Dark River
by Louis Owens
On This Page
Description
Jacob Nashoba?s journey has taken him from his Choctaw homeland in Mississippi to Vietnam and finally to a small reservation in the mountains of eastern Arizona. A tribal ranger, he lives among people far different from any he has known. Balanced precariously between isolation and community, he is drawn to both the fastness of a remote river canyon and the Apaches who have come to be the only family he has. Nashoba?s world is peopled by, among others, a bright young man who sells vision show more quests to romantic tourists, a determined elder whose power makes her a force to be reckoned with on the reservation, a resident anthropologist more "native" than the natives, a corrupt tribal chairman, a former Hollywood extra who shouts at reservation women the scraps of Italian he learned from other "Indian" actors, and the ranger?s estranged wife. Confusion and violence follow their encounter with a right-wing militia group training secretly on tribal land. The contrast between these Rambo types and the various Native American characters typifies the sardonic humor running throughout this novel of contemporary Indian identity. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
I loved this book for its ability to be everywhere at once: it critiques anthropology, exposes corruption, yet also draws the reader into a mystical post-modern world where dreams and reality, death and life are inseperable. Its hilarious, tragic, and exciting.
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
Diverse Horror
262 works; 6 members
Author Information
11+ Works 403 Members
Louis Owens is Professor of English and Native American Studies at the University of California, Davis.
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Dark River
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 34
- Popularity
- 834,034
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (4.13)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
