Sacajawea (Lewis & Clark Expedition)

Book Description

Clad in a doeskin, alone and unafraid, she stood straight and proud before the onrushing forces of America's destiny: Sacajawea, child of a Shoshoni chief, lone woman on Lewis and Clark's historic trek -- beautiful spear of a dying nation.

She knew many men, walked many miles. From the whispering prairies, across the Great Divide to the crystal capped Rockies and on to the emerald promise of the Pacific Northwest, her story over flows with emotion and action ripped from the bursting fabric of a raw new land.

Ten years in the writing, SACAJAWEA unfolds an immense canvas of people and events, and captures the eternal longings of a woman who always yearned for one great passion -- and always it lay beyond the next mountain.

Customer Reviews:

Sacajawea.......2007-10-06

This is an outstanding novel. I am reading it for the 3rd time now. Each time I finish it, I give my book to someone else to enjoy.

I loved this book.......2007-08-16

I read this book when it first came out. I was 16, and this was by far the longest book I had ever read. What an amazing book! I really felt it captured the humanity, the feeling, all of the trials the main characters dealt with. After reading this book, I felt I had some insight into what these historical characters experienced and how much they gave up and gained throughout this expedition.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in history, but more so, to anyone who is interested in the actual people who made this story fact.

One of the best books I ever read.......2006-11-25

Never mind the first 5 or more beginning pages of Indian names, you'll understand once you read it, I loved it, I can hardly imagine any woman being as strong as her.

Too much of a good thing.......2006-08-14

This would have been an excellent 700-page book. Alas, it's over twice that long. Historical fiction is always bound by fact (and if it's not it should be!), and Waldo does a good job of keeping to the facts, with a few minor alterations. This is a wonderfully vivid book, with sights, sounds, smells and tastes (pleasant and not) rendered so realistically that you feel like you're there. Waldo's imagining of Sacajawea's childhood is very good and believable, though this too could have been cut down a bit. We all know where Sacajawea's life is headed, so get on with it, please!

Drawbacks: References to the Native Americans as "brown" get repetitive after awhile--yes, yes, we know, stop reminding us, please. (Do they think of themselves as "brown," anyway?) The depiction of Charbonneau is a real flaw--the man certainly was no prize, but he comes off sounding like a sadistic Pepe Le Peu--zee accent, she is rendaired phonetically, and there is absolutely nothing redeeming about him.

Ironically, Waldo's passion for the facts leads to a very dull book after Sacajawea returns from the journey with Lewis and Clark. We get to live practically every single day of Sacajawea's life after that (Waldo adheres to the theory the she did live until 1884 and is buried on the Wind River reservation). This means that she occasionally has to play fast and loose with the main character's age, suggesting that Sacajawea is as young as twelve when she is pregnant by Charbonneau, and that she gives birth to her last child around the unlikely age of 57. This also means that hardly anything is collapsed, condensed, composited or (God forbid) omitted altogether. Even if she wanted to extend the story for another 78 years after the return of the Corps of Discovery, the author could still have been more economical in what she chose to present to us.

A romance rather than an "epic novel" .......2006-06-13

Two more novels on Sacajawea were published in the new century. In comparison, this novel is far from a history. Unfortunately, it is a one hundred percent's romance. You know, a book with handsome Prince Charming and angelic Princess. And the princess is always so obedient and so happy to be with her man.

"She was feeling more and more as though she belonged with these white men. They accepted her as one of them. She was learning to speak their tongue." (p.525)

I am not sure if this is what really had happened in Sacajawea's mind, but, at least, she is totally differently represented in Schultz's and also in Glancy's writing.

However, if you read it as a romance, then, you'd know how come this book has been a bestseller for eight months on the New York Times list.

So, my conlcusion is if you read it as an epic novel (as quoted from the cover page), then, you will find 1408 pages are just a waste. Yet, if you read it as a romance, perhaps, you will get the catharsis that you had expected. (Sandie, Y.R. Lo, Taiwan)

Average customer rating:

Well written
A fictional take on history
A Childhood Favorite
What a great book!!!!!
A new view of a classic tale

Streams to the River, River to the Sea
Scott O'Dell
Manufacturer: Fawcett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Historical Fiction | History & Historical Fiction | Teens | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0449702448
Release Date: 1987-11-12

Book Description

Scagawea, a Shashone Indian, guided and interpreted for explorers Lewis and Clarke as they traveled up the Mississippi, but she had adventures long before that one, like the time she was captured by the Minnetarees, and taken away from her family and everything that she knew and loved....

