The Grass Dancer in Into the Forest

From the Bookshelf of Into the Forest…

The Grass Dancer

Mona Susan Power

Start date: October 15, 2015

Finish date: December 14, 2015

Discussion: Group Reads

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What Members Thought

Jan 19, 2013 Zoe Brooks rated it it was amazing

Shelves: magic-realism

I loved this book and could hardly bear to put it down. In fact it is now one of my favourite magic realist books, which is saying a lot (this is the 116th review on this blog). There are some books that you should read in one sitting or as near to one as you can get. This is one such book. Each chapter in the book is almost a separate story, narrated by different characters at different times (it is important to make a note of the year that appears under each chapter heading). This patchwork of I loved this book and could hardly bear to put it down. In fact it is now one of my favourite magic realist books, which is saying a lot (this is the 116th review on this blog). There are some books that you should read in one sitting or as near to one as you can get. This is one such book. Each chapter in the book is almost a separate story, narrated by different characters at different times (it is important to make a note of the year that appears under each chapter heading). This patchwork of stories comes together to form the larger picture. This structure is why it is important to read the book rapidly, because you can lose your way if you take too long. I felt very much that I was dreaming when I read the book - experiencing a series of instances, visions, references that came in and out of focus, until at last they formed one vision.

Dreaming and visions are at the heart of this book. The full story of Red Dress does not come until towards the end of the book, but she appears in the dreams and visions of the characters throughout the book. I read somewhere that that is how Susan Power got the idea for the book - the woman in a red dress appeared to her. The line between the real and the dream is constantly blurring. Which is real - the dream or the waking? Power makes it clear how central dreams were and are to Sioux culture. I can't help thinking that they should be more important to the culture of the white man (and woman in my case). It seems to me that we have lost something when we forgot to take our dreamworld as seriously as our waking.

There are some memorable characters in this book - the most notable being the awful and awesome Anna (Mercury) Thunder. She could so easily have been a stereotype, but Power gives her a back story that shows that she was not always the witch she becomes and also explains why she changed. Of course the book's structure of telling characters' stories in reverse makes the revelation of Anna Thunder's past tragedy all the stronger.

If I have one criticism it is that there are perhaps too many characters to keep track of, especially as the book's chronology jumps about so much. One of the reasons for my confusion was that the storyline is structured almost as a series of variations on a theme, with incidents reappearing through the generations. In this I was reminded of Alan Garner's books, which so influenced me as a child and which also feature legends that reappear in the present day.

I have read a number of excellent magic realist books dealing with the complexity of life of modern Native Americans in a predominantly white society, but none have shown mixed marriages and mixed parentage as this book does. The different generations (apart from Red Dress's) all feature inter-race relationships. And yet this book shows the native "magic" as very much a part of accepted everyday life. On the reservation magic just happens and everyone accepts it. This is contrasted with the attitude of the white schoolteacher who comes to live with and study Anna Thunder. Despite being around Anna and supposedly respecting Sioux heritage and culture, she is shocked and scared when she realizes that Anna can actually work her magic. As Anna affirms: I am not a fairytale.

No Anna you are not and nor are your beliefs and nor is magic realism.

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23 likes · Like · see review

Oct 27, 2012 Jalilah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: cultural, historical-fiction, mythic-fiction, first-nation-native-american

This book follows the lives of various members of the Sioux Nation starting in the 1980s and going back into the 18 hundreds. It was very interesting reading about things that many would consider paranormal or supernatural, but we're or are considered real in traditional Sioux culture. One of the characters is a Sioux witch, a rather evil one, and there are also ghosts and a shaman. Long-dead ancestors still make appearances in modern life.
At first it might seem like there are too many characte ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

May 09, 2014 Katy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: forest_2015, endicott-mythic-fiction-list

A great read with Ms. Power's wonderful storytelling. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Oct 19, 2015 Margaret rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction

Two young Sioux鈥擧arley Wind Soldier and Charlene Thunder鈥攖ry to figure who they are and what love means to them on a North Dakota reservation. Their family histories create a tapestry of possibilities, ways of living with loss and love. On Harley Wind Soldier鈥檚 side, his mother Lydia Wind Soldier deals with the death of her husband and oldest son by refusing to speak, while Margaret Many Wounds, Lydia鈥檚 mother and Harley鈥檚 grandmother, keeps her grief close in a secret only revealed with her dea ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Feb 03, 2017 Leah rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: into-the-forest-2017

One of the reasons I write "reviews" is to help jog my memory down the road when I might want to reread a book or mention it in relation to another book. But then there are stories so immediately embedded in my brain I know I won't need any reminders no matter how long it's been since I first read it. The Grass Dancer is one of those stories. It was also one of those where I would read a passage I wanted to bookmark but couldn't make myself stop reading long enough to do so.

I loved how the story ...more

1 like · Like · see review