Set in the North Dakota Sioux reservation between 1864 and 1982 this tells the tale of Charlene Thunder and Harley Wind Soldier – classmates at Saint Mary’s High School and youngest members of two intimately interwoven families. Charlene yearns for Harley’s attention, but he does not reciprocate the affection. As the tale opens, Harley becomes captivated by a visiting young woman, Pumpkin, who is a grass dancer (a rare thing) who beguiles him at the opening pow wow, but Charlene can wait. All th More...

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I was going to. At first I thought I might have another "Tracks" by Louise Erdrich on my hands (well-written, but ultimately frustrating and unsatisfying). Turns out this is just an interesting story that becomes more complex and interrelated with each chapter. This is Native American fiction as it should be written (said the white guy).

The chronology in this book moves backward with multiple narrators, which is a bit of a trip until you get used to More...

Challenging but worthwhile exploration of some of the historical, mystical, and generation influences on the Lakota of the northern plains. I've enclosed (in the copy I released via bookcrossing) printouts of a couple of brief reviews that I wish I'd read before I read the book as said reviews would've helped me understand what I was getting into better.

I found this a compelling read, tho I felt sometimes confused by the myriad of characters, and their connection to one another.

I see this as a set of stories describing Dakota Sioux mythology. The whole does not come clear to me. I've seen that other readers have given this book excellent reviews, yet I feel it could have been more tightly woven, and thus more accessible. I'm open to magic, and to spirituality; I just couldn't get quite into the flow here.

Easy to understand is the Sioux anger to More...

I found this book really interesting. Parts of it were frustrating and at times I feel like I didn't understand what was going on. There were one or two characters that I absolutely hated, but I feel like that was the point. The author then managed to bring me to pity the one character I detested throughout, so I guess that's pretty impressive.

One thing that this novel did was get me really interested in the Sioux Indian tribe. I feel like I want to go on to read other Native American fiction o More...

Loved this although its taken me 10 years of ownership to read. Glad I kept it. A connected collection of sort stories about modern Sioux life that makes up a single narrative. It was such a great look into another view of the world, one that makes the familiar exotic and different. I felt like I've journeyed to another world. It left me with the sense of wonder that you usually have after a fantasy novel. But this is lit fic and very well written. Great characters, pumpkin the grass dancer, Cha More...

Required reading for Am Ind Lit at UMASS-Amherst. Teetered on giving this one 5 stars because it really wraps up well...but I didn't have the anticipatory excitement of reading it that I normally would for a truly great book. A good read...funny, emotional, 'sall good.

See below for my essay, my final ten-pager for Am Ind Lit:

One Story: A Synthesis of Assimilation, Rebellion, and Rediscovery in Susan Power’s The Grass Dancer

This essay will address the role of stories in Susan Power’s The Grass More...

I like the structure of the book--the way the story was told in reverse. Before reading the book, I read that the story was multilayered and a bit complicated to follow but I disagree. The story and characters were well developed but I was not crazy about the content. I'm not Dakota so I can't assess whether some of the information Susan Powers included was appropriate or not. When I thought about the "equivalent" information of my people and if an author included it in a novel, I would think it More...

This book is part historical, part magical realism with supernatural elements. It follows the lives a 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 we would consider paranormal but that were considered to be 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.
A More...

In a tale spanning over a hundred years and two families Susan Power explores how the religion and culture of a group of Native Americans living in a close knit community. While the story itself is diverse enough to engage interest the truly engaging aspects are driven by the interweaving of spirituality and daily life. The characters were understandable although not as layered as I would have liked. Instead of any difinitive ending the author closed the novel with a sense of continium which was More...

Within Susan Power’s novel The Grass Dancer, she works through all the aspects of Edward Said’s "other" theory, from the expansion of America through its belief in manifest destiny and it’s increasing population, resulting in the Native American’s being forcibly restricted to reservations, the historical confrontation that still maintains itself today, and afterwards the sympathy and stereotypical classification of the Native American culture and tradition. However, Power uses her novel to subve More...

Every once in a while, I stumble across a book in my mom's library--most of which I kept--that not only have I not read, but that we never discussed. I found this one recently while looking for something else. Given the wear it's seen, she obviously read it many times. I know I will, too. The narrative switches and it takes some time to piece it together, but it's just hauntingly beautiful. One of those where I find myself, when doing laundry or something mundane, wondering about the characters. More...