Customer Reviews:

Well written.......2007-09-13

Although this story may be historical fiction the character of Sacajawea comes alive through O'dells writing. From what I have read very little is known about Sacajawea and this story brings an unknown personality to life even though it is just through the author's imagination. I have used this book with 3rd grade readers and they enjoyed it very much. They became interested in the the journey of Lewis and Clark because of the book. I have had a hard time finding well written stories about Native Americans so I especially like O'dells books--another favorite I have is Sing Down the Moon about the Navajo long walk. I recommend both of these stories for anyone interested in Native American historical fiction.

A fictional take on history.......2007-03-01

Sacagawea is a young girl when this story begins, and is captured by the Minnatarees in the first chapter. The book continues with her captivity, marriage, and journey with the Lewis and Clark expedition. I think it is interesting if you are looking for fiction in this setting, but not if you want the facts. None of the history I have read substantiates any kind of romance between Sacagawea and William Clark, for example.

Also, the book seems geared to children about the age of thirteen, as that is Sacagawea's age for most of it. I would not recommend it to children that young, as I think the themes of her marriage and attraction to William Clark are too mature.

A Childhood Favorite.......2006-12-17

I found this book as a child in my elementary school library and I spent alot of time trying to track it back down so that I could pass it on to my cousin, Sarah. The story is not all true, but I feel that it is a really important read for young ladies. I know that reading this book helped me see the importance of women in history. This is a really great book, full of excitement and emotion!

What a great book!!!!!.......2006-09-19

A thriteen yearold shoeshine girl named Sacagwea was out picking berrys when along comes the Minnetarees ,and took her sister and her to be slaves. Her sister escapes. She maries Captain Clark,and has a baby boy.Later on her husband and her go on a voyage then the boat tips over.Now they are stuck on a island ,now thats where the adventure begins. Now you read the rest of the book to know the ending .I reconmend you to read this book ,it is a great book!

A new view of a classic tale.......2006-08-30

In 1803, Lewis and Clark set out to explore the land known as the Louisiana Purchase. Although their expedition was very successful, it would have failed without their Indian guide Sacagawea. Poor Sacagawea often gets overlooked, but no longer. Now you can follow the expedition through the eyes of this remarkable young woman.

This tale is good for its unique quality alone. Learn about Sacagawea's life before the expedition, and see it's trials through her eyes. All in all it is a new take on a famous historical happening. Fans of Scott O'Dell will especially enjoy this tale, written in his unique style.

Sacagawea Speaks: Beyond the Shining Mountains with Lewis and Clark

Average customer rating:

an brilliant way to learn history!
A piece of American exploratory history
Terrific, Well-Researched Book
Yes, it IS a BEAUTIFUL book!
A beautiful book!

Sacagawea Speaks: Beyond the Shining Mountains with Lewis and Clark
Joyce Badgley Hunsaker
Manufacturer: Two Dot
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Women | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | History & Historical Fiction | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1585920797

Book Description

Sacagawea Speaks is filled with classic storytelling and user-friendly history that leaps off the page and into the imagination. Here, Sacagawea tells readers of her extraordinary life with the Corps of Discovery. Author Joyce Badgley Hunsaker elegantly combines oral traditions, scholarly research, historical anecdotes, and images from a multitude of collections to present to readers the first complete picture of Sacagawea --the woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Rounding out the first-person narrative and exquisite selection of color, historical, scenic, and expedition artifact photos, readers will find Shoshoni vocabulary, quotes from the journals of Lewis and Clark, interpretive notes, a timeline, and more.

Customer Reviews:

an brilliant way to learn history!.......2002-10-31

Imbued with a lyrical talking style, each page offers morsels of everyday tribal life, as Readers listen to Sacagawea's memories, stories, explanations & interpretations. From how the white men misunderstood the hand sign which described her tribal name, to how the First People spoke to each other. From when Sacagawea is taken prisoner by a warring clan, to when she, as wife to the expedition scout Charbonneau, is delivered of her son. From the contents of Thomas Jefferson's Medicine Chest, to the animals they came upon on & the uses for their hides. From full page photographs of the daunting & beautiful landscape over which they trod, to the expedition's supply list.

Complete with a Shoshoni vocabulary, quotations from the Lewis & Clark journals, interpretive notes, a timeline, biographical sketches of Sacagawea, her family & members of the Corps of Discovery, together with over 100 photographs & illustrations, SACAGAWEA SPEAKS is an awesome experience! Eloquent, elegant, filled with information & quirky historical footnotes.

