Brandon Hobson’s remarkable and moving novel, Where the dead speak, follows 15-year-old Sequoyah as he becomes the adopted child of Harold and Agnes Troutt, a middle-aged couple already taking in 13-year-old George and 17-year-old Rosemary. Sequoyah becomes friends with Rosemary through their shared Native American heritage: he is Cherokee, she Kiowa. Sequoyah also learns of Harold’s illegal sportsbook business from his adopted siblings, and of the lure of Harold’s hidden bags of rolled up hundred dollar bills, safely stored in a backyard shed, tempt the three children with the possibility of trouble, excess and freedom. Hobson, a member of the Cherokee Nation tribe, selects 10 essential Native American novels.
The 10 essential Native American novels I’ve listed here are in no specific order. I’ve chosen 10 novels that I love, but there are plenty more that I would consider essential, many of which are written by the people on this list. While these writers are important to me as a reader, writer, and Cherokee, I must add that there are also many short story collections, books of poetry, and memoirs that represent an active campaign in support of Native American traditions and values . culture. And while this list contains such well-established writers as Momaday and Erdrich, there are newer and younger Native American writers currently creating amazing works of art – people like Layli Long Soldier, Terese Mailhot and Tommy Orange, whose names and works will become (are already becoming) a powerful and constructive force in Native American literature.
1. House made of dawn by N. Scott Momaday
Mom House made of dawn won the Pulitzer Prize in 1969, which alone should tell you how great it is. It’s the story of a World War II veteran named Abel who returns home to try to adapt to the world he once lived in, but he struggles, gets very drunk and fights, then commits a murder which lands him in prison for some time. Once released from prison, his struggles continue. While all of this may seem bleak, this is ultimately a novel of hope as Abel learns to embrace his Native American heritage. Sad and Beautiful, required reading.
2. Push the bear by Diane Glancy
In an old Cherokee myth, a bear is a representation of greed and gratification. The title of this historical novel therefore refers to the struggles endured by the Cherokees on the Trail of Tears when they were forced from their lands. As my own great-great-great-grandmother walked and survived the Trail of Tears, I felt particularly drawn to Maritole, the narrator, who serves as a voice for all women forced to leave their homes. Although Maritole is the main narrator, there are other voices throughout the book: Maritole’s husband, for example, who feels helpless; his father, who somehow manages to keep hope; and other voices contribute to despair and helplessness. A very good novel detailing one of the saddest and cruelest episodes in American history.
3. Shell shaker by LeAnne Howe
A book about powerful Native American women, Shell shaker by LeAnne Howe deals with the murder of two Choctaw chiefs, as well as decolonization and corruption, told in two eras, today and 200 years earlier. The first chief, Red Shoes, was killed by his own people, while today, a Choctaw woman named Auda Billy is accused of murdering the second. How the two murders are linked and the role played by the spirit, Shell Shaker, is what motivates the reader through this urgent book. Howe is a brilliant stylist, and this novel shows it.
4. Tracks by Louise Erdrich
by Erdrich Tracks is the third in a series of family saga novels, the first two being Love Medicine And Beetroot queenrespectively. Tracks is my favorite, however, for its vivid language and imagery. Told by alternating narrators, Nanapush and Pauline, Erdrich brilliantly connects their narratives into a powerful story. In Nanapush’s sections, he speaks to his granddaughter, Lulu, in an attempt to reunite her with her mother, who had sent Lulu to public school when she was young. The second narrator, Pauline, recounts her connection to Lulu’s mother and how Pauline became jealous of her, which begins a descent into witchcraft and madness. Magnificent and captivating.
5. To sleep by John Joseph Mathews
I can practically walk Osage County from my house, which is strange when I consider everything that happens in Mathews’ haunting novel. As a mixed-blood Osage, Challenge (Chal) struggles to find his identity among the Osage tribe and white society, but what is most interesting about this book is the impact that the discovery of oil had on the land Osage had on the tribe, and how they did it. were affected and controlled by money, by oil. Lots and lots of oil, which is still very prevalent in Oklahoma today. With all the recent interest in Flower Moon Killersreaders should find Mathews’ historical novel very enlightening.
6. Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
In any Native American literature class, you will likely read Silko’s work. Ceremony, a novel known for its complexity involving various timelines dealing with a World War II veteran of Laguna Pueblo descent named Tayo. Although we follow Tayo through part of his childhood and adult life during the war, the book also focuses on three evil spiritual entities who attempt to destroy Tayo. The real world intersects with the spiritual world, with healers, spirits and all sorts of strange witchcraft. Ceremony is a book about family, war, mental health, and most importantly, healing.
7. Power by Linda Hogan
A coming-of-age story about Omishito, a teenage girl from the Taiga tribe, torn between the modern world and the spiritual world of her aunt Ama, who kills an endangered panther that the tribe considers sacred. A trial ensues involving his aunt and the tribe. Hogan’s prose is magnificent – she is a poet, after all – so it’s no surprise that this novel is so precisely written, told in a young, powerful voice.
8. The fast red road: a plainsong by Stephen Graham Jones
This list should include a book that stands out from the rest in both style and tone, and this book is The fast red road: a plainsong, which is a wild, hallucinatory novel about an aimless man named Pidgin del gato, who returns to New Mexico to bury his father and discovers that someone has stolen his father’s body. If the name sounds weird, there are even more: Birdfinger, Patience Patience, and Psychic Sally, to name a few. As Pidgin searches for his father’s body with his compadre, the two find themselves confronted with a multitude of strange and dangerous situations as well as a number of eccentric characters, including the remnants of a radical tribe known as of Goliards, in which his father was involved. If this all sounds like crazy fun, that’s because it is.
9. Winter in the blood by James Welch
“I was as far from myself as a hawk on the moon,” the young anonymous narrator tells us. Welch’s deeply moving novel deals with a young man’s struggle with loneliness, alienation, and identity as he attempts to make sense of death and the world around him. Welch’s novel is quiet but powerful in its urgency and pace. I haven’t seen the film, but the novel is serious, dark and essential reading.
ten. The clearest view by Louis Owens
Sadly, Louis Owens committed suicide in 2002, but he left behind some great books, including The clearest view, which tells the story of a Vietnam veteran committed to a psychiatric hospital after the murder of his girlfriend. His body was later found in a river. As the mystery unfolds, the novel also takes on a magical-realist element, with ghosts, nature, and spirits inhabiting its world. A poignant and heartbreaking novel.
