Rating: 
Summary: Here is a story that can change your life
Review: This book centers in large part on the life and experiences of the author's friend Le War Lance. But I direct your attention to the story of SuAnne Big Crow, whose astonishingly creative act of heroism did better than defeat racism: it dissolved racism without a fight. You need to read this story; it more than justifies the book all by itself.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful, thoughtful book
Review: I always enjoy Ian Frazier's writing and On the Rez has him at the top of his form. This is a long, ruminative essay, really, on Mr Frazier's relationship with the Oglala Sioux and Le War Lance in particular. Along the way, he highlights some of the sorrowful history of Native Americans since contact with Europeans. By turns this book is informative, funny, tragic, and hopeful.Mr Frazier makes you care about the people in this book. As he comes to know them better, so do you, the reader. I was sorry when the story stopped, which appears to happen largely because Mr Frazier had to stop writing sooner or later. But I do need to know: what happened to Le War Lance after the last page? If you are a fan of Ian Frazier, or if you are interested in Native American issues, or history, or just like reading about interesting folks, you'll enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: This is a wonderful, beautifully written book about life on the Pine Ridge Reservation, filled with fascinating, inspiring stories of the Sioux Indians that live there. Frazier has chapters relating a good deal of tribal history (such as the conflicts at Wounded Knee) as well as background on how the entire reservation system came to be. He also relates many of his own experiences with one member of the tribe, Le War Lance, which are often extremely funny, sometimes poignant, but always engrossing. While it does not avoid the current plight of the Sioux (alcoholism, poverty, etc.), On the Rez gives a portrait of an incredibly strong and resiliant people. This book should be treasured by those with an interest in American history (or any genre for that matter). It is a great book, written by a master.
Rating:
Summary: Humorous, sad, vividly told account of reservation life
Review: I loved this book. Reading and sometimes rereading its 275+ pages, I felt immersed in an experience of life on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. This book is unlike the easy generalizations to be found in the superficial coverage provided by the news media (and Frazier uses a Tom Brokaw report on NBC, "Tragedy at Pine Ridge," as an example). He offers instead a richly complex portrayal of a single community of modern-day plains Indians, the Oglala Sioux. His book doesn't deny their overwhelming problems, including poverty, unemployment, widespread alcoholism, violent crime, and an alarming rate of highway fatalities. In fact, it explores them at length. But he also demolishes the stereotypes and clichés that prevent Indians from being understood as people with hopes, fears, loves, desires, humor, and all the rest that is human.
He does this in part through an appreciation of historical figures like Crazy Horse and Red Cloud, a profile of AIM leaders, Russell Means and Dennis Banks, and a moving tribute to star high school basketball player Suanne Big Crow. More intimately, we spend time with Le War Lance, a friend of the author for many years, who introduces Frazier to the lesser-known aspects of reservation life and the many residents he knows.
Like much New Yorker writing (Susan Orlean's "The Orchid Thief" comes to mind) Frazier's book digresses at the drop of a hat into subjects that take on a life of their own - the history of Indians in Hollywood movies, for instance, the stealing of the Black Hills from the Indians, an explanation of how to make fry bread, a laundry list of summer visitors trooping through the reservation's one convenience store and café.
And Frazier appears himself as a character in his narrative, at times patiently generous and at others a self-conscious and comical fish out of water. For all the social ills he turns his attention to, he is never preachy or openly guilt inducing, and he doesn't diminish his subject with political correctness. When you turn the last page, the ending seems abrupt and incomplete, but the reason you understand is that the lives of the many people you've met through Frazier go on and the cycles of seasons continue. And you understand why he returns to Pine Ridge again and again. I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in American Indians, reservation life, and Native American social history. Frazier makes them all come humorously, sadly and always vividly to life.
Rating: 
Summary: close to home
Review: I grew in the Dakotas so this book brought back many memories. It's a good combination of Indian history and current conditions.
Rating:
Summary: The Rez
Review: I gave the book 4 stars because I liked the fact that Frazier apparently wrote what he
saw without remarking on whether what he saw, was in his opinion, good for the betterment
of the Oglala and the Pine Ridge Reservation.