All that is missing is a CD of this author speaking her story.

A piece of American exploratory history.......2002-10-07

Sacagawea Speaks: Beyond The Shining Mountains With Lewis & Clark by historical interpreter and story teller Joyce Badgley Hunsaker is a superbly illustrated coffee-table book that combines extensive historical research, eye-witness history, participant journal entries, and more in order to present the story of Sacagawea, the Native American woman who traveled alongside the famous Lewis and Clark expedition. Stunning color photography of landscapes and historical artifacts, timelines, Shoshoni vocabulary, and much more round out this beautiful and absorbing preservation of a piece of American exploratory history as showcased from the truly unique perspective of a Native American woman.

Terrific, Well-Researched Book.......2002-07-03

Just when you think there is nothing else to be written about Sacagawea, Joyce Badgley Hunsaker's book Sacagawea Speaks goes to the top of the list. This is a magnificent book brimming with artifacts and illustrations to support the well researched text, and little known facts about Sacagawea and her Lemhi Shoshone people that helped me understand her in a way I never had before. This is a book to keep on your coffee table for the entire Lewis and Clark bicentennial 2003-2006. You and your visitors can open it up to any chapter or sidebar and be immediately taken back in time, enjoying the story because of its rich details and friendly style and poring over the illustrations. A beautiful volume that young and old will want to read and reread. I was delighted to find it.

Yes, it IS a BEAUTIFUL book!.......2002-03-11

The narration in this book is nothing extraordinary, but it is indeed the LOOK of the book that makes it so special. Gorgeous photography and other artwork that really bring the topic alive and make this book stand out. Also, a very nice discussion of each of the Corps of Discovery members at the end of the book. This one's a keeper!

A beautiful book!.......2001-06-11

As a reader and relative of Sacagawea,I couldn't be more pleased with this book in both content and presentation. I feel that Joyce Hunsaker has gotten to the heart of this woman,and her place in the Lewis and Clark Expedition. She's presented us with a wonderful gift. The photographs, charts, maps, Bodmer and Catlin paintings included are the best and most complete I've ever seen. Even the footnotes are fascinating! You honor my family, and all of us in America, where the world lives, Joyce. Mitakuye oyasin!

Sacagawea: American Pathfinder (Childhood Of Famous Americans)

Average customer rating:

My granddaughter loves these books
Sacagawea Review
Interesting

Sacagawea: American Pathfinder (Childhood Of Famous Americans)
Flora Warren Seymour
Manufacturer: Aladdin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | History & Historical Fiction | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0689714823

Customer Reviews:

My granddaughter loves these books.......2007-03-31

Sacagawea was the latest book my granddaughter requested from the "Childhood of Famous Americans". She has at least twelve, loves them and enjoys asking us informative questions. How much better does it get: having fun learning about the history of our great country? This 5 star rating is based on feedback from previous ones: I haven't seen her lately.

Sacagawea Review.......2001-06-11

This book was VERY exciting!! I am done with this book now, but I still think about it!! Sacagawea went through ALOT!! For instance like moving, making alot of stuff like: her clothes, shoes, tents, and baskets. Think about it!! Having to make all this stuff. It would take days!! I am sure thankful we have machines now to make different things!! I highly recommend this book!!

Interesting.......2000-05-01

I think that this book included a couple of true facts, but a lot of imagination, how could you know what someone about 100-110 years ago was thinking.I think Flora Seymour did fairly well job, considering that she was writing a children's storybook. I applaud you Flora Seymour!

Average customer rating:

Linear, Episodic Text, but Engaging Illustrations
What happened to the Black Dog?

Sacagawea
Liselotte Erdrich , and Julie Buffalohead
Manufacturer: Ediciones Lerner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Spanish | Foreign Language Nonfiction | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Infantil y juvenil | Libros en español | Formats | Books

No ficción | Infantil y juvenil | Libros en español | Formats | Books

General | Biografías y memorias | Libros en español | Formats | Books

ASIN: 0822531917

Customer Reviews:

Linear, Episodic Text, but Engaging Illustrations.......2005-05-06

If only this story had the texture of the oil paintings, this would have been an excellent book. Instead, there is very little context about Native American (or Indian, if you prefer) life, the relationships among the tribes and the white explorers/invaders, and the Thomas Jefferson's motivation for conquest that motivated and funded the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Relationships are mentioned but not explored. How was Sacagawea "given in marriage" to the white fur trapper, was it consensual; for that matter, were such marriages ever consensual? Why did Lewis and Clark have such affection for her son, nicknamed "Pompy," and what was the meaning of the nickname?" Was Sacagawea especially resourceful, or were her talents fairly typical for a female Shoshone?

