I enjoyed following the twists and turns in Jack Crabb's perception of the good and bad in the 'American' and 'savage' worlds - depending on where he is and where he's just been. ( )

I read this book for the inaugural SMH Undercover bookclub. Unfortunately, it was a bit hamstrung by the fact that the book is out of print in Australia. Oh well. (The moderator of Undercover organised to have copies brought in my the publishers - power!! - but I went ahead bought mine from Amazon, and it arrived well before Xmas. Then I discovered a nice stack of Little Big Man the other night at my local bookshop! The publishers listened to Undercover's moderator! She really does have power!)

Little Big Man is a romp and a half, about young Jack Crabb who (for complex reasons, and all in the first 20 pages or so) ends up living with the Cheyenne Indians in the mid 19th century. And his lifestory is narrated at the end of his life, having lived to a ripe old age of 111.

What struck me most (especially at the end of the book) was the contrast between the foreword and the epilogue, written by the man who took down Jack Crabb's story. Initially, I found the foreword quite amusing (the writer’s protestations about never having owned a silk dressing gown had me in giggles), but after reading Jack Crabb's story, I found the writer a complete buffoon in the epilogue, in contrast to the amazing story and exploits of our hero. (The writer probably was a complete buffoon in the foreword as well, but I didn't mind it so much then.)

I assume there's probably some comment to be made about the contrast between the sort of man who made America what it is today (Jack Crabb), and the sort of man who wastes his life in dilettante pleasures of today's America (the writer). But frankly, I am fond of metrosexuals, and I like intellectuals, so I don't want to be drawn into disparaging someone who could be accused of owning a silk dressing gown and who does nothing but flit from one intellectual occupation to another. And if it wasn’t for our dilettante intellectual, would we ever have heard this brilliant story? It would have died along with Jack Crabb, in a nursing home.

I was mildly disappointed when I realised that we weren’t going to get the full 111 years of Jack Crabb's life and times, but then relieved when I realised how long the book would have to be, to cover all those events!

I have to admit, I shed a tear or two (and on a Sydney bus to boot) when Old Lodge Skins died. Not because he died (he was ancient, and he died in a fitting manner), but it was such an end of an era.

As to Jack’s veracity? I tend to read books as if they're the absolute truth. So I completely and absolutely believed he did everything he said he did. (And if he did lie, well, it was one hell of a brilliant tale, well worth listening to. I'm the sort of person who gives beggars extra cash if they tell me a great story as to why they need money. It may not be a true story, but I appreciate the effort and am always interested.) That was probably one reason why the narrator annoyed me at the end – he dismissed Jack's tale as fanciful, but was willing to believe a shonky dealer in artefacts about Crazy Horse's war headdress.

I have to say that it took me a little while to get completely engrossed in this book. Partly the holiday season is to blame (I had no reading time over Christmas!), and partly because it only really took off for me once we started meeting real historical figures. I blame my paucity of knowledge of general American history for my lack of excitement about the first half (or so) of the book - I barely know about Lewis & Clarke, etc, but I've heard of Wild Bill Hickok, General Custer, Calamity Jane, etc. (And to think that Calamity Jane was nothing like Doris Day! ;)

I'm more curious about the whole white-man-writing-about-american-indian-culture thing. Did he get it right? Or is he just pandering to what we’d like to think about American Indian culture? Granted, it's not all "noble savages" or "blood thirsty warriors" that we're getting (those being the two most common stereotypes of American Indian people we seem to see), they are fully rounded human beings with foibles and flaws. And while the American Indian way of speaking may seem a tad convoluted and poetical (and annoyingly off-topic), I think Crabb/Berger did an amazing job of making it make absolute sense, he really gave the context in which to read what they were saying.

My favourite quote was from Old Lodge Skins towards the end of the book talking about a council with the tribal leaders, and he says "...because while Bull is wise, he is also easily spoiled by a lot of attention, and Gall was getting jealous of him. Which is not good." A lovely combination of profound pronouncements about the upcoming battle (not quoted) and just pure simple psychology.

The tension between the two different peoples - the whites and the Indians - was very well handled. Just like Crabb, on one hand I wanted to see the Indians win. On the other hand, I didn't want to see the white soldiers die.

And again, I wonder how historically correct his portrayal of the historical figures were. I got the impression that he was trying to not follow any particular legend of these characters (who were larger than life). Was his General Custer based on historical fact? Did he research that fact, or was it always (or recently) widely known that Custer wasn’t quite the fabulous hero he was, but was always hated by his men? Etc.

I'm very glad I finally read this book after it being on my "hm, wouldn’t mind reading that one day" list for many years (so many books are), after reading about the movie somewhere. (I still can't see Dustin Hoffman as Jack Crabb though!) ( )

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