When I read Cold Mountain a few years ago, I was awed by the imagery,
haracters, and the way that the story unfolded. The writing was superb; without being overly verbose, Frazier was able to wring out every last detail from a scene.
His second book (after a decade long hiatus), is a similar sort of thing, but not as masterfully rought. The story concerns the extraordinary life of Will Cooper. Adopted by a Native American chief at a young age, he heads down the river of life, working his way through the rapids of politics, war, and many other, more amorous, pursuits. All the while, he is stuck on one thing: a girl he won at cards named Claire. She flits in and out of his life, but he is never able to hold on to her for very long.
Thirteen Moons deals heavily with loss. The Native Americans lose their land, Will his life's love. Frazier depicts this life as unavoidable. Will tries everything to save the land for his adoptive Nation, but has some trouble holding on to it. The intruding white colonialism, with all of its high-and-mighty God-said-so, does what it takes to consume. The victims of this intrusion are rendered impotent when the U.S. lays claim to land that doesn't rightly belong to them. Only through sheer force of will and a lot of luck is any of the land saved. The theft of the Natives homeland is unavoidable, because those who are making the rules do so thanks to the inalienable rights that gunpowder brings.
The relationship between Will and Claire is interesting. Will wins Claire in a card game, but is never really able to lay claim to her. She refuses to let him keep her. Though he never uses his winning as a reason for her to stay with him, he seems to think about it fairly regularly. However, he can't bring himself to claim her as winnings, as it would cheapen her. She would become an object, and he has no interest in owning her. He wants her to be a part of his life of her own accord. This means she would have to detach herself from her husband who, in some ways, is willing to treat her as an object. For a long time, he leaves her on the shelf. Then, when he finally finds the need for her, he takes her off and puts her to use. At many times, it seems as though she makes the long-term decisions for herself and that she could leave to be with Will at any time, but really the fact is that she deferrers all her decisions, in regards to how she will spend her life, to her husband.
Will Cooper himself narrates as if he is writing his autobiography. He does so with a lot of wit and a good mixture of self-congratulation and self-debasement. He claims not to remember a lot of things, owing to their distance in the past, but is quite able to recall the exact smell from a particular river bank on a particular day, so it isn't clear if his claiming to have a faulty memory is reliable.
This book is very episodic, which sometimes leaves it a bit disjointed. It has the feeling of being Will's journal, a medium which often gives rise to rambling tangents. This can be a good device to add the wanted mood to the story, but it seems to occasionally leave important parts of the story untold, or fails to blend to disparate sections together in a way that shows why these two particular portions are juxtaposed.
Overall, the book is very good, but not as impressive as Cold Mountain. It is funnier and easier to read, but it doesn't exude the same level of emotion or provide the same kind of attachment to the characters and setting. Of course, it isn't very fair to constantly compare Thirteen Moons' performance to that of its predecessor, as their are many, many other books in the world which can't even attempt to reach the heights that Thirteen Moons has.
3.75/5
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Technorati Tags: books, book review, thirteen moons, cold mountain, charles frazier, civil war, native americans, indians, will cooper, cherokee, the south
haracters, and the way that the story unfolded. The writing was superb; without being overly verbose, Frazier was able to wring out every last detail from a scene.
His second book (after a decade long hiatus), is a similar sort of thing, but not as masterfully rought. The story concerns the extraordinary life of Will Cooper. Adopted by a Native American chief at a young age, he heads down the river of life, working his way through the rapids of politics, war, and many other, more amorous, pursuits. All the while, he is stuck on one thing: a girl he won at cards named Claire. She flits in and out of his life, but he is never able to hold on to her for very long.
Thirteen Moons deals heavily with loss. The Native Americans lose their land, Will his life's love. Frazier depicts this life as unavoidable. Will tries everything to save the land for his adoptive Nation, but has some trouble holding on to it. The intruding white colonialism, with all of its high-and-mighty God-said-so, does what it takes to consume. The victims of this intrusion are rendered impotent when the U.S. lays claim to land that doesn't rightly belong to them. Only through sheer force of will and a lot of luck is any of the land saved. The theft of the Natives homeland is unavoidable, because those who are making the rules do so thanks to the inalienable rights that gunpowder brings.
The relationship between Will and Claire is interesting. Will wins Claire in a card game, but is never really able to lay claim to her. She refuses to let him keep her. Though he never uses his winning as a reason for her to stay with him, he seems to think about it fairly regularly. However, he can't bring himself to claim her as winnings, as it would cheapen her. She would become an object, and he has no interest in owning her. He wants her to be a part of his life of her own accord. This means she would have to detach herself from her husband who, in some ways, is willing to treat her as an object. For a long time, he leaves her on the shelf. Then, when he finally finds the need for her, he takes her off and puts her to use. At many times, it seems as though she makes the long-term decisions for herself and that she could leave to be with Will at any time, but really the fact is that she deferrers all her decisions, in regards to how she will spend her life, to her husband.
Will Cooper himself narrates as if he is writing his autobiography. He does so with a lot of wit and a good mixture of self-congratulation and self-debasement. He claims not to remember a lot of things, owing to their distance in the past, but is quite able to recall the exact smell from a particular river bank on a particular day, so it isn't clear if his claiming to have a faulty memory is reliable.
This book is very episodic, which sometimes leaves it a bit disjointed. It has the feeling of being Will's journal, a medium which often gives rise to rambling tangents. This can be a good device to add the wanted mood to the story, but it seems to occasionally leave important parts of the story untold, or fails to blend to disparate sections together in a way that shows why these two particular portions are juxtaposed.
Overall, the book is very good, but not as impressive as Cold Mountain. It is funnier and easier to read, but it doesn't exude the same level of emotion or provide the same kind of attachment to the characters and setting. Of course, it isn't very fair to constantly compare Thirteen Moons' performance to that of its predecessor, as their are many, many other books in the world which can't even attempt to reach the heights that Thirteen Moons has.
3.75/5
/>
Technorati Tags: books, book review, thirteen moons, cold mountain, charles frazier, civil war, native americans, indians, will cooper, cherokee, the south
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