Of course, this is a book for kids, and we can't expect mature psychologically-oriented portrayals. Still, the author aims her book for a somewhat older audience (perhaps older elementary and junior high), and she doesn't spare factual details. What's missing, perhaps, are the kind of details that help an audience identify emotionally with the protagonist. At one point, Sacagawea, as interpreter, attends a meeting with Lewis and Clark and the Shoshone chief:

"But when she looked at the face of the Shoshone chief, she burst into tears. He was her brother, Cameahwait! Sacagawea jumped up, threw her blanket over her brother, and wept!Cameahwait was moved, too. But the council had to continue. Though tears kept flooding back. Sacagawea kept to her duty until the council ended."

Howver, we don't learn what happened after the council ended. Perhaps no one knows. Still, we are told that something happened when the council was over--why bring it up if it just ends abruptly? THe narrative skips is too episodic, and doesn't delve sufficiently into the personalities (we think, ), or the magnitude of their journey. Still, one does get an appreciation for this skilled and relatively independent woman. At least, we think she is highly independent, since there is no explantion of women's roles. KIdnapped by a rival tribe, forced (or not?) into marriage and a long journey (how many miles and years?), and persuaded (coerced?) into leaving her son with Clark for a white man's education, Sacagawea's is a fascinating story that is not adequately told here.

Fortunately, the book's spirited oil paintings, heavy with texture from the painters knife, yet fluid and with pastel chalk shadings draw us into "Sacagawea." There's also a one-page afterward explaining Sacagawea post-Lewis and Clark (the details are conflicting), a somewhat cursory map, a timeline linked to the story's events (rather than other significant dates), and a bibilography for those interesting in learning more. Beautiful and somewhat unusual illustrations by Julie Buffalohead, and an occasionally exciting narrative make this book a satisfactory starting place to about the culture and history of the era.

What happened to the Black Dog?.......2003-12-18

The paintings (illustrations) are beautiful, they capture the beauty, thoughtfulness and resourcefulness of the main character. They make her the central figure and the white men in the story the are the backdrop, as it should be, as it is a story about a Native American girl.

I am rating this book 5 stars solely on the illustrations. The text is written like a history lesson rather than a children's story. The text to me is based on white values - where dates and facts are the main focus. There is just not much story or feeling in the text - it is all in the illustrations.

A dog is introduced and then not brought up again except in the illustrations. The text is a little disorienting... it isn't easy to follow.

But BUY THIS BOOK!!!!

As an adult, I will use the book as a picture book and then read to kids in a paraphrased manner... not making up anything about Sacagawea - but utilizing the illustrations to tell the story and to bring to life this character.

The publisher missed a chance here. The illustrations are award winning and the text is plain and dull. Maybe the name Erdrich is well know, but here it did not live up to my standards of what children's stories can/should be.

Average customer rating:

Sacagawea's Child--a gem.

A carefully researched biography of the son of the legendary Native American guide

Sacagawea's Child: The Life And Times Of Jean-Baptiste (Pomp) Charbonneau (Western Frontiersmen Series)
Susan M. Colby
Manufacturer: Arthur H. Clark Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
West | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, Man of Two Worlds

ASIN: 0870623397

Customer Reviews:

Sacagawea's Child--a gem........2005-08-30

As a Lewis and Clark historical interpreter, I have found scholary articles dealing with Jean Baptiste or Sacagawea or Toussaint but the authors rarely cover all three. A few recent books have attempted to cover all the Charbonneau family members but failed to be as well researched and thorough as Ms. Colby's. Her insightful and well documented passages allow the reader to understand the motivation that led the Charbonneaus to action and made them crucial to Lewis and Clark and westward expansion. This is the definitive book for understanding the 100-year saga of Toussaint Charbonneau, his young wife, Sacagawea and their son, Jean-Baptiste, who became the prototype American adventurer and pioneer. As I historically present Toussaint Charbonneau, this book will be held in one hand as the ultimate historical reference.

