On The Rez

Rating:
Summary: Ian Frazier brings it home
Review: Ian Frazier has told a wonderful, heartfealt story about the American Indian of today, specifically those at the Pine Ridge reservation; but he also blends in much history of the past. Frazier does it in a very honest manner despite his obvious devotion to the Sioux of Pine Ridge and Oglala. If you desire a book about a wonderful people, a tortured people, yet a very proud people, read this book.

Rating:
Summary: A thoughtful, Unjudgemental Review of Life on a Reservation
Review: In a follow up to his book the "Great Plains", Frazier returns to the Oglala Sioux Pine Ridge Reservation to visit his friend Le War Lance and Le's friends and family. The book is an interesting intertwining of history of the Oglala Sioux as it describes their former life as a proud nomadic society that virtually died with Wounded Knee, which is on the Pine Ridge Reservation, and whose current life is racked by alcohol, car crashes, poverty, a high suicide rate and poor health care. Many parts of the book are funny and endearing but at the same time disheartening to know that life on the reservation can be entrapped in poverty without a strong motivation for change. On the one hand Le War Dance talks of being an independent He Dog Soldier yet sadenly when Frazier wakes him and his brother for a planned sunrise hunt for muledeer, the hunt does not materialize because Le's brother hocked the gun the night before. There is also a lengthy tribute to a young girl, Suzanne Big Crow, who was a HS basketball star. Lenghy probably because she became a role model for the tribe and was a positive force that died like many of the young in a car crash (fell asleep on the way to an awards ceremony). A funny but sad rejioner that paraphrases life on the reservation is a comment by a local DJ on the radio that states on a snowy cold morning "Okay you men, be good to your women today and get up and warm their car up so they can have a warm ride to work in the snow". The inference being that the men normally do not work or get up... Best part of the descriptions of the people and their life is that Frazier does not judge or offer philosphical explanations of their behavior. Many of the people are very admirable particularly in how they preserve their cultures, others with deep pride appear to perpetuate poverty. Highly recommend reading Frazier's "Great Plains" first as it's the beginning where this book is his destination.

Rating:
Summary: Rez Reads Great
Review: I admit I came to Ian Frazier's "On the Rez" hoping it would be more like "On the Road," that is, a 300-page story of drunken chaos and ripe descriptions of decadence. But Frazier's respectful historical review of how Indians have shaped our lives and their continued desecration at the hands of a well-meaning but ineffectual government gave me a renewed sense of wonder about these people. Like Frazier did as a child, we all share the belief of Indians as these mystical, spiritual folks saying things like "You are very wise, Little Flower." What Frazier does instead is take us inside the Oglala Sioux reservation--really an internment camp--and shares his journey amongh the families and stories and daily life he encounters there.

Now, one wonders what Frazier was looking for when he set out on this years-long journey. Friendship? Kinship? Closeness with other men? I was confounded by his repeated attempts to ally himself with his Indian friends, particularly Le War Lance (a/k/a Leonard Thomas Walks Out--some Indians really do have cool last names just like we imagined as children). Le provides a narrative focus for the book, and we see him at his drifting, alcoholic worst throughout. He and his brother, Floyd John, spend their days doing things like travelling a hundred miles to find a spare part for their car, then spending the rest of the day tinkering with it and drinking Budweiser. One of the funniest scenes in the book is when Frazier, driving Le and Floyd John to a propane storage facility on some godforsaken errand, almost gets blown to bits when something goes wrong near one of the immense tanks. Le and Floyd John get so joyfully wrapped up in this--chattering endlessly on the long drive home--that Frazier is moved to note that he's never seen them so happy.

Although Frazier is careful to avoid the stereotypes propagated by the media that modern Indian life is bleak, one can't help but feel the bleakness, boredom and sense of hopelessness reservations can inflict on their young. The rez is just a ghetto in the great outdoors, with all the problems facing urban ghettos today--high crime, drug use, alocoholism, unemployment, and the horrific sense of lazy entitlement that comes when generations of people depend on government intervention and provision.