I grew up very near a Sioux Reservation, but there was total separation between the Native
Americans and the 'town-folk.' I saw them walking along the road as Frazier descibes,
I saw them in town buying "fast-food" and liquor at the first of every month. I saw the abandoned
cars sitting along the highway - left where they quit- sometimes sitting there for many weeks before
they mysteriously disappeared. I saw the little children sitting on the curb on my small town Main Street
waiting for their parents to come out of the bars - (one full block at the end of Main Street was bars -
at least two of these catered mainly to the Native American population.)
I heard on a daily basis the negative remarks made by my community members - (my father
amongst the worst) about the people of the Reservation across the river.
Frazier gave me some insight as to what happens on
a daily basis on the reservation which was so close to me but might has well have been a foreign land.
However, contrary to his belief that life on the Reservations is not bleak, I found the book to show
a very bleak future for a group of people who seems to be waiting for someone or something
to fix their situation. They somehow seemed to see SuAnn as able to pull them up --
and when she died, they memorialized her and went back to waiting for someone or something
else.
Certainly an informative book -- but I read that last page, closed the book and wondered, "Will
the situation at Pine Ridge and other South Dakota Reservations change in my lifetime, and if so,
what will it take to make that change?" Frazier did not set out to answer this question and he doesn't.
Who will?
Rating:
Summary: A Glimpse at a Bad Situation
Review: I originally bought this book for my wife who is Native American. I had read "Great Plains" by Ian Frazier and so I knew about his love of this area. That book was also an introduction to one of the two main characters in "On the Rez"; Le War Lance. After she finished reading it, my wife said she didn't care too much to read a white man writing about Indians. It was a while before I got around to reading it and formulating my own opinion. Having just finished it, I give this book a very good (but not outstanding) rating. Although it meandered somewhat aimlessly for awhile (was this to give us a flavor of life on "the Rez"?), the book finds a purpose and finishes strong. Essentially the saving grace of this book is the contrast it gives us of Le War Lance and his crowd and SuAnne Big Crow and her crowd. In the former, we sense the dead end life style that seems to take no prisoners. In the latter, we see the greatness that seems to rise from the ashes. In the former; dispair, in the latter; hope. Although the heroine dies a tragic death (don't worry, this isn't giving anything away), the hope continues to grow. The author, Ian Frazier, brings this out without disrespecting either side. He does show occassional disrespect for others in surrounding areas, however. A great question that should face all of America is what, if anything, to do about Indian reservations. On the one hand, they tend to strike non-Indians as a one-way road to nowhere. On the other hand, the very thought of eliminating them for the purpose of assimulation would create an understandable furor. After all, we've already taken just about everything else away from them. Somehow, just letting things be with the various assistance programs that now exist seems to be an easy way to ignore a problem of societal neglect. Ian Frazier offers no solutions. As he mentions in his book, no Indians asked him for one. However, he does give a good glimpse at the extent of the "problem". His story about SuAnne also gives us a glimpse at where the real solution lies; leadership from within rather than policies from without. After I finished "On the Rez" I asked my wife again about her thoughts on the book. After hearing a repeat of her complaint about a white man writing about Indians, she acknowledged that what really bothered her was that so many readers would come away with a slanted view on reservation life. Pine Ridge is the bottom of the barrel as far as Indian reservations go. I'm sorry if that sentence offends anyone but I couldn't think of a better way to put it. She's right, though. Life on other reservations would have given a brighter picture. Still, there are elements of the problems shown in this book in most reservations that I'm acquainted with. The fact that they're less severe doesn't make them disappear. Sociologists have written many books on the subject. Ian Frazier has put a human face on it and that has made the situation much more understandable.