A carefully researched biography of the son of the legendary Native American guide.......2005-08-06

Sacagawea's Child: The Life And Times Of Jean-Baptiste (Pomp) Charbonneau is a carefully researched biography of the son of the legendary Native American guide and heroine of the Lewis and Clark expedition, Sacagawea, and her French-Canadian husband. Paying attention to both what can be reconstructed from historical record and what scholars remain in dispute over to this day, Sacagawea's Child offers as full a picture as possible of events from before Jean-Baptiste's birth to the circumstances of his demise. Though Jean-Baptiste was flesh-and-blood with flaws like all human beings, he was also a "citizen Indian" who sought to remain mindful of his heritage while living peacefully among people of various cultures, and his story is ultimately one of exploration, wonder, and tolerance. A highly recommended addition to school, public, and reference library shelves, as well as personal biography and American history shelves.

Average customer rating:

The Journey of Lewis and Clark from a different perspective
Indian Tales, Historic & Modern
A prose-poem that peers into the soul of Sacajawea
Sacajawea Deserves Better

Stone Heart: A Novel of Sacajawea
Diane Glancy
Manufacturer: Overlook Hardcover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 158567365X
Release Date: 2003-02-24

Book Description

In Stone Heart, Diane Glancy grippingly retells the story of American legend Sacajawea, the young Shoshoni woman who traveled with Lewis and Clark on their expedition to the West. Presented in Sacajawea's voice in the form of a diary, the book makes moving and illuminating fiction out of a famed piece of history that has long been masked by myth. Glancy adds breadth and immediacy to the story by juxtaposing excerpts from Lewis and Clark's diaries with her brilliantly imagined journal of Sacajawea.

Lewis and Clark recorded the external journey; its physical challenges and its wonders. Glancy's Sacajawea experiences the expedition on a different plane, one in which the dream of a small white stone shaped like a beaver is emblematic of the thin membrane between the worlds of the mundane and the magical. Sacajawea hears the clouds talking, feels the thunderous hooves of ghost horses, and savors the wetness where a buffalo calf licks her arm from the other side.

In Stone Heart, the Lewis and Clark Trail springs back to life in a stunning work of imagination that vividly depicts the day-to-day tasks, ordeals, and triumphs of the famed expedition. At once a trail uncovered and a life revealed, Stone Heart draws a lingering portrait of a woman of resilience and courage.

Customer Reviews:

The Journey of Lewis and Clark from a different perspective.......2005-03-15

This is a beautifully written and brilliantly conceived telling of the Journey of Discovery from the imagined point of view of Sacajawea. Ms. Glancy dispensed with the myths surrounding S's role as guide and simply told of the adventures and rigors of the trip from the point of view of a lonely l6-year old mother with a two month old son and a brutal husband. The juxtaposition of Lewis' journal with the views of Sacajawea was fascinating. I loved this book and will remember its magic for quite some time.

Indian Tales, Historic & Modern.......2004-12-01

I read both this and several other novels by the same author,though none of them is easy reading. They are sometimes not the most exciting read but they are well informed about Indian culture and other aspects of history:perhaps the best is her first novel,"Pushing The Bear" about the Cherokee Trail of Tears in 1838. It is both erudite and historical and contains a great deal of grueling detail about the history of this perilous journey filled with treacherous pitfalls and the grim reality of death; also it provides many details about the Cherokee's animistic religion, dance rituals, language and world view. Revd. Bushyhead, a secondary character, is a Christian minister, formerly a Cherokee; the novel also contains conjurers or shamans. "Pushing the Bear" is a metaphorical way the lead character Maritole, a young Cherokee female, has of describing the difficulties of the journey. "Stone Heart" is about Lewis and Clark's journey up the Missouri and Columbia Rivers in 1807, where Sacajawea a Shoshone Indian kidnapped in her youth served as a part-time guide and interpreter. This novel is notable for its numerous excerpts from Lewis's and Clark's actual journals in the margins, as well as for Sacajawea's fictional musings about various aspects of the trip, including many references to her baby Jean Baptiste,who is often sick, to hunted animals, landmarks, horses and to various Indian cultures. Sacajawea was Charbanneau's husband, a rather brutal fellow. A map is also provided which is very helpful.
The two contemporary novels, "Flutie" and "The Mask-Maker", both set in Oklahoma, were also interesting. The first is about an adolescent 1/2 Indian girl from a family of mechanics in Oklahoma with a developmental disability (she can't speak) who eventually overcomes her disability to become a geology teacher. The novel is good at portraying her day-to-day life as well as her mythical or symbolic dreams derived from her Indian heritage which seem to lead to her interest in geology. "The Mask Maker" is about a divorced half -Indian mother of two who becomes a mask- maker and travels to Oklahoma high schools teaching this art. The latter novel also uses the technique of additional text in the margin to clarify or expand on the main text. Her house and trunk of her car are full of her masks. You will be impressed by Diane Glancy's knowledge of Indian history and religion and culture in any or all of these 4 novels. For example, "Flutie" discusses sweat lodges, while "The Mask Maker" has information on the Pawnees and on Pawnee Bill who was a business associate of Buffalo Bill.