After spending days and countless dollars on the likes of Le and Floyd John--Frazier readily hands the fellas money like a cuddly, human ATM--the book finds its hero. Her name is Sue Ann Big Crow, a high school freshman who's the shining star for the Oglala tribe. She's bright, articulate, funny, a friend to all and a brilliant, daring athlete. In other words, you know she's doomed from the moment you meet her. Frazier takes us through her short, strong life and wonderfully wrenches every emotion from the story of this hopeful girl and her supportive family. Thanks to Frazier, Sue Ann is a hero for the ages. And when we finally re-hookup with Le, the man seems bitter and irrelevant, going so far as to telling Frazier that Sue Ann is a phony. We don't believe a word of this. (In fact, Le's own niece disclaims the story as bull.)

I liked Frazier's style of writing--it's clear, thoughtful, funny when the situation calls for it--and I can say that, beyond learning about Le, Sue Ann, Floyd John and the rest, Frazier excellently shed light on the permeating influence of Indian culture on our society. Frazier even goes so far as to expose himself as a fussbudget, when Le drops by his home for the first and only time, unnanounced, and sets Frazier and his cute kids into a dazed tizzy. Le's drunken, sloppy intrusion into Frazier's neat world is palpable and memorable. Like the book itself.

Rating:
Summary: The Heart of the Heart of the Country
Review: Maybe it is because I'm from Kansas that Ian Frazier has stolen my heart, first with "Great Plains" and now with "On the Rez." It is his straightfordward, unembarrassed approach to the lives Native Americans and his own unaplogetic yearning to belong, that makes this book so compelling. Frazier's love of America's past and fervid admiration of its near mythic heroes in no way keeps him from giving us an unsparing, unsentimental account of life on an Indian reservation today. Still Frazier reignights in us the pride we felt when as children we said the Pledge of Alligence and meant it or sang "from sea to shining sea" and imagined those vast fields of gold. The American West, its people, its history and its physical enormity, its joys and losses are summed up in one story in "On the Rez." It is one hell of a story, all about a real American hero, a young Native American girl who played basketball like a prayer, and Frazier makes us see how she was able to use her whole being to redeem the pristine America that Frazier still sees. The people he meets on the rez, their stories, fact and fiction, make him see that America is still a good place to find heroes, and he makes you see it too.

Rating:
Summary: This Bud's For You
Review: I would absolutely recommend this book. I deducted a star because the author missed his opportunity to explain or even to explore the reason(s)for the historically high incidence of alcoholism on Indian reservations. For me the poverty and bleakness simply don't come close to providing an answer. I would'nt be surprised if sooner or later a genetic marker for the disease (like Indian lactose intolerance) is discovered.

Rating:
Summary: Exausted
Review: This great event by Ian Frazer left me exausted. The miles he drives seem endless. But, his pros are excellent. If you are a fan of the Hillerman books, On The Rez is a true to life mystery of the plight of the indian from Columbus' time to the present. Frazers stories are mixed with tears and laughter. Get it....Read it.....enjoy it,

Rating:
Summary: I just wasn't that impressed.
Review: I found myself disliking Frazier's book-length account of life on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation despite the fact that I'd enjoyed edited excerpts from On the 'Rez in a recent edition of (can't remember which) Harper's or the Atlantic Monthly.

My bottom line is not so much that I find the narrator's account unreliable--it is, but Frazier knows it is--but that I find it confused about whether to present a morality tale or an omniscient recounting without any clear moral lesson. Far from being "unsentimental," as the other reviewers have noted, Frazier's sentimental voice clouds too many descriptions he's presented in documentary style. A good example is his discussion of White Clay, Nebraska. Frazier hems and haws about introducing this seedy hell hole, deferring his description several times because, as he suggests, the place is too foul to write about. But when he finally gets there, the town just don't look that bad--I mean, what's so shocking about the fact that an opportunist would set up shop on the border of a dry community and trade booze for cars when thirsty clients offer them? I doubt that the residents of Pine Ridge view this activity as particularly tragic; as Frazier and others have depicted them, the Sioux are people disposed to barter. Of course it is despicable to enable a population with a 50% diabetes rate to drink, but it's also kind of despicable to free-load off your white writer friend because you know he's stupid enough to keep giving you money--the story of Frazier's relationship with Le War Lance. Le is complex and ultimately redeemed by Frazier; the owner of the Arrowhead Inn is nothing short of the devil.

It bugged me. Thoughout the book I wanted to forget all about Ian Frazier, the self-proclaimed wannabe, but his bad case of white man's guilt (he believes he deserves an automobile accident after hustling Le and friends prematurely from his house even though his guests make a quick 150 bucks off him during the visit) permeates the text.