Rating:
Summary: Review of On the Rez
Review: When one looks back upon Native American history, one would see over an eon of war, fighting, and conflict. One would also see a people who, as a whole, were oppressed and killed once European settlers arrived on the North American continent. What would follow the introduction of the European was almost half an eon of slaughter, disease, and persecution. On The Rez, by Ian Frazier, shows the Native American on reservations in present day. Specifically, Frazier looks at the tribe Oglala Sioux who live in South Dakota, and his friend Le. Being up front from the beginning, Frazier claims that the purpose of his book is to show that Native American life is not bleak, but instead full of life and full of the struggle to retain the Native American culture and pride. Frazier also claims that he wishes to be a Native American, though he knows this is impossible. While on some levels Frazier shows his belief that Native American's do not live bleak lives, in most ways, Frazier shows the opposite, that Native American life on reservations is not only bleak, but stagnant and dying. Frazier, with the exception of being unable to prove his point, is a brilliant writer. His book, On The Rez, is written in a chronological fashion and follows all the guidelines of a non-fiction novel. While the material he presents is serious, the manner in which he portrays it entices the reader to continue reading, and allows the reader to subtlety come to terms with the broader picture of reservation life. Rather than attempt to show the reader the mindset of Le, Floyd John, and a host of other Native American's, Frazier simply relates his experiences and the stories others have told him. This allows the reader to feel as though he/she were present with Frazier during the events. While occasionally Frazier will give his opinions, the reader is usually left to come to his/her own conclusions. This style of writing, while admirable, has one major downfall; the reader is able to form his or her own opinion, one that may be entirely contrary to what Frazier intended. Frazier states, "The Oglala still produce heroes..." (19), but in truth, the heroes the Oglala produce are unable to pull the Oglala Sioux out of the misery and turmoil they live in. These heroes produced by the Oglala, specifically SuAnne Big Crow, tend to be brilliant bursts of light in an otherwise darkness. Throughout the book, Frazier constantly comments on how often he encounters alcohol on the reservation. Without exception, whenever Frazier is with Le, alcohol is involved, usually a great deal of beer. While Frazier never states that this rampant alcoholism is a problem, he does belief that alcohol is a problem with Native Americans as a whole. This is shown in chapter seven, when Frazier describes White Clay by stating, "Even at 9:30 in the morning, White Clay effervesces and boils as if acid were eating it away." (125) The reader cannot help but be horrified at the utter chaos alcohol has caused on and around the reservation. From the enormous amount of alcohol induced fighting in White Clay to the constant alcohol related car accidents to the physical health maladies shown in Florence Cross Dog, alcohol has been the acid eating away at the Native American people. On The Rez, according to Frazier, is an attempt to show Native American life as something other than bleak. In truth, the book shows an odd mixture of bleakness and hope. The book shows an interesting mixture of detrimental events, such as the death of SuAnne Big Crow, with heartfelt kindness, such as when Le proclaims Frazier his brother. More than anything, however, On The Rez paints a portrait of a people who, harmful though it may be, refuse to conform to anyone's idea of what they should be.
Personally, I enjoyed this book greatly. I found it to be hard to put down, and while I did not agree with Frazier on most of his points, I found his portrayal of Native American affairs to be accurate. Growing up near a reservation, and having many Native American friends as a youth, I am aware of their struggles. I am also aware of the intense desire to be a part of their lives, a desire Ian Frazier shares.
Rating: 
Summary: Odd
Review: This is not a bad book. It is an example of bad editing. The account of his friendship with Le is the common thread loosely binding these scattered stories and incidents into a comprehendible book. Although the book serves as a passable primer for someone with no knowledge of modern Indian conditions and past Indian history, for the most part it smacks of editing failure. The most glaring example of Frazier's inconsequential digressions is when he delves into the explanation of the Stealth Bomber and why it is a poor aircraft. The anecdote, albeit interesting, is so out of place that the reader is left scratching their head. Later, in chapter 8, Fraizer delves into a diatribe about the AIM movement when paragraphs before he was touring western bars from Montana to North Dakota. That begs another question: What do non-reservation bars in Montana have to do with "The Rez". Again, in chapter 9, Frazier goes from speaking of guilt for the way he treated Le, to his car wreck, to looking for a tire, to a paragraph description of a Samuel Beckett book he read while his car was being repaired. At this point the less-patient reader might yell, "Where the hell was the editor for this chapter?" One might argue that Frazier is just writing about what interests him. John McPhee has made a successful career writing about topics as varied as geology, history, engineering, and Russian art. The difference is McPhee mostly stays on topic for the entire book. Frazier may argue that such incidentals serve to flesh-out and give a sense of humanity to a story, a point which I completely agree with. But when digressions mount and become diatribes into inconsequential, half-related topics, they serve as filler and distraction and bore the reader who is begging the author to take them somewhere other than in circles.
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