A prose-poem that peers into the soul of Sacajawea.......2004-06-08

I read this book a few months ago and couldn't stop thinking about it. Combining excerpts from the journals of Lewis and Clark with a beautifully written prose poem written from Sacajawea's point-of-view, this book, although fiction, gives a realistic voice to the women of this story.

I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to feel what it must have been like for a women to travel with this group of explorer's on their journey across America.

Sacajawea Deserves Better.......2003-03-10

The mythical status of Sacajawea is seductive indeed, and Diane Glancy attempts to fashion a novel that gives that myth a much needed rest, trying to get into the voice and experience of the "real" Sacajawea, but as always, language is the heart and soul of any recreation of historical voice, and here is where voice fails Glancy. The writing simply is not good enough. The second person narration makes the character a bit too literary, a bit to fashionable, leaving this reader bored by its simplistic syntax and unimaginative detail. Who knows what Sacajawea thought and dreamed! As Irish poet Eavan Boland suggests, one improvises when faced with this mystery. The improvisaiton here is uninspired. The fragments of journals from the expedition, rather than moving the novel along, impede its flow. This novel is considered experimental, I suppose, but the experiment fails. Why? Because the voice and language fail.

I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company: A Novel of Lewis and Clark

Average customer rating:

There's no map
The raw & the uncooked
A different approach to telling the Lewis & Clark story
Book helps historical figures become less fabled and more *Real*
I Was Extremely Happy When I Threw It In the Trash

I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company: A Novel of Lewis and Clark
Brian Hall
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0142003719
Release Date: 2003-12-30

Book Description

Brian HallÂ's compulsively readable novel vividly re-creates Lewis and ClarkÂ's extraordinary journey into the unknown western frontier. Focusing on the emblematic moments of the participantsÂ' lives, the story unfolds through the perspectives of four competing voicesÂ—from the troubled and mercurial figure of Meriwether Lewis, the expedition leader who found that it was impossible to enter paradise without having it crumble around him, to Sacagawea, the Shoshone girl-captive and interpreter for the expedition, whose short life mirrored the disruptive times in which she lived. Bringing the day-to-day life of the expedition alive as no work of history ever could, HallÂ's magnificent novel fills in the gaps and provides a new perspective on the most famous journey in American history.

Customer Reviews:

There's no map.......2007-08-06

Several people here seem upset by the use of "four-letter" words. For your information, dear readers, the f- and c-words are as old as the English language (their etymologies go back to Old French). The point is that these words were NOT shocking to a people totally comfortable with their own bodies, in which little was taboo.

The lyrical language and descriptions in this novel are very good, and heighten the familiar story. I probably wouldn't recommend this as a first novel for anyone who hasn't read about L&C before, but if you feel you already know these people, then this novel provides some good twists.

It IS a bit slower than it needs to be, and I was shocked that some things which should be highly climactic (i.e., meeting Sacagewea's people, seeing the Pacific) are given almost as parenthetical asides and/or in brief flashbacks. Still, it's less romantic and more accurate than many L&C novels out there, which is always welcome.

My biggest complaint is in the title of this review. Any book about the Corps of Discovery should have a map of their journey, for God's sake.

The raw & the uncooked.......2007-03-24

Earlier reviewers have summed up why this book gets such disparate five- and one-star ratings. My three stars weigh its merits and its shortcomings equally. Let me explain. I picked this up knowing nothing about the subject. Brian Hall has labored to flesh out (and as with any honest book about a frontier, savagery, and harsh, raw, primitive survival, there is flesh and blood in many senses) their inner lives. He explains in his afterword that he filled in the gaps of the historical record of L&C, and came up with fictional but possible situations that would explain what is factually known about the expedition.

Anyone who critiques this book (pro, con, or mixed) needs to read it all the way through. Be fair to the author! Any reader must after reading it then study the carefully worded explanation by Hall of his methods, research, and intentions in spending four years writing this novel. Hall deserves to be taken seriously for his ambitious undertaking. He breathes life what for most of us are two names & an ampersand, and a polysyllabically named woman on a dollar cone. Hall delves into musty tomes and yellowing charts and half-recalled tribal names. Through the interpretations and changes that L&C bring and complicate, names change, loyalties shift, and even the languages nearly die out in Charbonneau's case quicker than he as their interpreters. This emerges in the multi-voiced narrative he builds up from four main points-of-view.

