The Manly Hearted Woman

by Frederick Manfred

Bound in quarter cloth and paper covered boards.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Native American

185 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Manfred's novels are very much connected to his native region. His stories involve the American Midlands, and the prairies of the West. He named the area where the borders of Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, and Nebraska meet, "Siouxland."
(wikipedia)

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not necessarily a book about the Sioux, it is not a book about lesbianism or homosexuality, it is not a book about war--and yet all these figure in the story as a whole. I am not sure I can say exactly what the book is about. It is called Manly-hearted Woman, but the protagonist is actually Flat Warclub. So it is a complex story about many facets of the human life, regardless that it is set specifically in Blue Mounds, Minnesota, among the people of a Sioux tribe. After reading the Forward by Mick McAllister in my copy of The Manly-hearted Woman, I find I am unequal to the task of writing my own review. I don't want to say it says it all, but the Forward is a good literary critique, and it helped my understanding of the characters and their purpose.

[Rusty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Discovered this author when I was a member of a Western literature reading group. At that time I read Lord Grizzly. Individual group members read books from a list and reported their reactions to group members. I was impressed with the author's knowledge about Indian tribes and their cultures as well as his succinct and clear writing style. Needless to say when I found this book I grabbed it to return to a read in western literature.

The book is about a woman who feels she is more a man than a woman. As a woman she is a wife twice. After she kicks out her second husband she takes a wife and we view how accepting many tribal members are of her new lifestyle. Unlike most Indian women, she's an oustanding hunter and uses weapons as well as the men in her tribe. The author details her feelings and reactions as well as cultural mores of the tribe. The book is well written and gives the reader a feeling of how a woman with conflicting sexual orientations reacts to tribal laws and individuals. Well done and well worth the read.

[Rae Hittinger · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this book at the bank; left by a member of BookCrossing - a book sharing organization that allows people to leave their own books in public places and track its journey among readers as it travels. Could I ever do this with a book I cared about or liked? I'm not convinced that this book is worth reading. Perhaps there is no novel that can compare...