A refuge might have been the historical chapters, yet I found those for the most part thinly drawn and, as one who's read extensively about Native American cultural history, not terribly informative. (The chapters on Su Anne, by the way, were too many; his treatment of her, perfectly condensed and nuanced in the magazine article, suffered from too much adulation. You started to wish that Le's characterization of Su Anne as a hypocrite who partied all the time had something to it.)

Finally, I kept wanting to see the beauty of Pine Ridge, a place I've visited on many occasions. Frazier comments (absurdly, as John's Floyd's girlfriend Wanda seems to realize) on the beauty of town's lights seen from a distance at night, but what I remember are the buttes, the grasslands, the eroded badlands, the grandeur of the physical space. The movie Thunderheart's a good introduction to what Pine Ridge physically looks like; sadly, On the 'Rez is not.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Let The Title Fool You.
Review: It's true this book has witty remarks, but humor is a very small part of this brilliant work. This book is very difficult to read without being deeply affected by Mr. Frazier's words.

Mr. Frazier accomplishes what I find remarkable. He clearly is a great admirer of the tribes and individual members he writes of, but he also is brutally candid about these people who are his friends. The remarkable part is that you never sense he is judging their behavior, nor is he an apologist. He deftly mixes the history of this Country with a variety of Tribal Nations, and shows you the results. He destroys many misconceptions that exist, and makes very intuitive remarks about the future they may await these people.

If you have not already done so, I believe this book will act as a catalyst to read more about the history of these remarkable people, the opportunities that were lost, the crimes that were committed and are being addressed in Congress right now.

I live in the state that has the largest of the Casinos that many feel are providing all manner of solutions to a variety of tribes. The facts about these Casinos are a far cry from the perceptions that many people hold.

Wounded Knee and The Trail of Tears are not just words that make up titles of books. These places and events, the Presidents that governed at the time, and the President who sanctioned the largest mass execution in this Country's History will, in at least one instance shock you. I say, at least one, as one President's attitude is in keeping with his life-long conduct.

These Peoples were not exterminated, or to use the official Federal Government's word, "Terminated". They survived, and their numbers continue to grow, which alone is astonishing.

Enjoy reading about what a hero/heroine really is? Mr. Frazier brings the story of SuAnne Marie Big Crow to the reader, and when he is finished, you will be emotionally drained. You will be challenged to read the story through to its end. The Author does not discuss this young woman until page 200 of a 279-page book, why? The answer is I don't know, my opinion is, the story was that difficult for him to relate to his readers. The story is powerful enough to have been it's own book, and it some day may be. He introduces the subject as follows "Reader, books are long, and I know that even the faithful reader tires. But I hope a few of you are still with me here. As much as I have wanted to tell anything, I wanted to tell you about SueAnne". The Author need not worry, I would imagine the few who do not complete this book would be small, and if they do cease, they will have denied themselves something very special.

One of the most powerful books I have read.

Rating:
Summary: I don't think Jennifer Nixon read the book....
Review: ...this book focuses on the many contemporary problems facing Native Americans on the Pine Ridge rez: alcoholism, suicide, unemployment and apathy, as well as short histories of both Wounded Knee conflicts. Frazier approaches these topics in a non-judgmental way, providing observations rather than solutions. The book happens to read more like a novel at times, rather than a textbook. The chapters centering on SuAnne Big Crow are worth the price of the book alone. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: A good way to spend a few hours....
Review: This is an interesting book; however, it is merely a description of the author's time on the Oglala reservation. He doesn't provide any anlaysis of Sioux culture, Native American history or contemporary problems facing the Pine Ridge population. Instead, the book reads like a journal: I did this, then I did that, then I went here, etc. Also, Mr. Frazier doesn't do a great job of retelling some aspects of Native American history. He oversimplifies his subject; his historical synopses left me very flat. Additionally, I have found numerous factual errors regarding Native history. I wonder how carefully he researched the subject. No major errors, just small discrepancies that usually come with oversimplification. All in all, the book is a good way to pass the time, much like a conversation with someone who has just visited the reservation. Read this book for the pleasure in getting to know the people in it, not for a factual account of Native history or an unbiased or objective discussion of Native American politics.