He takes a time when what words mean and who translates, alters, or creates them demonstrate power over the Other. Control is conveyed in what you call or name someone. And these words can be brutal, demeaning, funny, or profound. Hall dares to make his figures human in all their messy longings, their mental ramblings, and in their bodies, graphic as the language may be.

Chaucer used the words repeated here, as did Shakespeare and Joyce (his influence is also evident in some of Lewis' later self-questioning). Graphic or at least ruder terms for sex exist in probably any language. Many people two hundred years ago may not have spoken (or at least written!) the blunt words that repulse some reviewers today, but they may have thought them, or euphemized their intended impact. For the protagonists, the root of their existence is grounded in the material, the raw, the uncooked -- not in culture, goods, or ideas. Lewis, Clark, Charbonneau even, and Sacagawea in her own elusive manner all respond to the land and its bounty and its horrors.

Hall also admits that, of course, with Charbonneau and Sacagawea (and I suppose York, but I leave that to experts) he had far less to go on. Hall's ability to enter into these respectively non-"white," or "French Canadian-gone native" streams of consciousness is impressive, but not fully convincing. It's partially because (and I seem to be in a minority of reviewers here) C & S (not to mention York's but one narration) earned by Hall's dexterity many more chances than he gives them to "speak." Lewis grows tedious and dulls as the book continues, and the pace slows in the last third considerably. The final 150 pages are seen to be necessary "overall" in the story's arc, but the climactic scene -- that seems to be the arrival at the Continental Divide, or the journey to the Pacific, is muffled considerably. This mutes the message. The impact of the attainment of their goal is an echo when it should have been a roar.

As one early reviewer below noted, the band is in the Rockies and then ten pages later seems to be at the Pacific. It's over that fast, and the retrospective way the post-Rockies scenes are conveyed drains the energy out of them. (This same sudden lurch happened in Hall's Balkan travelogue, "Stealing From a Dead Place," and on my Amazon review of that book I commented on this unsteady quality.) I sensed that Hall might have half-secretly wearied after so much verbal effort in the middle third detailing the long trek along the Missouri River. Perhaps inadvertently, the exhaustion that Lewis suffers post-climax at the mountain source of the Missouri vitiates practically the rest of the narrative, and that severely unbalances its structure.

This novel, which I also found very slow going over ten days, was not perfect. It lagged, it lumbered, and after a while one becomes weary of moping Lewis and longs for more of Charbonneau's acerbity or Sacagawea's unfamiliarity, so vivid are both characters expressed evocatively. The central figures, Lewis, as does Clark, becomes less intriguing as the novel goes on. Maybe this was Hall's intent and/or historical veracity yet it dulls the impact of their tale.

I do like the attempt to show the "afterlife" once one achieves celebrity young and has to live long beyond it, but the novel needed more intrinsic interest to sustain this stage of the narrative. Flawed, but learned and intricately crafted. It shows its idiosyncracies, but in the tone that Charbonneau and Sacagawea energize if so differently from each other, Hall shows his talent. All in all, this book demands close attention. It does not move quickly. But, if you are willing, it may to you too prove admirable for its vivid audacity L&C may recede after you read their tales, while both C & S have superbly described reactions in their very distinctive and nearly utterly polarized "inner voices" that narrate their intriguing stories as "supporting roles" to the main figures, who pale (!) by comparison.

A different approach to telling the Lewis & Clark story.......2007-01-26

I enjoyed this book -- it's a different kind of book, to be sure, but I appreciated the author's approach of telling the story from several characters' decidedly different points of view and voices.

If you're looking for a straightforward telling of the story of the expedition, this is not the book for you. However, if you're looking for something that explores the humanity behind the different people involved in this epic adventure, this book certainly provides an intriguing point of view -- or, rather, several intriguing points of view.

This book reminded me a bit of "The March" by E.L. Doctorow and "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver, both of which also told a story from various points of view and in different distinct voices.

Book helps historical figures become less fabled and more *Real*.......2006-03-23

Let me share the "bad" first. This book was not a quick read. It did not grab me up and sweep me away, encouraging me to forego meals and reasonable bedtimes. I love books that do that, but they are not the only books I love. I also love to read books that require some time and care on my part, a commitment to go along with the auther and experience something new. This book was of that kind.