This is a book I would have never picked out for myself. It was chosen for book club. It's a well-written collection of short stories centered around central characters who have stories woven around each other and lives layered over lives. Despite the short stories in a novel format, I found this to be a quick and intriguing read. Be warned though, it isn't a happy book. The stories are dark and sad - as one of the club members put it "in each story someone either dies or gets laid, or both".

It More...

Reading this book, I felt transported, swept away to NorthDakota and captured by the stories of Charlene and Mercury Thunder and Harley Wind Soldier and Pumpkin and Chuck Norris. The book travels backwards and forwards through time, showing the connections in the community and the causes of people's turmoil. The entire book was a mystery unfolding into full understanding. I enjoyed every minute I spent reading this book.

good story, this book sucked me right in. paints a very good picture of soiux culture, in olden and modern times. However, the storys order was a bit out of order, and a bit hard to put together at times. She has a way of making you read pages of story before revealing who the narrator is. Im sure this style is used on purpose, i just dont know if she has mastered how to use this to the readers advantage.

I am normally such a sucker for Native American literature, with its multiple storytellers and non-linear narratives, but this time it just didn't work for me. The book is structured so that each chapter is "told" by a different storyteller and the story shifts between past and present. This often made it difficult to follow the story and put the details of the different characters' lives together.

Winner of the Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award for First Fiction. Creative in that it is told from the present backwards in time until it resolves itself again in the present. Loved the storytelling style that relates to the Sioux people and the beautiful prose. Hard to keep track of the characters and the relationships as the author goes back into the past.

This is my favorite book. It's a story of culture, family history and finding yourself. There is a myriad of characters to keep track of but in the end each story weaves a tapestry that links everyone together in one way or another. And in the end, it's about self-discovery. I try to read this book once a year - that is how much I love it.

Harley Wind Soldier and Pumkin bond in a night, before she dances into death. Myth, dream, history and Sioux reservation life weave together in this story of a tribal family, told in many voices.

really good. Didn’t like it at first, and it left alot of stories hanging, but very good writing and interesting plot

I read this book ages ago, re-read it a couple of years later. I haven't picked it up in a while, and I'm almost afraid to. It's a story of a Native American family through several generations. There are a lot of fantasy and imagined elements that I worry I might not find as captivating as I did when I was younger, and had just visited the Badlands of South Dakota.
There is one scene that has made a permanent imprint on my imagination. A group of young friends drive through the black hills during More...

A lovely novel depicting the lives of multiple generations of Plains Indians. My publisher, Sharmagne Leland St-John, has purchased the film rights and is working on a screenplay. I'm a little mystified how this can be made into a film, but I can't wait to see it!

Read this years ago- and recall it was a powerful gorgeous story about Native american tradition in a 20c res setting. Came up as a recommended contemporary- the author, I beleive, usually does childrens stories - this is a rare novel by her. WILL REREAD soon.

The Grass Dancer is about the experiences of Sioux Indians in North Dakota. The author does a great job of describing life on the reservation and the timeless universal struggle to find spiritual meaning in life.

Really an excellent book, told from many viewpoints and told well. It reminded me a little bit of Louise Erdrich, not merely because of the setting, but because of the way this book almost resembles a series of short stories. Power's work feels more complete as a novel, and there is a greater sense of hope among her characters. I loved how the story was almost told backwards, and how the characters and themes were intertwined. Lovely.

Loved the structure of the book ... multiple narrators/points of view and, for the most part, reverse chronology. If your a fan of Louise Erdrich, you will probably like this book.

it was a somewhat depressing book. and it just kind of "ended". i would have liked some closure.
but, it did wrap up, and i love that it gave many of the character's viewpoints in separate chapters.

The first novel I ever read in English, when I started at university in Berlin- Awww, memories. I still love it- an utterly captivating read and a window into a different world.

Got to page 60 and decided I didn't care to read any more. Just not engaging me. Not what I thought it was going to be and everyone seems to keep dying in car accidents.

I read this novel in graduate school. I want to go back and read it again, but I really enjoyed my first reading. It's an intense, beauitfully written novel.