Rating: 
Summary: A terrific read
Review: I remember reading this and being overwhelmed by its energy, its humor and its human feeling. One Amazon reviewer Deborah L. Cohen wrote beautifully about the way Little Big Man parallels Huckleberry Finn in the guilt , shame doubt which comes with favoring the underdog ( in Huck's case Jim, and in Little Big Man's The Indians) over his own native race and people. This book is filled with humor and real human sympathy. It is a terrific read and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Great book - even better than the movie.
Review: I saw the movie Little Big Man when it first came out, and again a few years later. It has been one of my favorite movies of all time. Now I have read the book, and enjoyed it even more. The book is more "realistic" and depicts the brutality of both whites and natives. Unlike the movie, where Custer is portrayed as a bit of a fool, the novel shows him to be a complex, evil man, hungry for power. The touching story of Lavender, an ex-slave, was left out of the movie entirely. I highly recommend this book.
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Summary: All Time Favorite Through The Years
Review: Like many others who reviewed this book, I first read it (in high school) after seeing the movie. The movie was a real eye opener for me, for the first time giving me a sense of Indians as real people, struggling to stay themselves and maintain their way of life against the relentless & overwhelming campaign of conquest, destruction & genocide by Whites. It inspired me to read this book, which I found to far surpass in richness, character development and detail what I had thought to be an excellent movie. After reading it the first time I think I read it annually for the next ten years, and several more times since. Each time it has moved me to laughter, anger, and without fail tears at the end. I can't begin to do it justice, even trying gives me "...a pain between my ears..." and some of the reader reviews have already done a fine job of describing it. There's just a couple of points I'd like to add. Jack Crabb has always reminded me Huckleberry Finn. Through close personnal experience, each character evolves in his understanding and appreciation of a race he'd been raised to believe inherently inferior to whites (Jack Crabb's rearing by Indians does not begin till his tenth year). Niether Jack nor Huck are saints who always "knew better". Along the way, both struggle with feelings of doubt, guilt & shame when they find themslves favoring the Indians or Blacks over Whites. Both think badly of themselves for doing so. Like Mark Twain, Thomas Berger puts us into the head of a White male who struggles with the conflict between his own experience and the stereotypes he'd been raised on and which shape the White society of his time. Both books are marvels of insight into human nature. "Little Big Man" goes further in brighing alive actual historical events Jack experiences first hand. Read the history book by Dee Brown, "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee" to afirm how well Thomas Berger captured and related such notorius events as the Washita massacre and the Battle at the Little Big Horn. My other point to new readers is to be sure and read the Forward, which is actually part of the novel and provides valuable background and insight into Jack's character and wisdom. Enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: A tall tale about a kid who is raised by injuns.
Review: Little Big Man is a great book for a fun read. I had to read it for a class which pressured me to read it in a certain amount of time so I wasn't able to enjoy it as much as I had hoped to. However it was still a good book. It gives great factual information about the old West and about the Indians and their fight to keep their homeland, but at the same time it was fun to read because of some of the crazy adventures that Jack takes part in. Over all I gave this book a three because it was decent and yet had excessive detail in some spots.
Rating:
Summary: A tall tale about a kid who is raised by injuns.
Review: Little Big Man is a great book for a fun read. I had to read it for a class which pressured me to read it in a certain amount of time so I wasn't able to enjoy it as much as I had hoped to. However it was still a good book. It gives great factual information about the old West and about the Indians and their fight to keep their homeland, but at the same time it was fun to read because of some of the crazy adventures that Jack takes part in. Over all I gave this book a three because it was decent and yet had excessive detail in some spots.
Rating:
Summary: One of the finest American novels
Review: Long before Micheal Blake's politically correct tome "Dances With Wolves" gave voice to other side of the American West, Thomas Berger wrote the expertly crafted, humourous, tragic and down right entertaining "Little Big Man". Written in 1965, when it was still fashionable to portray the Native American as a "in the way savage", Berger deftly blended the genres of tall tale and history in a manner that really has yet to be matched.The character of Jack Crabb is cut of classic cloth. His story may very well be pure hogwash, but it is filled with touching humanity that underpins all the comedy. Berger portrays The Cheyenne people, or the "Human Beings" as possessing many of the same foibles and warts as their European counterparts. They are not painted as noble savages as in Blake's new agey work, but rather as complex characters deserving of respect and honor. Berger's General Custer is a wry study of madness that somehow avoids cynicism. One of this book's many virtues lies in its ability to lend the Western myth a critical eye, while avoiding the nihilistic pessimism that frequently goes hand in hand with such work (something the film version couldn't avoid). "Little Big Man" is a must read to all who love good yarns spun with a big heart and a bigger mind.
Rating:
Summary: Rollicking tour of Western history
Review: Many historical (and many hysterical) people appear in these pages. In an entertaining mix of fantasy and fact, the author views the frontier West in his own unique perspective. Get acquainted with some of our history as a nation without a dry textbook approach.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book for Old West fans!
Review: Mr. Berger writes a fabulous, highly improbable story -and records an accurately portrayed (for the era), yet extremely readable social account at the same time. All the fascinating characters- how they behave, where they come from, and what happens to them- are closely based on a past reality, and all is sensitively and skillfully portrayed by a very talented amateur historian. Don't care about the history part of the American West? Read it anyway- this book is so much fun!
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Summary: The Classic American Novel
Review: Sprawling, funny, moving and fun, this hilarious look at the old west by one of America's best writers is destined to be a classic. There's never a dull moment in this tale of a man who is sort of the Forrest Gump of the old west, only shorter.
Rating:
Summary: A great piece of historical fiction -- an absolute hoot!
Review: The great and not-so-great events of the second half of 19th Century America seen through the eyes of a 19th Century "Seinfeld". Wonderful characters that will make you laugh as well as make you see the hypocrisy of human nature. Jack is a hero and a coward, a crook and a saint, a Native-American and a mule-skinner in Custer's Cavalry. And each version of him as believable and comfortable as the next. A must read!
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