None of that is to imply any reluctance on my part to pick up the book. Although I often read multiple books concurrently (one at work during my lunch hour, one at bedtime, etc.), I carried this one with me and it was the only book I read until I finished it.

Historical fiction has been one of my favorite genres since childhood. Also, I grew up just outside St. Louis, Missouri, so Lewis' and Clark's expedition has loomed large in my personal mythology. I've read several novels about it, and many more that touched upon it. I am not sure what induced to pick up yet another book on a well-known subject when there are so many topics that I have yet to explore, but I am so glad I did.

What this book is not is a methodical step-by-step account of the expedition. Instead the author does an extremely good job of putting us in the shoes of the participants. In doing his research he focused on the personalities and motivations of these historical figures. Certainly that is uncertain ground requiring a good deal of speculation. Recognizing early on that little of this could be proven, rather than being disturbed by it, I found it made the characters more accessible to me. Even if the actual people did not have exactly these personalities or motives, by presenting them in this way it made it easier to imagine what it was like for these real men to be involved in what today has become a great American legend. Just as all people in the center of something momentous, Lewis and Clark et al. did not check their ordinary humanity at the landing in St. Louis. Their weaknesses make their accomplishment seem all the greater.

Some of the author's devices could be annoying to some, but rather than bothersome, I found them to be effective. One of these is the general presentation, an interesting blend of stream of consciousness with (for some characters) a third-person limited narrator.

Mr. Hall does a great job adjusting his style to match each of the characters. Chapters are written from of the point of view of several characters, mostly Lewis, many Clark, a few from Sacagawea and Charbonneau, and also one from Clark's man York. One device that is part of the different styles are spelling changes depending on who is narrating. This seems very authentic, and puts the reader in mind of the different levels of education, experience and understanding of the various characters. Another device is the lack of capitalization for proper names by Sacagawea. This was very confusing to me at first with various Native names having multiple words and often including verb forms. I got used to it, but I could see where it could possibly irritate.

Hall chooses to include a discussion at the end (Author's Note) regarding many of his choices, including style and facts. I really appreciate having an author share some of this with me. Certainly it helped that I found I could agree with many of his decisions, but I think I would have liked this material regardless.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and could imagine reading it again someday. I could not possibly express in words how alive these historical figures have become for me now. I am grateful to Brian Hall for a new perspective on a well-known topic. Give it a try! If you think it might not be your cup of tea but want to try anyway, borrow from the library instead of purchasing a copy. :o)

I Was Extremely Happy When I Threw It In the Trash.......2005-10-19

I wish I would have read some of the online book reviews prior to purchasing this book. I agree 100% with Robert M. Barge's online review now that I've taken the time to read them. I too plowed through the pages to the bitter end hoping for a true novel to unfold. Disappointing is much too kind of a word for this book. I am equally disappointed in the award committees' that placed this book on our Bestseller lists! Surely they never really read it. I was Extremely Happy when I threw it in the trash ... where it does belong!

Bird Woman: Sacagawea's Own Story (Lewis & Clark Expedition)

Average customer rating:

Bird Woman: Sacagawea's Own Story (Lewis & Clark Expedition)
James Willard Schultz
Manufacturer: Mountain Meadow Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Women | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0945519230

Book Description

In the last quarter of the 19th century Montana author James Willard Schultz listened to nightly storytelling in the lodges of the Blackfoot Indians. Among the storytellers was Earth Woman, aka Mrs. James Kipp and the daughter of Four Bears, Chief of the Mandans during the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Earth Woman repeated stories she had heard as a girl in her father's lodge told by Bird Woman - tales of traveling with two white chiefs to the "Everywhere Salt Water." Here then is Sacagawea's own story, passed down to us in the tradition of Native American oral history through the writing of one of the early West's greatest storytellers and reprinted for the first time since 1918. Here you will meet Sacagawea, a woman of intelligence, courage and determination who proved to be crucial to the survival and success of the Corps of Discovery, the greatest expedition in the history of the United States.

Sacajawea and the Journey to the Pacific: A Historical Novel (Disney's American Frontier, No 7)

Average customer rating:

Sacajawea and the Journey to the Pacific: A Historical Novel (Disney's American Frontier, No 7)
Gina Ingoglia
Manufacturer: Disney Pr (Lib)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Davy Crockett and the Highwaymen: A Historical Novel (Disney's American Frontier, No 6)

ASIN: 1562822632

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books