Thirteen Moons
by Charles Frazier
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Book Summary Information
Author: Charles FrazierEdition: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2006-11-16
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 432
Publisher: Sceptre
Book Reviews of Thirteen Moons
Book Review: thirteen moons by Charles Frazier -- a wonderful literary discovery
Summary: 5 Stars
thirteen moons by CHARLES FRAZIER -- a wonderful literary discovery
Among many books I have recently read, this novel stands out in so many ways: it is a masterpiece of writing, it is a lighthouse illuminating a murky uncharted historic landscape of the nineteenth century's grab for new territories for settlement, it is a character study of actual people who were the product of those pioneering years, it is also a window into the Native American culture as represented by the Cherokee Nation and in particular by its Eastern Band. This, however, does not exhaust its manifold values. The story line centered around the narrator is simultaneously heroic and comical, as the hero in his earnestness bares himself to the bone not cringing from self-mockery nor attempting to hide behind elaborate excuses. Thanks to such treatment Will Cooper's character resonates with vitality, truth, and believability and whether young, middle-aged or old he never loses his humanity. The best feature of the book in my personal estimation is its rare two-fold point of view. The reader encounters two cultures, one in its expansion and the other waning, pitifully entangled in a process of change, maturation and perhaps at some point in the future assimilation.
At the outset of the novel Will a twelve-year-old youngster lost in the Appalachian wilderness is heroic, indeed. He reins in his fears and musters his intelligence to survive in cold and rain in forests without road or track or marked trail with a map in which the territory he has entered is colored white without any features and named Cherokee Territory. A horse, the boy's only companion and a life-long friend, at this point is a colt, which he calls Waverly a name reminiscent of Walter Scott and implying already at this point the magnitude of this young man's formal education. Why he is versatile with Virgil's Aeneid and other classical lore! Right at the outset he will have to prove himself in more than just surviving or what he has learned; he will have to prove that he is a man. Disregarding all dangers to his life he can prove that he can outplay the figures from the frontier at cards, that he can stand his liquor as a man, that he can win the heart of a girl and regain his coat - his only protection against winter and his beloved colt. This is just the beginning. A stretch of some eighty more years of this man's life among the Indian Nation as their adoptee, their interpreter, their representative and lawyer, their chief and colonel during the Civil War fighting under General Lee's banner will follow. Throughout the hundreds of episodes that follow, the reader gains an understanding of this long vanished time and of its idiosyncrasies of which some become as a deja vu and some are total discoveries. The Washington political scene, where young Cooper tries to negotiate Bear's and his own land possession as legitimate, which in turn will allow the band to stay in their homes instead of being resettled to the West, sounds familiar. The Indian characters such as Bear, Featherstone or Charley are original studies. They are far removed from any clichés; they are neither complete villains nor complete heroes. They are real people motivated by human needs and desires. Bear is the most heroic of them all -- a leader, a philosopher, the rescuer of an abandoned child, a successful bargainer with the Whites, and yet a slave holder and a man governed by the whims of a wife.
Thus, gradually the modern times of the turn to the 20's century enter the scene with their own well known gadgets. There is the phone, there is the train and the charring of the virgin scenery. A man need no longer travel on his horse and sleep by the stream watching the hundreds of lights in heaven. Now his habitat is reduced to his house and porch and a little bit more as far as his horse's resting place is. On the other hand, the train tracks run by the river and through the man's front yard, and farther, through the mountains-- a completely different physical world. Those who were born into it, are not aware of the loss to their life and to the environment. Those who were denizens of a different time, as Will was, can vent their futile anger by firing a shot at the train without causing harm to people or the train. No man, not even the Indian nor Will Cooper can reverse the time. The lesson of the survival is to adapt.
Afore said are just fractions of the treasure this book has accumulated. Its prose is enchanting. It rings with the music of the real language and its patterns by which a man can talk to himself. Because the most of the story reads like a reverie that resembles the stream of consciousness, it makes the characters palpable both from within and outside. And, although, the text is comprised of the naturally spoken language it is not impoverished. On the contrary, it is rich with chosen vocabulary, original wording, uniquely picturesque. This is of course the greatest value in a book-- the language being its essential tool. The other greatest asset is the theme and the original rendering of the Indian milieu, philosophy and characters. Our twenty-first century's view of Indian lore may not own up to the real value of it per se or for all of us. Without even realizing, most of our best qualities, such as the appreciation of animals and will to fight for their rights as well as to struggle to save the virgin nature may well be owed to Indian philosophy. thirteen moons should definitely be considered as one of the great additions to American literature.
Summary of Thirteen Moons
This magnificent novel by one of America?s finest writers is the epic of one man?s remarkable journey, set in nineteenth-century America against the background of a vanishing people and a rich way of life.At the age of twelve, under the Wind moon, Will is given a horse, a key, and a map, and sent alone into the Indian Nation to run a trading post as a bound boy. It is during this time that he grows into a man, learning, as he does, of the raw power it takes to create a life, to find a home. In a card game with a white Indian named Featherstone, Will wins ? for a brief moment ? a mysterious girl named Claire, and his passion and desire for her spans this novel. As Will?s destiny intertwines with the fate of the Cherokee Indians ? including a Cherokee Chief named Bear ? he learns how to fight and survive in the face of both nature and men, and eventually, under the Corn Tassel Moon, Will begins the fight against Washington City to preserve the Cherokee?s homeland and culture. And he will come to know the truth behind his belief that ?only desire trumps time.?
Brilliantly imagined, written with great power and beauty by a master of American fiction, Thirteen Moons is a stunning novel about a man?s passion for a woman, and how loss, longing and love can shape a man?s destiny over the many moons of a life.
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