Medicine River

Rating:
Summary: Gentle, sad, and very funny . . .
Review:
I really enjoyed this novel. Like a number of modern Native American authors, Thomas King tells of life among reservation Indians that's free of stereotypes and sentimentality. His central character, Will, a half-breed, lives and works as a photographer in a town called Medicine River, not far from Alberta's Blackfeet reservation. Somewhat passive and resigned to the lot he has chosen in life, his solitude is disrupted almost daily by Harlen Bigbear, a gregarious friend who knows the business of everyone in the Indian community and actively tries to act in everyone's best interest. In other words, he's a meddler.

The novel is a series of loosely strung together incidents, involving Harlen's attempts to make things happen, not the least of which are his efforts to get Will to marry the unmarried mother of a little girl with the unlikely name of South Wing. The present day stories are intercut with flashbacks to Will's past, growing up with a younger brother, their father a white cowboy having long deserted the family. And there are flashbacks to a time in his adult life in Toronto, where he became involved unknowingly with a married woman.

I loved the gentle and ironic humor of this novel, the many characters who spring to life from the pages, and the roundabout indirection of Indian dialogue, including the persistent way in which people seem not to listen to each other. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the North American West, modern day Indians, and a style of storytelling that speaks from heart.



Rating:
Summary: A most pleasing novel
Review: His novel is a clevery writing comedy in which the protagoninst, Will, is comfronted with many problems. Most of his hardships sprout from his fatherless childhood, and his lack of continuity and family as a child. Though Will's journey is not completed within the course of the novel, the reader gets a great sence of hope from his slow migration towards continuity.

Rating:
Summary: Quiet, touching humor, great characters & plot depth
Review: I've been fortunate to teach King's wonderful book to students at several American universities. His insights into Will's complex identity is compelling for my native and non-native students alike. If one can stop laughing long enough at the crazy antics of the characters, the depth of the author's feeling for this native community, and for the richness of their very human entanglements shines through. Very, very, highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: wryly funny pathos
Review: Set in Alberta, Canada, it's a loving, wryly funny portrait of the fictional inhabitants of Medicine River. With the gentlest of pens that belies the pathos beneath, the lives of native americans are opened. I will read more by him.

Rating:
Summary: Choppy and thoroughly a waste of time.
Review: The book "Medicine River" is awash with too many characters and no true plot on which to base the complexities that surround most of these characters. There is too much happening and not enough book to cover it, or enough words to explain it all, which makes the story come across as choppy and irrational. If someone is going to write a novel with over 30 characters, than please, write a trilogy - please don't jam a bunch of nonsensical blather into only 261 pages. Not to mention, many of the scenes leave you feeling as though you've missed something - the human and lifelike qualities that any developed characters should have in a novel. It leaves this book dull and devoid of any true feeling. Although there is a main insight into the book upon how a community can become family over a biological family that one may not possess, this book leaves you feeling like you really have read a fictitious novel, which I don't think was the intention the author had. Too bad.

Rating:
Summary: Choppy and thoroughly a waste of time.
Review: The book "Medicine River" is awash with too many characters and no true plot on which to base the complexities that surround most of these characters. There is too much happening and not enough book to cover it, or enough words to explain it all, which makes the story come across as choppy and irrational. If someone is going to write a novel with over 30 characters, than please, write a trilogy - please don't jam a bunch of nonsensical blather into only 261 pages. Not to mention, many of the scenes leave you feeling as though you've missed something - the human and lifelike qualities that any developed characters should have in a novel. It leaves this book dull and devoid of any true feeling. Although there is a main insight into the book upon how a community can become family over a biological family that one may not possess, this book leaves you feeling like you really have read a fictitious novel, which I don't think was the intention the author had. Too bad.

Rating:
Summary: Thankyou Staffordshire University!
Review: This book is one of the reasons that I never regret going to university, and why I'd like to thank Dr Laura Peters for including it on her Canadian Literature Course. It's brilliance lies in the fact that on the one hand it is easy to read, enjoyable and light fiction; whilst on the other hand it is a complex novel of modernity, identity and history. Bring what you will to the novel, and take what you want from it - but you will come away from the book feeling better for the experience of reading it

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful read...
Review: This title was my second foray into the realm of King's writing, and I found it to be as rewarding as the first (his latest novel, Truth and Bright Water - another superb read).

Medicine River is the story of Will and his best friend Harlen, and a cast of other lovable, hilarious characters as they go about their day-to-day life. There is intrigue and gossip, speculation and antics, all true to form for any typical nuclear community. The book's dialogue is superb - and laugh-out-loud funny. The reader will embrace Harlen's quirky views with glee and will sigh right along with Will, as he diligently works to get Harlen around to the punchline. Wonderful exchanges.

King has an incredible gift - it's that of showcasing the heartbreak of life against the backdrop of humour, and he does it with style, class, and ingenuity. He continues this fine tradition in Medicine River. The plight and struggle of the Native community is seen through Will's recollections of growing up fatherless. He spells out the hardships his mother endured while trying to raise him and his younger brother on her own. The story of many souls across the land, and King - through Will - has done a class act job portraying the depths of experience. The healing balm in Thomas's writings is, of course, laughter and humour, and you'll get lots of that in this novel.

The New York Times said of this book, "Precise and elegant... a most satisfying read." I'm in full agreement. An excellent book and worthy of a spot of your bookshelf. I highly recommend it.