On the Rez

Sitting in a safe suburban envelope, people would be surprised to find a third world country existed just a short drive from their haven of ease and prosperity. In an age when the biggest concern for many is what the Kardashian’s posted, or capturing their most recent meal with a phone picture, it’s beyond comprehension that people would be living with dirt floors, no indoor plumbing, no running water, and no electricity. But such places exist. In some cases, what they lack in socio-economic status, they make up for in cultural or natural beauty. Though nothing can completely make up for the poverty and educational wasteland that is the modern-day Indian reservation – the rez.

If you’re liberal sensitivities bristle at the term show more “Indian” above, Ian Frazier’s [On the Rez] will set you straight. His experience is the same as mine – Native American or Indigenous People are not terms people on the rez use to refer to themselves. Indian is the proud label of choice, if you’re looking for one. And while Frazier focuses on the Pine Ridge rez, where the Oglala live – you know them as Sioux – he could be writing about any rez. The alcohol addiction and poverty and death rate is the same in South Dakota as it is in Nevada or New Mexico or New York. So is the cultural pride and gritty survival instinct and fierce family loyalty.

Frazier, as an outsider, can’t help but be struck by the incongruity of having an entire race relegated to confined tracks of land in a country known for being the “Home of the Free.” Free, yes, in theory, even if lacking in the things that modern civilizations now assume are part of that freedom. His rez, and most you’d visit, have more in common with the tribal lands in Afghanistan or Pakistan than the country where they exist. But Frazier, because of his own openness in developing and maintaining friendships, is granted a level of inclusion. And from this inside perspective, he documents the nobility of the people he finds on the rez, and the tragedy that often infects the life there.

[On the Rez] will give you a primer on history and US government relations in Indian Country, the nature of social unrest in the turbulent 1960’s, and changes on the rez with the advent of Indian gaming operations. Given the book’s date of publication, 2000, the latter could do with an update, as casinos were only just starting to affect the cultural and economic lives of most tribes at the time. But the most important thing Frazier does with the book is to put a deeply human face to places that most people only have stereotypical ideas about.

Bottom Line: Accurate and moving depiction of places that no one really knows about in America. Surprising in its humanity.

4 ½ bones!!!!! show less

Another one of those "3 or 4?" reviews. Frazier is engaging and sympathetic, and the prose is excellent, but the book has some real flaws. The structure of the book feels loose; while it very roughly follows a chronological path of his own experiences (using them as a trunk from which to branch off) it has a tendency to feel meandering as it goes off onto the branches. Frazier is honest in showing that this is a portrait of the Oglala through his own eyes--he doesn't make a pretense of it being purely objective. Again, the flip side is that at times his own experiences and biases are too present, obscuring the reader from a view of what he's trying to portray.

This book is actually a story within a story. The first stories centers around the unusual bond between an alcohol abusing Native American and a self-proclaimed Indian wannabe; the second chronicles the impact one special teenager can have on an entire community many consider bleak and often evil. Both stories are interesting in their own right, but their juxtaposition inside this book makes it a more compelling read than it may have been otherwise. Mr Frazier's offers some thought-provoking and seldom-addressed perspectives on the everyday life of Indians in modern America interspersed with brief passages on the historical events, various treaties, and tribal leaders that have played major roles in shaping their fate. Even people who show more are not particularly interested in Native American culture or history should find the inspirational tale of basketball hero SuAnne Big Crow worth the read. I recommend. show less

A vivid and interesting look at Frazier's time spent visiting the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. It's a very good tale about the struggles and hopes of the Oglala people who live in impoverished conditions.

Frazier's style is not for everyone, but I enjoyed it. Not as much as "Great Plains," but a good book none the less.

Some parts are totally engrossing, others are not. I'd like to finish this one day...so far I'm only at a chunk a year rate.

A colorful portrait of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, the poorest county in the U.S.

An outsider's view of insiders. Difficult to do.